Electrical Engineering Intern Review

I have really enjoyed the past 6 months of my placement in Schlumberger. The work I have carried out directly relates to my studies at university and has allowed me to expand my breadth of engineering knowledge and soft skills - both useful for my final year and the future.

A very friendly and helpful environment is present in the office that has allowed me to be open with not only my team, but colleagues from other divisions/teams. My work is part of an important move in digitalization for the company and so I feel naturally valued by my colleagues.

I have received the support and guidance when I needed it, the level of which has exceeded my expectations. Prior to beginning my project I was fully briefed on its status before I took it forward. I regularly spoke with experts related to my project who have supported me verbally and through documentation.

On most days I would have a perfect balance where I focused on only one project / work-flow. As is natural in engineering - delays happen and so have left me bored at times, but I mostly continued with other tasks. Other times I would receive a lot of emails at once which would make me feel overwhelmed.

The main project I took forward was almost entirely allocated to me. As this was a software related project, it was easier to have one person analyze the piece of code. The level was of responsibility was such that if the software did not work, all the blame would fall on me. I was satisfied with the level of autonomy I was provided with.

My project was coded in Python - a language I had little knowledge of prior to starting (yet I have managed to make an entire application). A skill that I know I will have to apply for my final year is to search for the information I need to move forward with my work - this is exactly what I have done a lot in this placement.

Around where I am seated within the office, I usually am surrounded by a lot of the employees talking about work-related matters. At times, the level of noise this creates has put me off my work, but mostly it has been interesting to get an insight into other people's projects. People are usually oscillating between the buildings of the industrial estate so people tend to walk a lot around the office.

Prior to my placement, some of the main pieces of work were already allocated to me. Around 2/3 weeks into my placement, a few more projects were allocated to me. It would have been nice to know them earlier from my point of view. A lot of the basics of being set-up on certain systems were not done prior to the start of my internship. This did induce a few unwanted delays, but nevertheless it was done and all my relevant trainings were completed within the first few weeks.

they invested in me for the UK intern day which helped me expand on my networking skills. Some of the internal trainings which had to be done physically helped me understand what practically had to be done for safety. There are also a lot of resources and training programmers to get started with certain programs and software - although not applicable to me during my 6 months here, it was good to know that this personal training and development was always at my disposal.

The prospects are phenomenal. The opportunity to work internationally (with all food/travel/accommodation accounted for) and meet people from various nationalities is great. The pay is also attractive than what I am currently earning. The fact that I am aware of the current technologies of the company mean that joining them after graduation is more seamless transition.

The majority of the younger employees and interns in the company are a nice bunch of people to have lunch with in the Canteen. There is little social engagement between the interns however after working hours due to our current living locations. One thing I would like to have done is engage with the interns a little but more on a social level.

I lived in a completely different area to the one I worked in. The area where I worked was not that nice an area to live as a young man / student. I therefore decided to live about 30 minutes away from work in the city and drove in everyday.

The Nightlife in the area that I work is almost non-existent. The town is populated mostly by families and people of an older generation. I enjoy my night-life in the city that is about a 30 minutes drive away from where I work.

The company has an employees member's club. By being a member a small portion of your salary gets donated to the club who subsides a few events throughout the year. Some of the events are really good, with each of them being tailored towards certain age groups of employees.