Electronics Engineer Intern Review

The placement was a wonderful opportunity to learn new skills relevant to my degree under study. There is a real learning atmosphere around you when you start. Everyone is willing to help and aid you. The fact that you are not looked down upon or treated unfairly because you are a junior employee, makes the placement worth it and enjoyable. Of course, it all depends on what you make of it. If you fail to make use of the learning opportunities which are within plain sight, you will find the whole placement a real bore and unfulfilling.

I was placed into a team of at least 7 engineers on the very start of the placement. Everyone seemed excited to have a junior engineer on the team. They are willing to share their experiences and knowledge to you. My team was very multi-cultural and apart from the technical skills they taught me, I learned to see life from so many perspectives as well. The managers will give you full respect from the onset as to get into Rolls-Royce is no mean feat. It is up to you to preserve and grow this respect based on your work quality.

My supervisor was very helpful during my first few weeks on placement. My weekly work load was reviewed and suggestions were made to how I could make it better. There is a bit of assessment in the beginning, although on how autonomous you will be able to be with tasks, but this is not to worry about. You will be given the support you need if you ask for it. It is very important to ask for a lot of support during initial tasks as the nature of work is very complex and you will regret not to be able to have fundamental understanding of the work. In all, the supervisors and management are well-approachable.

The team was in the middle of a large project when I joined and so there was a lot of work to be done. I was given the benefit of the doubt, however. Because of my novelty to the company, tasks were introduced to me progressively. When the team realised that I was picking up, the magnitude of my tasks increased significantly. A lot of work was available and was given when you seek it. This depends on the team you are in, however, as some projects being worked upon are not really having a set time-target. It is variable.

You are treated as part of the team when you join. My job was based on a real work requirement and so my work was critically assessed. Any slip up on my work had dire consequences for the team. Based on this, I would say that you are trusted from the onset and given real responsibility during the placement. The only way to maintain the responsibility is to output great work for your supervisor. I was given full autonomy therefore to conduct work in whatever way I wished although, it was checked to make sure it was of good standard.

My work was based in Birmingham, Solihull, the Controls and Data Services branch of Rolls-Royce plc. Because of the work my team was involved in, there was major applicability of the knowledge learnt from during my time in University. One real focus of the whole company is on control engineering. This is mostly applicable to all forms of engineering and would provide useful practical knowledge as I go into my final year of study at the University. All concepts of electrical engineering are contained in an Electronic Controls System, and it will be hard not to find questions on these to learn from. You will also be introduced to a lot of software that is used in the design and test of these systems.

There was a good balance of seriousness and fun in the office. There is a general respect of the working environment of each employee. There is frequent chat in the office, although everyone is conscious of work in the office being done around him/her. Since it is an environment for work, do not except too much chatter around, however. My team was seated in proximity to one another and so there was a natural team atmosphere created around with constant communication. The office is not extremely lively but rather peace feeling. Because of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a little bit of tension after the period of March, 2020 as most people were being laid off. I do not expect that to extend however for too long

There is a good structure to how the placement is set-up, although it seemed that was not the case before. There is a plan for the kind of work you will be involved in from the very start and although it might not seem like from the start, there definitely is. I was made to

There is a lot of opportunity to join training courses and workshops. These will have to be approved for by your manager. They invest a lot in junior engineers and you will see so in the first few weeks.

You are constantly told of the opportunities to pursue a further internship or graduate opportunity with the company. The onset of the COVID-19 has changed conditions drastically however. There may not be as many opportunities in the future to enter into the graduate scheme in the near future. However, depending on how much the company bounces back from the COVID-19 hit, the vacancies and spots on junior career programmes may re-emerge.

There was an early careers team which organised nights out and events for both interns, apprentices and graduates. The interns were always sitting together for lunch and thus developed good friendships. Apart from the events the early careers team organised, the placement students always made plans to get together after work. There would also be work outings with colleagues and with other groups at work. The social scene basically comes to you when you network efficiently and well-enough.

There is reasonable house costs in Solihull. Some interns grouped together to create a house share. The recommendations for housing will be communicated to you before you join. In terms of living costs, Birmingham has so many restaurants, eat outs and little shops for buying your daily provisions and foods. It is all about finding the ones that sell cheap and quality products/food. There are definitely many out there. The city is extremely large and you will eventually find shops that will cater to your needs.

Birmingham has a very lively nightlife, especially in the city if you are that sort of person. There is a lot of bars, restaurants and there is a lot to see. It is definitely great to live in the city centre if you would like that. The interns/grads frequently set up events in the city centre to enjoy what the city had to offer. Solihull, on the other hand is a bit on the low side and not too lively, as I was told. The presence of 3 and possibly more universities in Birmingham makes the place always bustling with excitement.

There are a lot of opportunities to join clubs/societies at work. The branch is a bit new and so the number of clubs are yet to grow. I played football with some of the employees and interns on a a few weekdays. The interns also went out to play Badminton on a few other days