Process Engineer Review

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience which allowed me to gain engineering experience related to my degree programme. As a consultancy, there were various different types of work opportunities within the nuclear and power industries. There is also a big presence of graduates, interns, and apprentices on site which was great as I had the chance to network and socialise with other graduates and interns.

All colleagues within my team including group manager was welcoming from the start and shown interest in getting to know me more. It was particularly easy to talk to team members as there is open desk office style where interns, graduates, senior engineers, and managers mix. The team ensured I was included in all meetings, as well providing encouragement to engage and present where possible.

My manager helped set my own personal objectives for the internship and offered to have weekly meetings to discuss my work and ensure that the work done is aligned with objectives. My manager also contacted people around the office to ensure I was given the work that I would be more interested in doing, provided there was a sufficient business need.

The team was busy with lots of work to do yet I did not feel overwhelmed as the projects were managed quite well. There were times where I had more than a few tasks to be completed in a given time period, but I was able to discuss with project managers the expected timelines and support was provided to ensure a good balance was achieved.

I was able to review various technical documents to begin with and after a few weeks I was given more responsibility to author design documents. This included reports and calculations which was reviewed and sent to the customer for review. I was also encouraged to attend meetings and contact suppliers at times.

The report writing tasks was reviewed to a very high level which developed my skills in reporting significantly. I was also able to use engineering software within the industry that helped me develop some skills I had previously learnt at university. I was not given any formal training for this role, instead there was learning on the job which will be useful in the future.

General atmosphere is open and welcoming, where people sitting around you in the office are free to talk and assist you when necessary. Although, people do tend to be busy with work in the office which sometimes felt like general chat was constrained. However, as graduates and interns the environment was friendly, often taking necessary tea/coffee and cake breaks to break up a day of working.

Overall, the organisation of work task itself was well organised with briefing of tasks being given by the responsible engineer beforehand and ongoing support in the delivery of tasks. It was great to set own objective for the placement, but it would have been beneficial for the company to set some wider targets as well to ensure the internship experience is as good as it can be.

No formal training was given although there was at least one opportunity available. Atkins does have an online training platform with free e-courses which was beneficial to have especially when there are quite periods in the week. However, there was little technical training courses widely available on the platform which would have been great to have.

Very appealing as they hire over 200 graduates and interns every year. The team I was in was doing exceptionally well with an increasing rate of projects coming and continuous hiring of employees. From the experience I was fast-tracked to the assessment centre stage for a graduate position, although this was confirmed after the completion of the internship.

Yes, the company funds a graduate social committee which hold monthly meetings during working hours giving opportunities for graduates, interns, and apprentices to network across the whole company. There was also other graduates and interns that regularly met up outside of work to go for drinks, meals, and other activities.

Not sure on cost of living as I commuted from a different city whilst living with parents.

I have been told there was a good nightlife, although I did not experience this as I was commuting long distances.

In terms of sports and social there was opportunities to play a variety of sports such as football and badminton on a weekly basis. I also had the chance to be involved in providing STEM talks for year 10 work experience students which was also great to be involved in.