Process Engineering Intern Review

As part of the internship I was placed in the hydrogen team within Centrica Energy Storage + which works on developing hydrogen projects within the business. This team was multi-disciplinary and involved working in a team with other engineering disciplines (mechanical and electrical) and commercial analysts. My role involved working in the team to complete a feasibility study on placing a newly emerging hydrogen technology on Centrica's Easington gas terminal, this involved meetings with teams across the business unit to collate all the information needed for the study. My day-to-day involved reading lots of reports to gather information as well as daily meeting between the group to share information on the technical and economic aspects of the project.

Throughout completing the nine week internship with Centrica I have developed my skills, which include technical skills as well as soft skills. I have learnt how communicate professionally within a business and how to use different platforms such as teams and outlook to reach out to different people within the business, I have also learnt the ways I liked to be communicated with. I have developed my teamwork skills through working on the project in a group and the importance of clear communication and having a plan when working in a team. I have also developed my presentation skills through opportunities to present what I have been working on where I was able to practice things which where given in the presenting with impact training.

As part of the summer internship I was given a lot of responsibility. I was working on a feasibility study for the hydrogen team which is to be passed and taken further by the hydrogen team. We had the opportunity to speak to external companies about the technology we were working on and represent the hydrogen team. I was also working on an individual project where decisions on the direction of the project were made by me and I was responsible of feeding back the project weekly to members of the hydrogen team. The charity challenge provided a large amount of responsibility as we had to find and organise our own volunteering opportunities.

Throughout the internship I felt very well supported by my team. I had a line manager as well as a graduate acting as a day to day contact to answer any questions I had whether they were about my work or the running of the internship. I had one on one meetings with my line manager weekly where I was able to discuss any issues I was facing and solutions were found, but I was also able to message my line manager at anytime if I had an issues. I also had weekly meetings with a graduate buddy which allowed for support outside the scope of the project.

From the start of the internship to the end I found the company culture really welcoming and positive and welcoming. Everyone treated the interns the same as all members of staff in the business and wanted to help us to ensure we could make progress with the projects, and if people couldn't help directly, they would point us in the direction of people who could give us the help we need. I found working in the office had a great atmosphere, there was lots of positive experiences and laughs throughout my placement.

I have really enjoyed having the opportunity to complete the summer internship at Centrica this summer, it has been a really insightful experience and I enjoyed having the responsibility of working on a project that will have an impact on the company going forward. I liked the opportunity given to meet up with all the other interns throughout the 9 week placement. For 3 of the 9 weeks the whole cohort were staying in accommodation together as this created bonds between the interns.

Yes

Some advice I would give to others applying to Centrica is to go for it, the company with give you a really valuable experience and allow you to develop skills that you will be able to take forward into the future. I would tell people to be themselves as the company really values you for who you are. The internship is really supportive and everyone wants to help you to ensure you are able to gain the most from the experience.