IT Intern Review

The role I was placed in within the department was exactly the type of work my skill set/interests were suited to, so I thoroughly enjoyed my projects, though there were some periods where work was slightly scarce. I worked in a small and quiet office environment, with two other interns, which I found helped productivity. Overall I'm very glad I did the placement!

I got on well with most of my colleagues and other people on the site and they were mostly very appreciative of the work I produced for them. I was also given an award at the end of the year for a project I'd produced. The mentor I was paired up was great mentor and provided advice and support as and when I needed it.

This varied throughout the year as our management switched half way through. Our new management was a lot more involved in our team and was able to give us, the interns, more hands on guidance. Initially we were perhaps guided too much, though as time went on we were given more independence and responsibilities. As all our skills varied within our team, at times it was difficult to be able to provide all the support we needed, thought we were put in contact with people on other sites for additional help. Over the team I worked in was very happy to help when asked. Also, as mentioned in the last comment I was paired up with a very supportive mentor who helped me deal with any issues at work as well as giving me advice about my future career.

As seemed to be the case with numerous interns across the departments on site, workload seemed to fluctuate. For me, work was fairly scarce initially, though I appreciated being given real projects right from the start no matter how small. About halfway through I was much more comfortable in the role and that enabled me to go out and seek my own projects which put me in more control of my workload. At these times, I felt the work balance was just right. I wouldn't say I was ever extremely rushed off my feet.

Understandably, my level of responsibility increased as time progressed and I learnt more about the business and how things worked. Within a few months I was able to set up and run my own meetings, often without senior staff present. I was sometimes expected to seek my own projects and most of them I was responsible for producing on my own.

I was able to develop key skills that would help towards the final year of my degree. I feel I gained a lot from producing my work as I could see how it fitted into a real life business scenario. Therefore, I gained a lot of business knowledge as well as specific technical skills. Along with this I built on communication skills, by running and leading meetings, writing emails and communicating frequently with clients. I didn't receive much formal training, however.

On the whole the office was pretty laid back. It was a small team so sometimes the office could become completely silent, though. Also on some days there would only be one of us in the office if the others were on holiday/off sick simultaneously, though this wasn't the worst thing in the world. The office would have some chat and banter from time to time which was nice and helped to break up the day a bit. I was also good friends with the other interns in my office which helped. However, given it was such a small team, if one or two people were stressed the mood could easily rub off onto everyone else too.

We had a lovely welcome day when we all arrived which was nice. Luckily I had a current intern who helped me get to know the basics of how the team worked. The downside was that it took us a few days for us to get our laptops so the first few days were just general chat from the team about how things ran. Overall though, the placement was set up well and I felt like I settled into the routine fairly smoothly which was the main thing.

There was an online portal full of online training courses, though most of the free ones were a little rudimentary. Unfortunately I didn't receive much training on the job other than how to use the email system etc. I would've loved to have gone on a short training course or something but unfortunately these opportunities didn't seem to be there. What did help my personal development though was frequent 1:1s with my supervisor to give me feedback on what I needed to improve on.

On the site I worked at, the digital department didn't seem particularly innovative and there was little push towards new technologies. Therefore, I think as someone hoping to persue a career in IT I'd imagine my skill set could stale if I worked on that particular site for a good length of time. However, I'm very interested to experience the digital teams on much bigger sites as I'm aware this isn't the case across the board. That being said, I enjoyed the community on the site and seeing how my projects were helping colleagues. Also worth noting, a few of the interns were able to secure some extensions and part time work following their placement.

The social element of this placement year was great! I was part of a group of about 30 interns and the vast majority of us lived in the main city which helped! I wouldn't recommend living out as those people had to book hotels just to come for a night out and it was also difficult for them to join in on last minute plans on a weekday evening. There'd always be something happening every weekend whether it be nights out, bowling, meals or lazer quest.This dulled down a bit towards the end of the placement though but I think that's because people had started to do things in smaller groups.

Personally I chose an individual flat which meant I had to pay a fair bit more than others. In hindsight I wish I'd rented somewhere a bit cheaper as my budget was always being stretched! The cost of socialising and doing things wasn't particularly expensive though, it was more just that we all wanted to do things every week and eventually it all added up! As a result I didn't manage to save up much money over the year though it was worth it given all the exciting things I got to do while I was there.

The nightlife isn't too bad! Not the best but not the worst. There's a wide range of clubs given it's a student city, which offer a variety of music. Aside from clubs, there was a great number of shops and restaurants open til late. On weekends especially there were plenty of people out and about at night. Overall lots to do and choose from!

Definitely. As a group we were particularly social and there was always someone suggesting we do this or that. I didn't take part but the site organised events like a team Tough Mudder challenge too. As an office we also arranged meals out and a christmas party too. All in all I'd say there was enough happening outside of work.