Summer Intern - Requirements Engineering Review

I really enjoyed my time at Siemens. I learnt an enormous amount and developed a lot as an engineer. I was very impressed by the level of investment in their staff (computers, office environment all to an excellent standard etcetera). I think having done this placement will help me with my degree.

I was very lucky with who I worked under - he was keen to allow me to take on challenging tasks and responsibilities. I worked in a team towards the end, and despite my technical knowlege obviously being less than that of some of my collegues, I still felt useful.

Again, the person I worked under was great. I was given tasks that were of use to the company, which meant they were often quite difficult, but he helped me when I needed help. Everyone in the office was beyond nice and I know if i had needed it, I could have gone to any one of them and been well revieved.

Very - I chose to take on several extra tasks because I like to be busy, but often stayed late as a result. Even so, there was never a point at which I couldn't go home when I wanted to, and no-one forced or even encouraged me to stay late.

More than I was expecting... When my supervisor went on holiday, towards the end of my placement, I essentially took on part of his role. Within this, I assisted many different collegues and project teams to progress with their work. When working within bids, I helped to select various paers of our solution

I think the workplace skills will be invaluable in future jobs, and I think that I used a lot of industry specific products and programs that I will probably be using again at some point. This being said, I did not do a whole lot of actual training while on this placement.

Very friendly - people worked across teams comfortably. The office isn't too big, and in time I would have learnt everyone's names because of this and the general atmosphere. Birthdays are celebrated, and there are a few corporate teambuiding activities (usually charitable) that you can take part in, if you like.

I was only there for 3 months so there wasn't really much organisation to be done... There was, as ever, a slight IT hiccup at the beginning of my placement, but this was soon sorted and I had no other issues. There were processes in place for regular meetups with my line manager.

Honestly... not a lot. I did one course during my first week, and there was an intern induction (for which I had to travel away from home, so some investment there), but other than that I mainly just fufilled my role. This being said, there is an excellent online campus, but most of the time I was too busy to get much use out of this.

I would never have considered this industry (rail) prior to this placement. Since I have done the placement, I might consider going back for the graduate program, but personally I would like to see other companies before I make that decision. It has been suggested that I would be welcomed back, and I know they look favourably upon people they have worked with before.

There was only one other placement student. There were some other people our age on different programs, but we didn't really socialise much outside of work. This being said, I know some other people did meet outside of work. Part of the problem is the tiny town we were based in.

I did not live in the area I worked in because it was a tiny town and there were a few larger towns a short (about half an hour) drive away. I stayed in a university town, so the costs were pretty reasonable in for living and accomodation, even if it was a little dead over the summer.

The nightlife was, quite literally, non-existant. Not that this was particuarly an issue for me. In the various university towns nearby there was a nightlife, but the East Midlands is not known for its wild parties. The most you are likely to get is a pub, though since you can finish at 4, travelling a bit further to find a city isnt out of the question.

Some - mainly sports leagues