Design Engineering Intern Review

The placement was enjoyable, as the area of work was what I was interested in from the start. Intern socials and team gatherings made you feel welcome and part of a big community. Intern representatives from different departments were chosen for feedback and intern circle meetings to report any opinions/issues which was helpful.

I was given a lot of responsibility which made me feel like a contributing member early on. Since evenings got long and workload was often high, sometimes you do feel overlooked. You get some verbal praise but since the company do not pay interns by the hour (overtime), it can get demotivating.

You need to be very proactive. Support is somewhat available, but only if you seek it out since managers are extremely busy. It can be hard to find the right people you need or come out and say you are struggling with the workload but once you do, people are happy to help. Others interns in different departments however were not always as lucky.

Some quiet days at times, but these were rare and it was easy to seek out work if there wasn't much to do. Most days were pretty busy and could get hectic. Some overtime was common in the evenings. Interns however do not get paid overtime or count extra hours officially to accumulate days off which full time employees can do.

A lot of responsisbility is given to the interns form early on in the internship. SInce it was a small team, interns were given a lot of work which contributed to the team's progress directly. This was great as you feel like your work is not going to waste as 'training' or 'mock exercises'.

The placement is very relevant to what I am interested in both course and career-wise. It was an insightful experience and an amazing opportunity to consider areas I never thought to go into before this year. I developed both my technical and professional skills during the role which are not directly related to my course.

The office is pretty professional and there isn't a lot of chat. It is very heads down and quiet most of the time since there is always a lot of work to do. Other teams sometimes did have a more relaxed environment but this can vary from department to department.

There was a elcome event on the first day of the internship with presentations and talks from differnet departments and employees. There is also an intern circle for feedback and opinions to be passed on to HR and relevant parties. The handover month in July with previous year interns due to the overlap is also extremely useful.

A lot of compulsory online trainings at the start. There are also a big range of optional classes available (both recreational and professional) which are all online and available to employees. However, full time employees get access to german lessons and other qualifications which interns do not have access too.

Weekly intern's socials were held at many pubs along the oxford high street with discounts for food and drinks and other (sometimes subsidised) group activities. These were nice to have at the start to create a sense of community amongst students. Oxford can however be quite expensive in general for living and socialising.

The rent and cost of living is extremely high in Oxford. Most interns live with other BMW interns which is nice, but rent is pricy and can range from £400+ per month per person without bills. Socialising is also quite pricy, but the city centre is quite big and there is a lot to do and explore (Oxford colleges, parks etc).