Applications IT Support Analyst Review

The work was not really what I wanted to do, however once I got settled in and started to be able to find my way around the system a bit better it was more enjoyable.

My manager was very friendly and helpful and often praised my work. Many of the other staff and managers were also very friendly and were able to support me with various aspects of my work when my manager was not available.

Every intern had a weekly meeting with their manager to track their progress which was always very useful for maintaining a sense of direction. We also had monthly meetings with one of the administrators responsible for looking after the interns to check that other aspects of our placement were fine.

Work tended to come and go so sometimes we had plenty of work to do and other times we had very little other than the standard product support which is an on-going process.

I had the same amount of access as my manager to all the test environments and also to the production environments. I was working on the same issues as my manager, although slightly less involved as I did not have as much knowledge of the system.

A lot of the knowledge gained was specific to Oracle, which, given their size and market share is not a bad thing with regards to future job prospects. They also make good use of standardised technologies such as SQL and XML which will no doubt come in useful in the future.

The other staff were all very friendly, although a lot of people often chose to work from home meaning the office was often fairly empty.

It was well managed, although the two administrators have now left the company/moved jobs so this year it is more down to the managers to provide inductions and monitor progress etc.

We were allowed to go on a week long course relating to a technology we often make use of at Oracle University.

I would like to work for Oracle again, although maybe in a job that is more to my taste.

There was a large number of interns, many of whom lived together meaning there was often something being organised.

Accommodation in Reading is fairly expensive, we were paying £350 per month in rent excluding bills. Being a student town however means that there are plenty of cheap shops/bars/pubs.

Reading is only a large town so don't expect anything epic in terms of clubs, though London is only a half hour train ride away. There are plenty of pubs/bars though for (not so) quiet drinks.

There is a dedicated Sports and Social club at Oracle with a full time member of staff who organises plenty of events, though not many of these really appealed to the students. It is possible to organise football matches against other businesses on the business park which did happen quite often and was well received.