Summer Intern Review

I enjoyed my time at Roke a great deal- the work was interesting and engaging, yet challenging, and encompassed my degree and skills well. I learnt a lot of things that will be applicable to work at university and further into the future. As well as enjoying it on a ‘work level’, I also enjoyed it on a social level- my fellow vacation students were great, there was an onsite gym and lots of activities going on on a weekly basis, both on and offsite through the company. My project mainly involved simulation work done at a computer, so there were times I felt a bit ‘stuck-at-the-desk’, but this was the nature of the project.

I felt well valued by the people who had a connection with or some knowledge about my project- they spanned multiple departments, but always gave me the time of day and appreciated the work I was doing. I didn’t really feel valued by the immediate people in my office, although they had their own work to do and weren’t involved with my project at all.

My immediate manager was pretty high up and a very busy man, so I did not see him that often. However, my supervisor or ‘buddy’ was fantastic- she was always very willing to give me help and advice, and often just came to check up on my progress and see how I was doing.

As I was given a great deal of responsibility over my placement (see next paragraph) I was as busy as I needed/wanted to be! I had overall goals to get to, but it was my responsibility to work out how to get there and how much time it would take. Time management and being organised with the project kept me pretty busy most of the time, although sometimes it may have been nice to be set things to do in a certain time period. I had to do an end of placement presentation and review, so was more busy than usual during the days leading up to this, ensuring I had all the relevant data, graphs, etc, and producing more if I needed to, but again, this was my decision to make. There was also always more I could do, so I never ran out of things to do.

The overall goals of the project were explained to me pretty soon after I familiarised myself with the program I needed to use and after that, it was my responsibility to work my way towards them, in which ever way I thought best. I had a buddy who helped me along the way, but it was my own project to run.

I learnt a great deal about applications of programming, which I feel is a skill that I can transfer to my degree and in other work after university. I learnt more about the industry and where I want to go in the future which is obviously very helpful. I learnt much more about organising my time in the work environment and liaising with lots of different people, skills which will be extremely useful in years to come.

The office was fairly quiet with most just 'getting on'.

Although the initial interviews etc happened fairly late, it was clearly well organised, the stages were well laid out and I felt that the company give me a project which encompassed my skills and degree well. There was also a clear aim to my project.

I was taught how to use a new program and scripting language.

I believe there are a variety of projects that you could get involved in after graduation. At the end of our placement, we were given an induction to the graduate programme.

Everyone bonded well, had lunch together and joined some of the sports groups.

Cost of living was fairly standard for the UK, although some pubs were London prices.

The nearest place for nightlife was Southampton, a train ride away, which was fine.

There were many sports groups and different clubs such as astronomy.