Summer Student Review

It was an enjoyable internship however there wasn't always a lot to do. When I was tasked with a real project, it was very enjoyable and I felt that I learnt a lot. This, however, wasn't always a lot to do and some tasks were very pointless and just ended up being a waste of time.

The department is fairly understaffed and so I think that they really appreciate having summer students however there is the mentality that summer students don't cost a lot so there is the mentality that tasks which no one wants to do will be given to them. This greatly varies depending on the supervisor but I feel like I was often given work that my supervisor didn't want to do.

Not a lot of direction was given and guidance was very limited as my supervisor was too busy.

Again, this greatly varied. With one project, I constantly had work and with another project, there wasn't a lot to do. There are also a lot of IT issues and so hours a day can be spent trying to sort those out. When the project is good, I was kept very busy.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement. My tasks were completely my own and they trusted me to report back when necessary. I was given the freedom to try multiple approaches and wasn't just given a brief and told exactly how to complete the task. Also, as students don't really work together on projects, each student was very responsible for their own project.

The skills I gained during the placement didn't really help me during my degree as a lot of it was just learning how to use software or perform mechanical tasks and so hardly required any technical knowledge however as I was exposed to such a wide range of tasks, I gained many invaluable skills which are easily applicable to jobs beyond a degree.

The office atmosphere was very good. Generally the group is fairly young and there are a lot of graduates so there are a lot of people to get on with. If you're stuck or confused there was always someone else to ask for help. The team is very friendly and always up for a little chat or to tell you more about the company.

It was not organised at all. For some students, they had a very clear brief and so there wasn't much to organise however, generally, the work was quite haphazard for the summer students. Especially over the summer, many of the employees are on holiday and so the work is very random and not always organised. Some of the projects aren't really well-organised with weeks worth of work not being used because of a slight detail.

Because of the high level of clearance required for this job, they invest quite a lot into the summer students. Lots of the work is software based and so they put time into training you on relevant software which can take multiple days or even weeks to fully grasp. I think there's the general consensus that if you're good, they want you back and so they make sure you're well-trained.

They are appealing for some however I don't think that the overall package is worth it. People in general seem very stressed, the location isn't very good and the pay isn't very high for what you do. The work can be really interesting at times although career development within the company seems very difficult.

There was a good social scene as sometimes the summer students would go for lunch outside of work and even organise events together. The students would also have lunch together everyday and so it was very social in that aspect. The social aspect between students and their supervisors was also really good and so you didn't as if they were your supervisors.

The cost was okay. There was reduced rent over the summer which made it affordable.

What nightlife? The place is on a hill in the middle of nowhere. The neighbouring cities, such as Portsmouth and Southampton, were okay for nightlife although there still wasn't much to do.

A few but you had to organise them all yourself and it was difficult to find times when everyone was available.