Service engineer intern Review

I really enjoyed my work placement at Siemens. I enjoyed meeting and working with lots of new people and gaining a better insight into what a job in my chosen field would entail. The tasks were sometimes a bit monotonous but it was overall a very valuable experience and I learned a lot.

All my colleagues were very inclusive and invited myself and the other interns to many after work social events. They were also always happy to explain processes and things I didn't understand. However, I feel as though they could have trusted me with slightly more complex tasks and given me more interesting things to do.

I was given a set of targets at the beginning of the internship with regular guidance on the direction I should take my tasks in. I had a fortnightly meeting with my manager which meant if I had any queries or problems I had a set time to talk to her however she was always available and willing to help outside of those meetings too.

The main task that I was given was fairly monotonous and required me just sitting at my desk and copying and pasting data. It was pretty boring and I believe it would have been much better if I had some other smaller tasks to break up the routine and keep the day busy.

With the tasks that I was given, I was essentially given free reign to complete them how I wanted with a little guidance from my manager. This was really beneficial as it gave me the chance to take control and take on the responsibility in my own way. However, I would have liked the tasks to be a bit more challenging.

The technical knowledge I gained from learning about the engines will be invaluable to my thermodynamics course at university. Beyond that, just general insight to how an office runs and how the business works has also been really interesting to see. The general skills of interacting in a work place will be the most valuable in the future.

The general atmosphere in the office was very friendly and welcoming while also being quiet enough to allow people to get on with their work. Everyone was approachable and with the hot desk system it meant that no one was separated or off limits to talk to making it a very functional community.

Once the internship got going, it all ran very smoothly. However, my first week was unfortunately timed as my manager was out of office and therefore unable to introduce me to the work I would be doing. This meant that I had a week of waiting around before I could properly get started.

All the interns received Yellow Belt training, New at Siemens training and various online training courses. We were also sent on a site visit to gain a greater insight into what we would be working on in tangible terms and the engines that we would be working on from the office. We also went on lots of volunteering days allowing us to develop personally.

There are good future employment prospects such as the graduate program that seem very valuable as you spend a good amount of time with various teams to gain an overview of the company as a whole. However, I am not overly interested in following up in a graduate program as I do not think this job is quite for me.

There was a group of 6 interns in this location which led to a good group of people. Nearly all 6 of us lived in the same student accommodation nearby meaning that we commuted in and out of work together. We also ate lunch together every day. The other colleagues were also very sociable and organised pub trips, dinners and even paint balling.

The cost of accommodation was very high and we were living in a really not very nice area and the accommodation itself was not the best. The cost of socialising was a bit better but still quite high given the fairly poor quality. However, you can definitely find cheap things to do.

There are lots of really nice pubs to go to however the clubs have a reputation for being not very good. However, definitely still lots of opportunities for going out and having fun if you're willing to look for them. The high street especially has lots of nice pubs and restaurants.

There were lots of activities to get involved with outside of work. Our colleagues organise lots of events including after work drinks, dinners and paintballing. There are also company football teams that you can join which play against other local company teams. Lots of the company go to the same gym which is very sociable.