IT Intern Review

The 10 weeks I spent in Standard Life's IT department was very enjoyable as the work was challenging and I made friends with a lot of people.

My thoughts and views were valued by my colleagues despite only being an intern. Being asked for my opinions on certain issues made me feel involved and therefore more enthusiastic towards my work.

There was a decent balance between having enough support around me and being left to tackle work on my own. The independance took me out of my comfort zone and developed numerous skills but there was sufficient support to guide me when required.

Due to unforseen circumstances with my project I was placed on, the workload gradually decreased until it came to a point where I was asking those around me for some jobs to do. Fortunately my coach returned from his holiday, I told him of my situation and he gave me plenty of work to get on with in the remianing weeks.

As mentioned previously, I was given a decent amount of responsibility but everyone was extremely helpful and were more than happy to help when I got stuck or confused.

I discovered that my internship was more about understanding a corporate culture than developing a particular skill set. It reinforced skills I had learned at university such as presentation and teamwork skills. I learned a lot of background knowledge on the project I was working on, the company strategy and its IT strategy. I improved my technical knowledge by working on a project that involved me going out of my comfort zone as I didn't have vast amounts of technical experience beforehand.

In general the atmosphere was a mix of light hearted banter and hard work which is a great environment to work in. I learned a lot about people's roles in the company simply by chatting to them at their desks as they were all extremely friendly and willing to take time out of their busy days to do so.

It's evident that Standard Life has thought a lot about their internship process and how their interns can make the most of their 10 weeks. There were lots of lunchtime learning sessions where we would all meet people from across the organisation. There were also a few social events at the beginning so all the interns could get to know each other better, and we were each given a graduate 'buddy' who we could chat to if we ever had any problems. We were also given a coach who supported us during tht internship. The IT internship went the extra mile and gave me the opportunity to choose which project to work on which meant I would be doing something that I was interested in. My coach arranged a lot of meetings with various people in IT which was a great way to understand how Standard Life's IT departments function.

The whole internship experience has been a company investment as they hope that as many of the interns will return to the company on the graduate scheme so they make sure you are getting as much out of it as possible. Every day had some sort of training or development as everything I did was a new experience. The internship was such a steep learning curve so most of the personal training was down to how much effort and enthusiasm someone is willing to put in.

My internship showed how Standard Life operates and the direction they are going in in the near future and I want to be a part of that. All the employees are friendly and approachable and would help me to settle into a career with the company.

The interns met a lot of times after work and almost every weekend. We all got on really well and went to pub quizzes, festival shows, nights out and meals at each others' apartments. The social experience was incredible and I've certainly made a number of friends who I will keep in touch with after the internship.

I live at home so there wasn't any additional cost of living. Edinburgh is fairly expensive, especially during the festival, but fortunately Standard Life offer a paid internship so I had no money issues.

There are a few good clubs if you wish to do so, but Edinburgh is better for pub crawls and bars. Edinburgh is a great place to be during the festival so there are plenty of things for interns to do.

There were some societies but none that really interested me.