Applications Engineer Review

by National Instruments

This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.

Rating

4/5
  • The Role
    4.2
  • The Company
    4.2
  • The Culture
    3.5

    The Role

  • 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?

    • Working as technical support could get a little repetative but new and interesting challenges would always arise. Huge amount of oppertunity to do many other things that you would not usually encounter when working in technical support.

    4/5
  • 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?

    • The interns at NI are given equal responsibilities to full time qualified engineers so you are valued like any other employee- which is highly. The NI office is a great place to work in (as their "top 50 places to work" badge will tell you.) Very friendly people to the extent that it is not unusual to spend 5-10 minutes casually chatting to the head of UK operations.

    4/5
  • 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?

    • couldn't have asked for better support, NI put a lot of effort into developing your skills. This was the highlight of my placement

    5/5
  • 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?

    • Most of the time very busy, every now and then too busy. But you learn the most from those times. Be prepared to put in some extra un-paid hours but you'll want to do it and you'll get a lot out of it.

    3/5
  • 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?

    • Varied from week to week. You communicate with anything from 4 to 10 customers a day over the phone or by email and you have to deliver good service for them- that is the lowest responsibility. An example of the highest is if you get the opertunity to teach a course to a class of engineers each of whom has paid over £1000 to attend

    5/5
  • 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?

    • Many skills for life learnt/improved. I was able to develop my presentation, technical and communication skills greatly. I am now a certified associate LabVIEW developer and have experiance working on an engineering project from initial idea to final presentation- very useful for final year project

    5/5

    The Company

  • 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?

    • very relaxed office, really fun at times- a great atmosphere. (They have a foozeball table!)

    4/5
  • 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?

    • training was very good and the job roll was clear. They have had interns for several years now and currently employ 9-13 new interns each year so they have a well developed scheme (Engineering Leadership Program)

    4/5
  • 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?

    • As mentioned before, a lot of effort is put into developing your skills.

    5/5
  • 10. What were the perks on your work placement?

    • Sports and Social Club
    4/5
  • 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?

    • Will apply for a job there without a doubt.

    4/5

    The Culture

  • 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?

    • half of my department was made up of other interns from university and most of the full time employees were very sociable as well so the social scene amoungst collegues and across departments was very good. Generally played football every Thursday after work in the summer. Often played squash or golf with collegues and night out every Friday and/or Saturday

    4/5
  • 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?

    • cost of living is relatively expensive, I paid £320/310 rent a month, a pint is about £3.50.

    2/5
  • 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?

    • lots of Bars and Pubs, only one fairly dilapidated club. But Reading is not far. One of the best nights out of the year was a road trip to Cardiff

    4/5
  • 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?

    • Plenty, lots of sport as mentioned above not to mention the thrills of Crafty Craft! (Company boat race down the Kennet.) Theres a pool hall that we used to go to fairly often and a pub quiz.

    4/5
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Details

Placement (10 Months+)

South East

September 2011

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