Petrophysics Intern Review

I very much enjoyed my internship, it was a great and very interesting experience. In a short time I completed a project and was able to present back to my team and wider bp employees. There were lots of opportunities to take part in extra events, social and networking activities throughout the internship. Everyone I met was very friendly and helpful, and I was able to speak to people from different teams and working in different parts of the company.

My colleagues made clear at the beginning of my project the potential value it could bring to my team. Throughout the internship they were always open to speaking to me to offer advice and help, and also to share what they were working on. It was great to feel that my project work would be useful and would be used in future by the team, I felt able to create something of enduring value even in the short time period.

I felt very well supported throughout my internship. I had regular check in calls with my manager, as well as my formal review meetings in the middle and end points of my internship. I was also provided with feedback at both these points which was really useful. In addition, my supervisor was always available to phone or get in touch with for any support or help I needed, and I was able to get feedback on work I was doing throughout my internship.

I was definitely busy but was able to maintain a good balance. I had a project to complete throughout my internship which meant I had to plan my time to make sure I got it completed on time, with several different deadlines throughout the project. There was a great balance of meetings, opportunities for talking to other interns and team members, and working on my own project work. Overall I felt there was a good balance between always having things to do or be working on but never feeling overwhelmed.

In terms of the project I was given to complete, I had a lot of responsibility in terms of planning my work, getting in touch with people to help me with various aspects of it, and writing up and presenting the final results. I was also able to make decisions on how I wanted to carry out the project, within the objectives I had been given. So overall I wasn't given responsibility to be making decisions/directly impacting things but was responsible for the project I was carrying out.

I feel I developed a variety of skills which will help in both my degree and beyond. In terms of my degree, I was trained in some software which could be directly transferred over and used in my degree, as well as the technical knowledge I developed. In addition, the other skills I developed in terms of working as part of a team, planning my time, presenting to a variety of audiences, will be useful not only in my degree but beyond this in any future career as well.

I rated this a 7 because the internship was virtual due to the COVID pandemic, so we weren't working in an office. However, everyone I spoke to was very welcoming and friendly, so for this reason I felt there was a good atmosphere in the team and I'm sure had it been in an office environment the atmosphere would have been great. Everyone was always willing to help or have a look at the work I was doing, or to find a time to call and speak to me.

I was really impressed with the organisation and set up of the placement, especially because it was changed to a virtual internship due to COVID. We had lots of introductory talks and sessions to get to know the company, and it was explained really clearly at the start how the internship would work and how we'd be assessed throughout. I was given a clearly defined project to work on, with a final assessment in the last week.

There were several opportunities throughout the internship for personal training and development. I was encouraged to take part in online training courses to expand my knowledge of the industry. We were also given training courses on skills such as presenting, and had the opportunity to practice this. There were also chances if you wanted to get involved in extra projects to increase your personal development outside of your project work. I also got feedback throughout my time at bp to reflect on this development.

I am not sure yet whether I will be offered future employment with bp. They decide this after internships have finished and then communicate their decision back to us. However, bp does have a graduate programme which they recruit interns onto, so it is an opportunity to gain future employment within the company. Whether or not you are offered future employment depends on the graduate positions they have available as well as your performance during the internship.

Due to the timing of the internship being during the COVID pandemic, the internship was all virtual and all the interns were working from home, so obviously this limited the extent of the social scene a bit. However, I definitely felt like there were lots of social events and opportunities to get to know the other interns virtually, with virtual socials organised regularly throughout the internship. It would have been great to have more social opportunities but this was very much limited by the current situation and I still felt I got to know the other interns.

N/A- the internship was virtual so I was living at home throughout.

N/A- the internship was virtual so I was living at home.

There were some limitations on how many activities it was possible to get involved in, because of the current restrictions due to COVID and the internship taking place virtually. Therefore some opportunities such as social events or sports activities couldn't go ahead. However, there were still lots of opportunities available in lots of different areas, such as virtual social activities, poster competitions, talks on a variety of topics and getting involved in committees to organise these talks and events.