Project Management/Engineering Intern Review

A number of different elements have influenced this overall score but on reflection I seldom disliked the prospect of the work or responsibilities I was given on a day to day basis enough to seriously hinder my enjoyment of the year.

Generally I felt respected by my colleagues, everyone was very welcoming and the office had a friendly social atmosphere. As an intern your opinion will inevitably be valued slightly less than a permanent employee but the disparity between them was less blatant than expected.

This is a very subjective area, the level of support provided is entirely at your manager's discretion and as such some interns will have a better/worse experience than others. A mixture of overcommitment and underpreparation meant that my experience on placement saw months of independent working at a time. Ultimately the support I was given was less than adequate.

Like any job there was peaks and troughs in my activities but generally there is as much work available as you can handle. At times this could be too much work and would require working through lunch or staying after hours and at others the pace was much slower. If you prove your ability to work hard and achieve deliverables you will be tasked with more work but also recognised for what you can contribute.

This ties in with the above question, if you prove yourself competent, reliable and prepared enough to handle responsibility then you will be trusted with as much as you can handle. Of course this will be at the discretion of your individual manager, but experienced line managers will be encouraging of you taking your own responsibilities. This has the added benefit of allowing for much greater exposure among higher management than a typical internship.

I would have rated this around the 9/10 mark if it was exclusively asking about professional skills which have prepared me for life. I've learned a huge amount about business, people, the professional work environment, general life skills and ultimately myself. However, the amount you take from your experience is nearly entirely down to yourself and the work you put in, you need to give a lot to take a lot. In terms of how my year at Eaton helped prepare me for the remainder of my degree it taught me almost nothing of value. As an engineering student who applied for and was awarded an engineering internship I spent probably less than 10% of my year actively working on pure engineering tasks. This was still true after deliberately transfering to the engineering department to try to gain more skills in this area. A consideration of the backgrounds of the candidates being taken on and the job roles they are being offered would not go amiss.

I changed seats 3 or 4 times over the course of the year and as such spent time in multiple departments with different people. All parts of the office had a good, social, relaxed atmosphere and made for an enjoyable experience.

In the grand scheme of things the placement was well set up, with dedicated training days organised across the country and monthly reviews which provide a good opportunity to reflect on your activities. The particularly badly organised aspects are relatively trivial in comparison though important nonetheless. For example no details in advance on what time work started on our first day or where to go when we arrived or what the dress code was etc. There was also no direct feedback from the placement organisers for the majority of the year.

As mentioned there were many opportunities for professional training which may have appealed more or less to certain individuals but were all pertinent in their own way. I finished the year feeling much more confident in my ability in a professional position, much of which is owed to the investment from the company.

I am hopeful for employment prospects within the company, I have implemented important, tangible changes to the site I was based at and demonstrated worthy potential for investment.

Obviously a very changeable feature of the placement, some interns on the same scheme were placed with just 1 other intern at their site or in one case none at all. I was lucky with the group of 4 interns I was placed with and made good friendships over the year.

The nearest town to the site is Loughborough which as far as I know was on the expensive side for accommodation but as a university town had it's fair share of affordable social activities. I lived in Nottingham for the year which I found both much cheaper and much better for the social scene. (opinion based on prior living in London & the South East, may not be representative of non-southerners)

Similarly to the question above Loughborough offers good nightlife at an affordable price though I spent most of the year in Nottingham which was better for both.

There was very few work-organised activities available over the year, the notable exceptions being department dinners out organised by some of the senior engineers. There was also the opportunity for racquet sports at Loughborough University.