Summer Placement Student (Hardware Engineer) Review

Good office atmosphere and really interesting work. Not an internship where you're expected to just make cups of tea - I learnt a lot and was able to make a worthwhile contribution to a genuine project.

Great office atmosphere. Regular trips to the cinema and pub make you feel like a valued part of the office. Always able to have a laugh in the main kitchen at lunchtime too.

Independence is encouraged: you are encouraged to 'learn by doing' and get your hands dirty. However, whenever I didn't understand something properly, my colleagues were incredibly supportive and really helpful.

There was always something to be getting on with. Expectations were reasonable and realistic so the workload was fine. I was never stuck without anything to do and I was never stuck in the office working until getting kicked out because I was struggling to meet a deadline.

I was responsible for part of the verification of the project and the project's maturity is partly judged on the metrics produced by verification. It was hardly an overwhelming responsibility but I was made to feel that the work I was doing did have some meaning and some genuine relevance to the project.

Gained plenty of hands on practical experience using various languages and a large amount of knowledge of how processor interconnects work. I feel that genuinely useful skills were developed.

It's hard work, people can be busy and there's plenty to be getting on with. Despite this, there was a sense of camaraderie and a lot of smiles in the office.

Organisation was fine. I was told what I would be doing and was not left twiddling my thumbs waiting for anybody to organise anything.

I was given support whenever I needed it along plenty of time to read through documentation and bring myself up to speed with what was going on.

I'm getting feedback about my placement shortly as I've nearly finished and I'm a while away from graduation so I can't comment on securing a job or getting promises of a job as I write the review. However, the company is currently successful, they're enjoying rapid growth and they seem genuinely interested in recruiting graduates. Doing an internship at ARM is a great way.to try to make yourself one of the graduates they recruit, it isn't a waste of time that just looks good on a CV but will never lead to anything upon graduation.

Plenty of trips to the pub on a Friday evening, regular pub lunches with colleagues and several trips to the cinema. My colleagues helped me to settle in and I quickly forgot that I had moved a new city where I didn't know anybody!

Cost of living was bumped up because I was on a short internship and had to book for the summer with Unite. The 'proper' property market is undoubtedly reasonably priced in Sheffield but requires longer lets. Transport, food, pubs and clubs are all pretty reasonably priced so there's little room for complaint.

The office is smack bang in the middle of Sheffield, a city with vibrant nightlife and a great festival called Tramlines happens over the summer too.

Everybody's got something on. Some people in the office do Taekwondo regularly and there was an informal ARM band jamming session that ran every week in the kitchen.