Research Intern Review

I really loved my placement experience in general! The atmosphere of the office makes you want to get up and be productive every single day. My team was lovely, trustworthy, honest, and most importantly, ensured that I have enough responsibility on a weekly basis. This allowed me to not only feel valued, but to thrive and evolve my skills further (whether they were personal or technical). The lock down placement experience was also very enjoyable. I would not change it for anything :)

Ever since day 1 in the office, the team you are in will make you feel like they are on the same level as you, which I personally thought was really kind and rare. You can talk to people who have worked for a number of years in the company, and they will willingly talk to you/ give you their advice etc., without you feeling below them. The social outings made it much easier to connect to everyone.

I was really lucky to get the manager I did. He was really helpful throughout my experience in Universal, and guided my along the way. Whenever I had a problem, or was struggling with using new softwares/ deriving data, I could easily tell him/ask him and he would always have the time to help me. I had no idea what I was doing at first - but with his advice I became fluent by the end of my placement!

I think I was reasonably busy throughout the day. At the start of the week, we would always have a team meeting and discuss how busy we were that week, so that if we did not have enough work, we would get ad hoc requests, or cool projects to help out with. The managers made sure that you can learn as much as possible, and help out anyone who is flooded with work. In this way, you know that if you are the one struggling to get things done on time, you can always count on someone else's hand.

The amazing thing about this placement in particular s the amount of responsibility you get given. As months go by, you get given more and more tasks you get, depending on how smoothly everything you do is going, and how much YOU think you are willing to handle. There were some really intense weeks, and some very 'chilled out' ones, which I think is good as it allows you to find the balance, and to know how and what to prioritize.

This for sure will have a great effect on my final year of University. Working with numbers is something I had to get a first hand experience in to truly get the feel of how things I learn can translate into the real life. I have developed technical and personal skills which I will for sure remember until the rest of my life! The diverse programs/softwares etc I used will be also an advantageous thing to add to my CV, and hopefully use them in my future career.

It was amazing!! I loved the office to bits - there are 2 kitchens on each floor, where you can get drinks/fruits whenever you wish. The 10th floor was the more relaxed area, where you can get free coffee at the cafe, look over London city and talk to your work friends. Each intern has their own desk, which is much better than having a hot desk only! Everyone is very friendly and there are many occasions to meet new people.

At the beginning of the internship, we had a hand over period ( 2 weeks long ) with the old intern, who we were going to replace. This was very beneficial, as it allowed me to ask as many questions as I wanted, as well as make a friend in the 2 weeks, who I am still in touch with today! :) The interns had multiple intern social events - which were really well organized by the staff!

The company made sure we were constantly learning, and getting as much out of the experience as possible - there were many talks/ presentations / workshops hosted every month, which you could attend whenever your calendar allowed you. Some were extremely helpful, and they really opened up my mind to a lot of new things. The internship program at NBC Universal is really unique, and it makes you feel like you are a real employee.

Yes, 100%! Because of the fact that there are around 50 interns at NBCU every year, it sort of feels like a little social bubble! There were a number of social events created, such as Fight Club, Bowling, Drinks at the Bar, which I think were a great way of socializing with everyone. The company has 2 screening rooms - so Interns could see new film releases, whether they were Universal or our competitor films!

London is a really expensive city to live in - this is common knowledge. You could honestly save a lot of money by getting a personalized Oyster card (18+), and buying a yearly travel ticket (around 1k pounds). This provides you with unlimited transport, but it was to be done before September - I was late in doing it and ended up spending quite a lot of money. Socializing is very easy, however you often feel FOMO.

London is just AMAZING for nightlife. Of course, it is really expensive, but the salary is good enough for you to go out once or twice a week, whether it is a bar a club. What was a bit shocking, was how much money I was spending on food - so after a few weeks I have decided to cook home meals and bring them to work - because it could be really expensive to eat out every day.

There were a number of things to get involved it - for instance, there is a Cares day in April, where you get the whole day to do something with your team to help the society. There were a few volunteering opportunities, which I myself took part in, and found to be very rewarding. Perhaps there could have been more activities outside of work, but due to COVID 19, this was simply impossible to do.