Technical Artist Intern Review

I enjoyed it and thought it was very valuable - everyone was very welcoming and great to work with, the office environment is awesome, the work I was doing had real impact and I had a lot of opportunities to learn new things. The only thing I'd maybe have wanted more of was variety, but I have no complaints about what I was doing, because it very much needed to be done.

I felt very valued! Everyone was super friendly, and if I needed support, they were all very approachable. I feel they also valued me - my contributions were noticed and appreciated, and when I moved teams, I heard they missed me, which was very heartwarming! The office has a very social culture so it was encouraged to hang out with colleagues, which was great.

There was a lot of guidance available - I was sat right next to my supervisor/mentors, so it was really easy to get help from them when needed. I had fortnightly catch-ups with my manager, where he checked up on how I was doing and asked if I had any issues, which were really valuable.

I was generally pretty busy on a daily basis. Some days were a bit slow, but I never felt swamped or overwhelmed by my work, and the pace was pretty chilled - obviously we were working to get things done, but the atmosphere feels like a more positive "it's done when it's done" than a "IT MUST BE DONE NOW", which is nice.

I was given a decent amount of responsibility - once I knew what I was doing, I more or less just got on with it, asking questions when needed. There was a period of time when my mentor was on holiday, so I was the only one around of my particular role - a little daunting, but it went well!

I feel most of the skills I've picked up are pretty general purpose, and I'll be able to use them in future. Quite a bit of work I did was fairly specific to the project, so that won't be directly useful going forward, but the problem-solving, team-working etc type stuff will be.

The general atmosphere is great! Everyone is there to get stuff done, of course, but the environment feels very relaxed, and you can take a break to have a chat or a bit of a laugh or go get coffee whenever you want. There are plenty of social initiatives - Friday drinks, for example, are a great way to get to know colleagues.

It was generally pretty good, but sometimes there could be breakdowns in communication. For example, there was some confusion about the timetable for our intern induction, where we were told at pretty short notice what was going on and some of the information trickled through secondhand rather than in official channels.

I'd say there was a decent investment in terms of employee time taken to explain stuff to me etc., and I also had a lot of learning resources at my disposal to use should I want to (Pluralsight, etc). This isn't a particularly large personal investment for them, just an opening up of what they already have (unless licenses are really expensive), but it's appreciated nonetheless.

I've got a job with them now, so, I'd say they're pretty great. Most (if not all) of the interns who were hoping for jobs got offers, and those who are still at uni had invitations to get in touch at a later date, so prospects of employment are good.

Yes! We made our own channel on the internal instant messaging service, so we could chat easily (even when we were spread across the office) and arrange to get lunch or similar. I feel like a fair few of us became genuine friends, and it was great spending time with them and getting to know them.

Well, the office is in the heart of Soho, which is in the heart of London, so it ain't cheap. That said, there are places to go which are cheaper than others, and there are measures you can take to cut costs. Like, for example, hanging out in the office, where the drinks and snacks are free...

I didn't particularly venture out all that often, but given it's the heart of Soho, in the heart of London, I'd hazard a guess that it's good.

Yes, a fair few! All of King's regular out-of-work opportunities were extended to interns, such as discounted theatre trips or free movie showings. There wasn't anything we were excluded from on the basis of being 'just' interns. King seems to hold fairly regular social activities, so there were many opportunities.