Summer Student Review

Overall, I had a really good time. The team in which I was placed welcomed me from the very start. The work I was given was fairly varied and I was given good responsibilities, although some tasks were slightly menial. The company has a good, friendly working atmosphere, which I really enjoyed.

From my first day, I was given a great welcome to the team and the company as a whole. The team in which I was placed was very friendly and I quickly became a valued member, being invited to social events and established working routines, such as the morning coffee club. As a whole, the company also encourages new employees to make friends by putting on specific events.

My experiences in this area were mixed. When being briefed on the projects in which I took part, specific instructions were fairly limited and in a lot of ways I was left to work things out by myself. On the other hand, team members and other colleagues were always available and happy to help and answer questions.

My days were usually fairly busy. I would usually get into the office at around 8:30 am and work until 5 pm, with a half-hour lunch break. My days were always full, as I had projects that needed working on, as well as meetings to go to, but I wasn’t stressfully busy.

Due to the short length of time that I was working for the company, my relative inexperience and the national security issues, my responsibilities were relatively limited. Having said this, I was given a fairly free rein on my projects (which weren't insignificant) and I think this was an appropriate level of responsibility for a summer student.

I think that the skills I practiced and the experiences that I had at DSTL will be very valuable for my future career and, to a lesser extent, my remaining time at university. I did a lot of literature research and data processing on Microsoft Excel, which are valuable skills, and experiences as simple as working in an office are very important.

I think the DSTL office atmosphere is very good. People seem to generally enjoy their work. Not many are lazy and not many are overly stressed. Employees are on the whole very friendly, encouraging and pleasant to each other. Employees are generally fairly relaxed in regard to the rules, such as dress code.

I think the placement was very well set up. From my first day, procedures (such as getting IT equipment) were already set in place for me to be inducted into the company and these were followed quite smoothly. My team and manager had already prepared work for me to do from the first day.

It’s difficult to qualify the company’s investment in me in physical terms. The work that I was given to do didn’t require a great deal of extra training, so I didn’t have much. However, I did feel invested in because the company doesn’t benefit greatly from employing summer students, in terms of value for money.

I very quickly learned that the main purpose of the company employing summer students was to encourage them to come back to the company in the future, although no guarantees are given. The people I worked with seemed to like me and seemed pretty impressed with the work I did, so I received a lot of suggestions and implications that I would be allowed back.

Yes, many of my colleagues met up outside of work hours, especially the students.

I didn't live in the area that I worked in.

From the comments of other employees, it was fairly good.

Yes, there were quite a lot of posts on the company forum and other websites about a range of activities.