Project Manager Review

I think the internship helped me to develop a wide range of different skills, and I thoroughly enjoyed most aspects of the role. I worked as a Project Management and I was lucky enough to work on a number of different interesting projects, getting a lot of exposure to the real responsibilities of a project manager.

My colleagues at Fujitsu have been extremely welcoming and helpful all through the year. Everyone is happy to help, and answer any questions which helped me to learn an awful lot during the year. But at the same time, they know to treat you as a colleague and an equal and never talk down to you, and hold you to the same expectations which I think was vital in helping me to develop so much.

My manager and the colleagues around me that I worked mostly with were always offering support and advice. I always had someone in the vicinity who would be able to offer me support on the work I was tasked with, and this was helpful to get me started and help me to learn about all of the work I’d be carrying out during the year.

On the whole, I was kept quite busy during the year, constantly working on a few different projects, having to keep on top of budgets, track progress and create project plans or initiation documents. This meant that there was constantly something for me to be working on, and should I ever get it complete, I was always able to ask my manager to check if there was anything else I could work on or learn.

Over the course of the placement, I was given a number of different projects to manage on my own, with it being solely my responsibility. I was also tasked with representing the company at the Fujitsu Forum in Munich, and at the Warsaw World Tour event where I was the only representative from the Hyperconnected Demonstration Zone. This shows the level of responsibility I was handed, and it was a brilliant experience for me, being trusted to represent the company in their best light and demonstrate the array of technology produced by Fujitsu.

I was lucky enough to develop lots of different skills while at Fujitsu, working on professional skills such as leadership and teamwork as they played a big role in my time as a project manager. But I was also given the opportunity to take part in training courses, in which I took the opportunity to complete some in both computer coding, and network and telecommunications, which gave me a much better understanding of the market, and Fujitsu as a company. They are all skills that will help me massively in the future, in this industry or another, as they can be applied to a number of different situations.

During my time at Fujitsu, the office was very laid back, and the employees are all afforded a high level of flexibility and responsibility over their work. Everyone is expected to get their work done, and it wasn’t uncommon for people to stay late, but during the day, everyone is happy to have a casual chat about work or life in general which makes it a much nicer place to be and I enjoyed it a lot of the time.

I think that the placement was well organised, with separate modules for the whole IP cohort to complete and meet up in the Bracknell office to go through. We were also tasked with a Paperclip Challenge, in which we were tasked with raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support whilst testing our business knowledge and abilities. On top of that, my manager constantly had work for me to do, and was happy for me to take on projects on my own, rather than micro-managing everything I did, which I enjoyed.

The company I think invested a huge amount in my development and growth, not necessarily in the training they provided me with, but more the responsibility they gave me during the year. In funding my trips to Munich and Warsaw for the Forum/World Tour events, it shows the level of investment they are willing to put behind an Industrial Placement employee to help them develop. I think these were two of the highlights of the year and they helped me to develop an awful lot, and learn a lot about my skill set.

Future employment prospects at Fujitsu are currently very appealing due to how welcoming the company has been, and the amount that they have shown belief in me. There are a number of different prospects at Fujitsu that interest me, and the culture at the company I think suits my personality very well. On the whole I would encourage anyone interested in joining to make sure they ask lots of questions, and learn as much as they can, as it helped me to enjoy the experience a lot more, and I would be keen to come back and learn more.

The social scene amongst the Industrial Placement cohort was very, very good. We met up on a number of occasions for the various learning modules we did, and for the events, the company covered a night for a hotel. This allowed us to meet up the night before for a meal and a few drinks which was always a great time as all of the cohort were a great laugh and we all got on extremely well.

On the whole, moving out to live on my own for a year did come with added expenses I hadn’t faced in a shared house at University. But there are ways round this, such as looking for a shared house! But the area I lived in (just outside Birmingham) was priced as you’d expect for a big city in the UK, and I felt on the whole it was fair. I had a very short journey to work so I was able to save money by walking, and the trains into and back from town were frequent and cheap so it was manageable.

The nightlife was very good as you’d expect! I was lucky enough to work in the same office as 4 other students on an Industrial Placement, 3 of which are local from around Birmingham. So they knew the nightlife very well, and we were able to maintain a good mixture between working and socialising. The only downside was that it was quite an expensive taxi journey at the end of the night, once the trains had stopped running!

Yeah there were a few activities to get involved in while working at Fujitsu, namely a 5 a side football game every Wednesday lunch time. This was great to get out of the office and keep active during the day, as it involves a lot of sitting down at times. There was also other activities such as 11 a side football, occasional 5k fun runs for charity, and a steps challenge where teams would compete to see who covered the most steps in a specified time period. Although there could have been a few more organised, it was still a good way to get to know colleagues and build up a rapport.