Software Enginner Review

I found the placement useful as a learning experience as bp provided lots of training for the AWS services we would be using. However many of these skills are extremely transferable to other positions in the technology industry. The virtual nature of the internship limited the enjoyment as I was unable to get the full experience of working in the office with my team. However, given the circumstances the experience exceeded my expectations and I think we were challenged to an appropriate level throughout

bp's values of one team and respect really shone through during my experience. The intern team I was working with have become friends, despite the virtual nature of the experience, and I have made connections with other bp members that I hope to keep for a very long time. We had daily group check ins which were great at keeping us feeling included, and every new person we spoke to was happy to introduce themselves to us as they made us feel welcome in the company

Our daily meetings with our supervisor were instrumental in making me feel supported during the experience, as I always had someone with knowledge of the company to call on when needed. My buddy (a graduate) provided me with both day-to-day help and technical support, and I loved being able to make use of the connections we made with other grads too. We had dedicated SMEs who were able to help with specifics of our project, along with outside support from AWS who helped technically. The support system was great.

Working in a team with my fellow interns has definitely aided me in networking and collaborative skills which I will utilise greatly in my university group projects. The technical AWS training will help me to take a step up from my degree computer science work to cloud technologies which are not yet widely available to study in university. Being able to use coding and technical skills for the first time outside a university context has set me up well for pursuing a career in the technology industry

The structure was good, but I feel that given the shortened time frame (6 weeks) some extra thought needed to be put into the structure of the first couple of weeks. We spent a disproportionate amount of time looking at induction which became irrelevant given the short time frame that we were working in. Perhaps during a normal year, this would not have been such an apparent problem, however spending a week and a half on induction was a quarter of our internship time, which limited the time that could be spent on our project.

Once we got started on our project, the atmosphere was fun as we were all working together discovering new technologies that could be used to complete our project. We had daily breakthroughs which were exciting and the atmosphere was boosted by our daily catch ups. Of course, there were more tedious tasks such as writing up documentation when we were wrapping up the experience, but I can appreciate that these are necessary steps that must be completed in the working world

bp have paid for us to complete external training and even now that we have left are continuing our subscription and they are paying for us to complete an AWS certification. This is widely recognised in the industry and has a price that would be out of reach for many students. Further more, we had access to extra training courses provided by bp itself, both for soft skills development and more technical skills. They came in a range of formats including documentation and videos.

We were obviously limited by the virtual nature of the experience which meant that working remotely could not give us the full experience of attending the office etc. Nevertheless, we were exposed to people in a wide range of positions, who had varying views on both the company and the steps they had taken to get to their role. We have been invited to visit the offices when the time comes that COVID allows, which says a lot about the welcoming nature of the company

I had a wide ranging mixed experience of the company culture. It was apparent to me that bp's values are held with the utmost importance. In particular the one team effort amongst not only my team, but the contacts we reached out to for help and support, was hugely impactful on my experience of the company culture. Similarly, respect of employees and each other was unquestionable. We got a view of the more difficult aspects of working for a big company also.

As someone who embarked on this experience to see if a career in technology was even remotely close to something I would be interested in, this internship has given me a huge insight into not only the industry and the sector, but also into the type of company culture I would look for in the future. We were not sheltered from the more difficult aspects of the company, so I was able to form a wide ranging view on the whole experience and my future. It was hugely valuable.

Throughout the recruitment process, bp reimbursed expenses of travel to and from the interviews. I did not live far away enough to qualify for expenses covered accommodation. The experience was paid and although the experience was shortened due to the covid19 crisis, we were still paid for the longer original duration of the experience. I would say that sometimes the reimbursement process was too long, it took too long for me to receive the money, which as a student was difficult

Yes. Every single day I met a new member of the company. We had several career talks a week from different members of the leadership team, many of whom held follow up 1 on 1 sessions with anyone who wanted afterwards. In addition, there were regular informal intern networking sessions which allowed the intern cohort to get to know each other, even in the virtual context. Similarly we met the tech grads regularly who could give us relevant advice

This is a difficult question to answer due to the virtual nature of the whole internship. It is difficult to network with more than two or three people at a time when on a virtual call, unlike a traditional networking event where you may meet many more. However, the fact that bp uses Microsoft Teams meant that I could contact almost anyone in the business almost immediately. This was extremely valuable as it meant I could expand my network overseas.

We found out some information about outside activities, but this was limited. We had an extensive talk with the grads who told us all about the social events that were organised for them by their committee before the Covid 19 crisis. We also heard about extra curricular lunch sessions aimed at women, for example, and different supportive groups that are set up. However, I think we lacked more detail about the events that happen within teams in the office for example.

I was not sure what to expect from this experience, but I can safely say that I have gained a huge amount of technical experience along with an insight into how a company, such as bp, which is huge, operates on an international and national level. I would recommend this to anyone as it was obvious to me the amount of investment the company was willing to make into our personal development, even during these stretched times, and I think that speaks a thousand words.