Test Development Intern (Operations) Review

I really enjoyed my internship. It was challenging and often fast paced, keeping up with changes in production demands and priorities, but hugely rewarding when solutions were found and implemented or new products were launched into the business. It was enjoyable to work with lots of different people, from experienced engineers, supply chain managers and factory operators.

I feel very valued by my colleagues. I often represented my department at meetings and took a lead role in Electrical Health and Safety improvement projects. Within my department, I brought new skills such as CAD which benefited the team in our communications with external contractors. I received a lot of recognition for my work throughout the year, including helpful feedback for improvements going forwards.

At the beginning, I was given a lot of support from my manager, particularly the details to the technical aspects of my work coding. Coming from a mechanical background, I thought I would struggle working in the electrical sector, but my colleagues took time to explain the common parts of circuitry in our products to broaden my understanding and help in debugging production problems.

I was ‘busy’ everyday, sometimes ‘very busy’, although this enabled me to become more aware of my time restrictions, more critical of how long a task takes me and learn that it’s okay to negotiate deadlines when you are reporting to lots of stakeholders. If I ever felt over-whelmed by the amount of work I had to do, my manager was supportive in giving me a list of priorities or helping me share the work.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement, as the first response in production support, solving technical line-stop issues and reducing downtime. I also undertook many of my own projects to modernise the test equipment on the shop floor. I was involved in managing two external contractors and communication with engineers at OEM companies.

The skills I have developed in LabVIEW and the electronics that it interfaces with have massively assisted in choosing a Robotics module next year at university. Other skills, like project management where I received formal training, the opportunity to learn from experienced project managers and much practical experience for myself are invaluable in all careers going forwards.

The office atmosphere was comfortable, where you could have discussions about work and were not afraid to ask questions or offer a different opinion. The engineers that I worked with were welcoming, friendly and often very funny. The office was quiet enough to get work done and keep concentration away from the factory shop floor.

The internship has been run, updated and fine-tuned for many years, so the infrastructure for the assessment days, monthly training events and end of year celebration events is all well run. I found that having one central Intern Manager was great to turn to if you have any difficulties or questions about graduate schemes.

We had monthly training events in recognising our development types, communication and assertiveness and project management etc. Eaton invests in you as their future graduates, trying to give you as big a range of awareness across the entire business, so you develop an appreciation the bigger picture of the industry, rather than just being sat at a computer on your own.

There are opportunities for assuming full time positions or graduate scheme positions after graduation. Some of the grad positions are abroad given that Eaton is a global company, on a competitive salary and include more travel opportunities for personal development and training events.

There were 33 interns in my intake scattered across nine sites in the UK, and we all met up most months for the training events. The interns at my site have become really close and mates away from work/uni. There’s also been lots of social events with everyone from work, including nights out and the Christmas party. I’ve also been involved with weekly football, indoor climbing and the Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge.

The cost of living is really affordable in South Wales. It’s much cheaper to live in Newport, but renting in Cardiff is still very affordable, compared to other UK cities.

Cardiff is a really great place to go out in, from stand-up comedy, local gigs and arena concerts. There’s a huge variety of pubs and clubs and I really recommend going out to see the rugby in South Wales, even if you don’t normally follow it. There’s a big student scene in Cardiff, which can help if you’re worried about leaving your student days behind you.

I got involved in a local student-run caving club which was a great opportunity and enabled me to meet new people, explore the Brecon Beacons and begin sea kayaking in Pembrokeshire.