Technical Specialist - Intern Review

Thoroughly enjoyed the placement. It was a fantastic opportunity for me to utilise my skills that I had learned in University, and to showcase them in a business environment. The work was stimulating, even though my work was sometimes monotonous, there was always new things to do and opportunities to get involved in.

My team was based partly in office, and partly remote working. I was made right at home during my placement, with my work contributing to the overall objectives for the team. I was treated like a Subject matter expert, which at times was incredibly daunting! I was never treated like a child, and was praised for the effort and work ethic.

It was the perfect balance of support. My manager had sussed me out on the first day, and understood the level of support and feedback I wanted. There was always a helping hand available, but only if I asked for it. I wasn't being pushed along, hand being held by my manager. To start with, the support was in place, but as I became more confident, the guidance reduced as they saw that I can handle the work.

During the first month of my placement, As I had no prior knowledge of the technology or business, I wasn't that busy. I was given slightly repetitive tasks (while needed to be done!), but were more to show me the ropes. Once I had displayed that I could handle the pressure, the work load was ramped up as I began to contribute more to the team. In reflection, it's perfectly understandable as to why this happened, but could dissuade people away who want to hit the ground running straight away.

Far too much responsibility.. I was constantly given extra tasks that shouldn't be in the capacity of an intern. I kept on having the conversation with new colleagues, "You're an Intern??? Are you really supposed to be doing this?". This was mainly down to me displaying that I was capable of doing so, not because my manager wanted to watch me struggle. Alongside these tasks, there was always a hand to fall back on, as expected, because in the end, I was only an Intern.

In comparison to before the Placement, I feel far more confident in my work ethic, delivery and personal management. Apart from University, I hadn't really worked to a deadline, fastforward to now, I am working to deadlines daily. The training for technical skills was in place, but due to the workload I hadn't had the time to use those opportunities fully. On the otherhand, I'd argue that the skills learnt in day to day work, are more valuable than studying from a book for a qualification. The business skills learnt, will help me not only in the final year of Uni, but in the future aswell.

The office was okay. As I was situated in a smaller office in comparison to others available, the atmosphere seemed dull in comparison, but at the same time, I still enjoyed my time in the office. I have friends who are at other offices, who say there are lots of Interns and Grads, but I suppose I was just unlucky with my year, as I am the only one in the office. This didn't detract from my placement, as I still made the most of it, just slightly difficult as there was a lack of younger people in my work area.

I'd say the placement was organised well, but there was some points of ambiguity. I had applied really early on in the year, took my online assessments and telephone phonecalls really early on, but had to wait a good 3-4 months before hearing back from them regarding the next steps, and if I had been dropped from the selection stages. Wouldn't put that down to Atos, more to the External Recruitment company. I had daily tasks assigned to me, and I became an integrated part of the team, so I would say overall, the organisation was in place, internally!

I had the opportunity to train for a Technical Qualification, given to me by line manager. They invested resources into me, but as stated previously, I wasn't able to fully take advantage of that, due to the workload, which looking back on I regret not doing it. The company sets Bi-annual objectives for the employees to work on, constantly trying to develop them and allowing them to reskill. So there is a process for creating your own personal development plan, which can be tedious, but is very helpful in the future.

Basically been offered a graduate opportunity at Atos. The intern scheme acts as a feeder into the Graduate scheme, so they like to recruit from the Intern scheme as much as possible. I treated the Placement, like a year long job interview, so it definitely paid off! I can see a line of progression aswell, expanding higher than the graduate scheme.

As stated previously, there was, but I was unfortunate that there wasn't alot going on at my Office. It's definitely luck of the draw for where you are located. I had to choose as the opportunities that I wasted to pursue, were not located in Large Intern areas. There are lots of opportunities going on up and down the country, but are more concentrated around larger site. I was involved in some volunteering earlier in the scheme, which allowed me to network with other Interns and Grads from different areas. We had a three day Intern training programme, located on a QA training centre, which allowed me to meet the other Interns, and put names to faces.

Birmingham is a decent place for Students, as there are a couple of universities, there are alots of pubs and clubs available. Cost of living is as you would expect for a major city.

As stated above, The Nightlife is pretty good, as Birmingham is a student city, there was always something going on. Lots of pubs, clubs and music concerts to enjoy.

Not as much as there could have been. Again, I was probably unlucky in the fact that I was situated at a smaller Atos Site, but other offices I know, there are football 5 a sides, and more social events available. There is always volunteering opportunities to get involved in, such as the Million Makers.