Embedded System Solutions Engineering Intern Review

My placement at Intel has been full of surprises. Due to external reasons; I have had to transfer to another business group and team, work on something completely different than what I applied for, and work from home for a significant portion of my placement. While all of these changes have pushed me to be more flexible and more resilient to change, Intel has always been there for me and supported me through these uncertain periods. Even though I feel that my work might not have been tremendously impactful, I have been able to learn a lot of new skills and polish some of the older ones. Overall, I would say that it has been a good experience and I do not regret my time here!

Everyone that I have met at Intel so far have been very friendly and down to earth people. I have always felt like an equal member of the team, even when I've need to ask advice on something that might seem second nature to a seasoned employee. A few times in a business quarter (1/4th of a year) we would meet up outside of work to do fun activities, such as play bowling or darts. In addition, we have been able to join different groups of people that would play sports (i.e. Badminton & Football) during lunch time.

My supervisors have been very accommodating and friendly. They've reached out to me to see how they could support my personal development during this placement and made sure that my work falls in line with my interests. Aside from the reports and tasks assigned to me by my university, Intel also organises regular 1:1 meetings between supervisors and their direct reports. These have been valuable for ensuring that good progress is being made towards a goal that we see eye-to-eye on.

In my experience, the busyness varied depending on the day. On some days my work would be slowed down as I would have to consult with other people who weren't either available or were busy. I managed to use that time to catch up on my university assignments. However, on some days I would stay late in the office to finish up some tasks and/or assignments. Another factor that affected how engaging a day would be was the number of meetings. Sometimes I would have a day full of meetings and as a result not have much time left to do actual work.

This varies depending on the position. In my first role, I was working with a team that was closely interacting with a big client and as a result the work that you could do would possibly impact millions of people. In my second role, we did not have a direct client. While this meant that the work would not be as impactful, it also meant that I had a lot more freedom in decision making. I could choose the approach to coming up with a solution and develop it basically single-handedly.

While it's hard to exactly say whether I will be working with the same programming languages and libraries, I am certain that some of the approaches to development and planning will assist me in my degree studies and beyond. For example, learning about the agile approach with software like Jira enabled me to make better use of my time. In addition, I've had a chance to work on improving professional communication, whether in written form over emails or oral through presentations and calls.

As mentioned before, the offices that I worked at had a very laid-back culture. There was no formal dress code or anyone monitoring what time you arrive and leave. Everyone that I met was very friendly and supportive. While most of the office buildings themselves are fairly modern, the seating layout is fairly traditional, with cubicles. Depending on the office size you might get additional amenities, like a games room with a table tennis set or a pool table!

There is a handover period of 1 month to enable new interns get up to speed with what the previous interns were working on. Not only did this allow for me to learn new skills, but also familiarise myself with the ongoing projects. That being said, there was no clear long term plan for my internship. I worked on various projects as they came up. While there were always goals in mind, oftentimes those were vague and without any deadlines.

I was able to participate in any of the training events that the seasoned employees did. While most of these took place online or onsite, some required travel and lodging which was all covered by Intel. For example, I was able to travel abroad in Europe to an event that included training. Most of the onsite training were Health & Safety related, for example, we had a Manual Handling and Fire Safety. The online training did not just cover the work related classes, but also training on Intel policies.

Previous employment at the organisation will certainly improve the likelihood of re-employment. However, as far as I know, no intern is given an offer at the end of their placement. For myself personally, I would say that I am just as likely to apply to Intel again, as I was when searching for a placement position. I would not say that Intel is any higher or lower among my list of prospective attractive technology corporations.

A great community. The only thing that could be improved would be the frequency of events. I've made some great new friends whether they're colleagues or students like myself. I think the other students and colleagues play a big role in how fun the work experience would be and in that sense I feel like I got pretty lucky! Hopefully I'll get to stay in touch with the contact that I have made during this time.

This is again quite different as I stayed in several locations throughout my internship. High Wycombe, where I spent most of that time is on the pricier side. However, at the same time, it's only about a 20 minute train ride from London. That is not to say that High Wycombe does not have much to offer. Most of the things that you might need are here locally, i.e. Shopping Centre, Cinema, various Supermarket Chains...

When it comes to nightlife, High Wycombe is quite peaceful. There is a night club, however, none of us have been there so we don't know if it's any good. There are plenty of pubs to go around, however. So even if you avoid Wetherspoons', there are other options for a nice pint and a meal. I suppose McDonalds should be open 24/7 as well, however I can not say that I've tested that as an option for a night out.

As mentioned earlier, there are plenty of opportunities for exercising. A lot of the interns from our office have picked up Badminton. In addition, some of us also liked to play football. Last, but not least, Intel has a subsidised deal for a local gym. Exercising aside, another way to get involved in activities outside of work is volunteering. Whether you like introduce STEM to kids or create biodiverse habitats in parks, there are various options in that field as well!