Engineering Summer Intern Review

I have really enjoyed the placement, meeting lots of new people and getting involved in lots of different types of work. I found the people very friendly and welcoming, with lots of apprentices, interns and graduates to make friends with. I also felt like the internship has taught me lots of useful skills and given me an insight into future work possibilities.

Colleagues were really welcoming and grateful for help. Many understood that interns and graduates were the future talent of the business and brought new ideas and skills. Other interns and graduates valued my help and took time to teach me new skills and explain things I didn’t understand. Other employees were always grateful if I completed a task they gave me which made me to feel like my work was helping others.

My line manager was very helpful and friendly if I ever needed to ask for help. I had regular reviews to check my progress and I was encouraged to express my opinions to guide what I wanted to do in the following weeks. Other managers were also generally helpful if I ever asked for any guidance and gave valuable career advice.

The amount of work I got definitely fluctuated ranging from having not much to do, to having lots of work. Mostly I was able to find work and if you ask people and look for work yourself, there is usually something to do. The longer I was in the internship and the more competent I became at tasks, the more work I was given and able to do.

There were some projects where I felt I had quite a lot of responsibility and was working independently. I was also producing and sending documents to customers, being responsible for sending correct information in a professional format. However I didn’t feel like this was too much responsibility and before any work was sent out I was given guidance and it was checked and signed off by supervisors.

The skills I developed were probably not that relevant to my degree in engineering as I didn't get involved in maths or the same things covered in my degree, although my degree is not specialised to the same work done by the business. I did learn lots of skills useful for a later job though such as excel, data management, team work, organisation, presentation skills etc.

The office were I was sat was very friendly and there were often conversations between staff. When going for a coffee, members from other offices readily introduced themselves and took interest in what I was doing. The other young people were also really friendly and easy to talk to during lunchtime and socialise with.

There was some organisation in the internship though I would preferred a bit more of a structured layout. Saying that, this allowed for flexibility within activities in the placement.

I felt the company was very willing to support training. I attended several training courses in the business which helped me to expand my skills in different areas. I also learnt lots of new skills through doing different tasks for people and other staff members were happy to take time to explain how things worked.

I have spoken with many of the graduates and they all have positive feedback of the graduate course, the projects and work they do seems very interesting. Many of these graduates were interns before, using this as an opportunity to see how they would enjoy the business. I think a future job with Siemens could be a very exciting opportunity and as it is such a big company, there be many employment prospects all around the world.

I really enjoyed making friends with the other interns who were all very friendly and nice. There were also organised team bonding sessions such as a Treasure Hunt in Ashby which was fun, and we have met up outside of work for meals and drinks a few times. I have also formed friendships with the other colleagues I have been working with and enjoy chatting with them at work.

Ashby is quite a small town and from what I hear accommodation is a reasonable price. I lived in Derby during my placement which was a 30 minute drive to work and similarly there are many available, cheap places for accommodation and food nearby the placement. Socialising was very reasonably priced in Ashby- good excuse to visit the pub!

Ashby is a fairly small town, there was some nightlife but for a good night you need to travel a bit further to Leicester or Nottingham. There is one night club in Ashby that some colleagues sometimes go to for a night out, so it can be alright once in a while for a laugh. There are several nice pubs in Ashby which are reasonably priced so you could enjoy a nice night there.

Yes! There are lots of volunteering activities such as helping out in local schools, recruitment days, Greenpower events. I was also part of the Equality Diversity and Inclusion group who helped to organise fun events in the office and also fundraise money for charity. We organised a 'Great Ashby BakeOff' which was lots of fun and we raised nearly £100 for charity. I am also going to participate in a sponsored Siemens Mind Walk to raise money for the charity mind.