Summer Placement Student Review

Overall it was an enjoyable experience, however for the first couple of weeks the work load was a bit slow thus was not the most interesting internship at the beginning. But once I had asked for more work and the pace of work picked up I enjoyed my internship a great deal more. The general atmosphere is very friendly and if I had any problems as a new starter anyone was happy to point me in the right direction.

Unfortunately the majority of my team were based at another site, so at times I missed out on team lunches and activities but I still felt like a valued member of the team. Going to meetings with my team was daunting but they made me feel like I was making a valuable contribution to the project and some fo them even came to me to ask some questions about what I was doing to make me feel even more include. Although it should be noted that being a summer student you are the effectively the "lowest" in the heirarchy which I had anticipated meaning that people looked down on you, but I never had any issues. However there is a clear heirarchy amongst DSTL staff.

The induction process of new summer students began very well for the first day, as this just involved general admin, however as my first week progressed it became obvious that there was no formal induction process for summer students as there is for graduates and new starters, and any induction help that was offered varied between different teams. However my team leader gave me a starter checklist that was normally given to graduates for guidance in my first couple of weeks and he was there to give any support or guidance required and was always very helpful no matter how simple the question was. Overall the support is good, its just a shame there was no formal induction process across DSTL.

I was fairly busy most days towards the middle and end of my internship. However at the start the workload was small and required me to do a lot of research, which was not the most interesting although I guess this is to be expected. Generally I worked about 7-8 hour days depending on workload and productivity; the flexi-day scheme was very helpful if I needed to leave an hour early or so and the policy towards working from home meant it was a viable option if required. Overall I was definitely not bored and I always had something to do.

From the beginning I was pretty much left to go in the direction I wanted with the guidance given by the project leader. So I was effectively given the responsibility of one small part of the project. This meant that at times I had to attend meetings and orgainse meetings, some of which meant that I had to visit academia and not just stay on site for all my internship. I was given responsibilty of my own working hours, which meant that I could come and leave work whenever I wanted as long as I worked 37.5 hours a week. And obviously when working from home I was responsible for making sure I got all the work done that was needed.

At DSTL I was not given any formal training. However I learnt to code in Visual Basic as part of the skills needed for a project and dabbled in XML, which has helped develop a greater range of coding languages that I know how to use effectively that should undoutly help with after my degree. The research I carried out early on in my internship has developed my ability to research effectively and thoroughly in a quick and timely manner in order to gain understanding and knowledge in previously unknown subject areas. As I doing a Physics degree there was not much that I did that would directly assist my degree however the general efficient use of time management will positively impact my studies generally. And the confidence I gained whilst in a working enviornment will help prepare me for work after my degree.

A very friendly atmosphere (although I did sit amongst some human scientists who tended to be more chatty), where it genuinely felt like people cared about what they were working on. As my internship was over the summer quite a lot of people went on holiday which made the office a little quieter at times, but the people who were there were still just as friendly. A group of us summer students managed to sit together most days, meaning there was someone to talk to who was of a similar age and meant there was always someone to go to lunch with. The office was open plan and DSTL operate an open desk policy (you can sit basically anywhere) however it became eveident that some people had "claimed" desks, so you just had to look out to not inadvertantly take someone's desk.

Overall my summer internship was organised well, however it could be massively improved by the inclusion of a company wide formal induction process for summer students. The organisation was left mainly to my team leader, who had everything well planned and orgainsed. At the time of my internship DSTL was undergoing a restructuring, which meant many people were not wuite sure about which team they were in etc but it was made sure that I remained under the same team leader throughout my interhsip, which i appreciated. In addition many summer students had to complete a presentation at the end of thier placement to present what they had achieved, a couple of the summer interns and I did not get the opportunity to present anything which was a shame and could easily have been rectified if the devision had been more organised. Hence my sumemr inetrnship could have been improved by more consistent cross company oraganisation.

DSTL as a company gave responsibility of personal investment etc to the team leader. My team leader was very helpful and set up a meeting with a previous graduate who has been working at DSTL for a while in order to give me insight into what it would be like to take up a graduate role here. As summer students we were not given the same training as other new starters simply because the training would take up valuable time of our internship. However we were given simple training for how to use the equipment provided and the facilities that DSTL offer on site. My team leader was very helpful and forthcoming about the possibility of coming back nexts summer.

It appears a very nice working environment in a suitable location that isn't in London. In future it does appear to be great place to do a graduate job and after speaking to some of the new graduates the atmosphere seems positive. There are opportunities internally to undertake trips and visits outside of DSTL that could provide a positive iinsight into work carried out. And the group for new starters is very inclusive and offers an easy way to socialise with other new starters. However the pay is lower than in similar places in industry which is something to consider for the future.

A group of us summer students started on the same day and so we basically created our own little summer students group, with a few graduates as well. The group for new starters is run very well and offers weekly socials and trips outside of work. Overall there was a very good social scene for new starters and placement students. I did not socialise with my colleagues outside of work, mainly due to most of my team working on another site but I know plenty of other sumemr students went for lunch etc with their team a few times.

The cost of living is on the high side as you would imagine in the South West, however if you have access to a car you can rent a house outside of Salisbury city and in one of the many small villages which was significantly cheaper. I didn't go out socialising often in Salisbury, but from when I did I would say the cost is pretty similar to most other places in the South. Bus prices were not overly expensive like other cities. I would suggest having a car to get to work, although there are buses, it makes it easier to use flexi-time if you can leave when you need to.

I didn't go out clubbing in Salisbury, but other summer students who did said it was fairly standard for a small city. A lot quieter than say Bristol or Birmingham! The pubs in Salisbury are where people tend to socialse in the evenings rather than clubbing. There is pretty decent array of pubs including a standard Wetherspoon's.

There were many opportunities to do outside work. These mainly involved DSTL in some aspect, such as a DSTL Hackathon (many small projects/ideas that people thought would be cool to do) run over a couple of days, trips run by the new starters group (that were mainly free) and lots of sports activities run by the sports facilities in DSTL and in the local Sailsbury area.