Data Analytics Intern Review

I really enjoyed my internship with PwC. I like the office environment and how everyone is so friendly - answering all and any questions, and just having friendly chat. The culture about seeking and making the most of opportunities was really interesting and I feel like I was able to make the most of my time here. The only drawback was that at times I didn't have any work to do, but when I did enjoyed the vast majority of the stuff I was doing.

I felt that my colleagues were approachable and happy to provide stuff for me to do, even if that meant taking time out of their own day. They trusted me with a variety of work, although unfortunately I was not able to work on any client projects - I did feel like this was due to other circumstances, and didn't make me feel unvalued.

I was given plenty support by my supervisors. They were very patient with me and frequently checked in, but I didn't feel like I was being micromanaged. I was able to meet everyone in the department and work with a variety of people, all of whom were friendly and approachable if I had a problem.

Unfortunately due to circumstances outwith the control of my team, I had to be taken off the client project I was booked on - although this was probably for the best. However it meant that I didn't have much work as there was not an easy alternative option and so there was a lot of time where I had nothing to do. However the pace did pick up a bit which was much better.

I feel like I was given a good amount of responsibility - I was able to get on with the things I had to do without many guidelines about when they had to be done by, but I didn't feel like I had to juggle priorities or was responsible for things should they have gone wrong.

In terms of my degree, I believe I have learnt to become more focused and so will complete my work in a more focused way with less procrastination. In terms of beyond, I have become more confident talking to people I don't know, learnt a lot about business and also developed technical skills in various software packages and programming languages.

The office is open plan and I think this definitely helps with the atmosphere. People are able to chat to each other and it's also quite relaxed - so I have never felt stressed about needing to get things done. People are always running into people they know and it feels like a great place to work.

In general the internship was very well organised, with clear stages and goals to meet at each stage. Having a career coach was ideal as they would check in at regular intervals. The entire training experience down in London was very well organised and ran to schedule, and it was well structured. The only thing that was not organised was when I was taken off a client project without a clear alternative and so felt a bit stranded for a few days with nothing to do.

I feel like the firm invested highly in me. I have been given training on various technical skills such as software packages or programming languages, and I feel well equipped for starting an actual job. Additionally, the time when I did not have any actual work was spent on training and development, where I could pick what I wanted to do.

I have not heard if I have been made an offer or not, but all the feedback I have received has been very encouraging. I believe a lot of people get offered a job at the end and I would be very keen to take this as I have really enjoyed my time here.

There were 9 interns on my intake, and we ate lunch together every day. We did try to organise a few events - we went for drinks a couple of times and have organised dinner for the end of the placement but trying to coordinate a lot of busy people can be hard work! Everyone was very friendly and I believe the previous intake of interns were very similar.

Edinburgh is a very expensive city to live in generally, and the internship fell over the festival fringe when prices skyrocket. So generally everything was quite expensive which could deter people. I go to uni in Edinburgh so it didn't feel too different for me. I also feel like the salary was suited to the area.

Edinburgh has a great atmosphere when the fringe is in town, so during most of the internship there was plenty to do in the evenings - you could go for a drink in many of the outside areas/bars, or see one of the thousands of shows that run during the festival. The office also put on office drinks a couple of times which was nice.

Some of the other interns joined the office netball team which played on Monday nights, and there were other sports teams too I think. I'm not massively sporty so I never joined up, and I'm not sure what other regular activities there were. My team had a social one night, so we went for drinks, dinner and to a fringe show which was nice. I think the other teams did similar too.