Systems Engineer Review

The internship has been interesting and has taught me a great deal about an area of the company I previously knew very little about, there has been a steady stream of work for me to complete at all times meaning I’ve never been bored or stuck for things to do. The people in the team have been accommodating and friendly, helping whenever it was needed.

As previously mentioned, there was a steady stream of work to be completed at all times, on top of this the work seemed to genuinely matter to the day to day operation of the team, so in that sense I felt valued - there was guidance when it was asked for and positive reinforcement when a job was completed to a good standard.

My manager was aware of my experience in the company before this placement and was therefore generally happy to let me get on with whatever task was given to me. That being said, there was always support if it was needed and initially there were always people willing to explain things to me that were unclear due to my inexperience in Ground Services.

There were always tasks for me to complete on a daily basis, and to an extent the work I was doing was self-generated; along with meetings and workshops there was usually plenty to keep me busy during an average day. If not then asking for work usually resulted in being given something to keep me busy for a while.

As previously stated it felt like the work I was doing was making a genuine difference and I was given genuine responsibility to get this done. The tasks I was doing would be used to support decisions made by the business and other teams within Ground Service, on the whole it was a good amount of responsibility for a 10 week placement.

An understanding of maintenance tasks in general will be useful going forward in my degree and also in general, I was given plenty of exposure to people within the business, therefore improving my interpersonal and communication skills. Organisation and process was a key part of my placement so I had to be able to pick that up quickly.

There was a light hearted and friendly atmosphere in the office, everybody in the team was friendly and welcoming and they were all willing to help me get to grips with the work when necessary. There were other grads and apprentices in the team so it was nice to have some exposure to people your age doing the same job.

The internship was well organised from an administrative point of view, I was given a laptop and various other necessary pieces of kit on the first day with the team. There was a clear outline of what I would be working on and it was explained to me on my arrival with the teams purpose was and where I would fit into that.

Given the short nature of the placement it can be difficult to invest a great amount of time or resources into my development, that being said there was training and workshops offered, and I was given access to specialist databases so I could perform my role, so it was to be expected on balance.

Given the size of the organisation and the number of roles available to graduates the prospect of future employment is one I look forward to. The fact that the company offers a comprehensive sponsorship scheme and graduate scheme is very appealing; there are also opportunities for placements abroad and around the country.

Most of the other interns on my placement scheme were based at a different site and therefore I wasn’t able to socialise much with them throughout the 10 weeks, I was also living outside of the area I was working so there wasn’t much opportunity for socialising outside of work.

Living in the north is generally cheaper and the salary on the placement was more than sufficient to cover the cost of living, travelling and socialising. At the site I was working at we also had the advantage of a subsidised canteen, I never used it but there was also a shuttle bus service available for getting in and out of work.

Samlesbury itself has very little in the way of nightlife by virtue of being a rural area with only a few pubs etc, Preston is better with plenty of bars, restaurants and nightclubs – however as I was living outside of Preston it was always a little tricky getting in and out as the transport links aren’t fantastic.

There were sports societies and a social club available to those who wanted at my place of work and there were always things to do in the local area. At Samlesbury there’s a gym that’s kind of onsite however it wasn’t that cheap and in the end I ended up finding a better priced one in Preston.