Technical Marketing Engineer Review

I have really enjoyed my time at Intel. I worked with the Fujitsu Technical Support team, so I enabled pre-production server motherboards with Intel silicon and help Fujitsu with design-in. I also supported the High Performance Computing team so there was always exciting stuff going on and the latest technology to play with.

The trust that Intel places in its interns was a very positive surprise. They are very willing to let you go off and do an entire thing as you see fit as long as you come up with the results that they are looking for. My team would look out for opportunities that I could contribute in. Obviously, as an intern, I didn't have the necessary training to contribute to the motherboard design meetings, but I was a part helping enable them and getting them ready for the team to utilise.

I had fortnightly meetings with manager, and almost daily contact with my supervisor at the start of the year. There was a lot of changes and re-organisation midway through, and our manager was reassigned there was a bit of confusion. I still had contact with my supervisor when we needed to get things done.

This varied quite a lot. Sometimes I was very busy for a week or two, and then there would be times when you didn't have much to do at all. In those free times, you can go and try out some new technology, I played out about with folding@home servers and fixed up the arcade machine. So, even if you don't have something your supervisor told you to do, you can still keep yourself busy.

Usually my supervisor would let me know what needed to be done, and I would get on with it, so it was very independant. He'd be more than willing to help if I got stuck but he kind of relied on me to figure certain things out myself which was a good way to learn.

I believe I've gained quite a few skills; especially the insight into corporate culture and the way that they approach things. It was also good to work for such a large multinational company as you really get an idea of what it is like to collaborate at an international level especially when you're shipping hardware everywhere. There was always opportunities to sign up for trainings in project management, constructive confrontation, team-work scenarios and also a plethora of really useful online technical training on product roadmaps, new technologies, new architectures, marketing strategy, etc.

I was based in the lab most of the time, and there was endless supply of new exciting technology. From 2-in-1s to convertibles to workstations, Xeon Phis, Xbox One, PS4, Titan Graphics, NUCs, Oculus Rift. You name it, we had it. If not, you could go and order it. If you didn't have much going on, you could set some of these things up and have a blast. (not all the time obviously). I can't really comment on the office space as I hardly spent any time there, but the cubes seemed nice and the set up made everyone very approachable.

I had a month of overlap with the intern that was leaving which was very helpful to get grips with things and it was smooth sailing there onwards. They signed up you to the relevant engineering body, so the IET for me and they support you if you want to register for an Eng.Tech qualification. Intel had a massive re-org and workforce reduction which impacted my team but it was handled well.

I have done about 40 hours of online training on a variety of topics - product roadmaps, cpu architecture, storage and SSDs, server boards, Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Virtualization, tablets and smartphones, you name it. I have attended a Fujitsu meeting on signal integrity in server boards and other instructor-led training on communication and collaboration, company values and those sort of things.

In the current climate, Intel hasn't really been hiring any graduates in the engineering department. The other departments have better opportunities to be assimilated after graduating.

There are about 70 interns this year and there is an intern social club which is always organising something. Just last week there was a trip to Amsterdam in which nearly 40 interns went. They also organise day trips, cinema trips, nights outs and stuff.

Coming from the midlands, Swindon's rent and fast food prices seemed quite steep but for someone from London it wouldn't be too bad.

Swindon doesn't really have much of a scene. Bristol is close-by; so is London.

There lots of things happening, with the interns as well the full time employees. You can get involved in volunteering activities and Intel would donate money for that cause. There is an Intel Sports and Social Club which organises all sorts of stuff - stand-up comedy, theatre, karting, sports, etcv