Data and Information Services Intern Review

I really enjoyed working with various people, on various tasks. I could mix between different things, rather than being stuck on one job. Nevertheless, I would've preferred a more technical internship, as I was primarily sat at a computer making spreadsheets or word documents outlining governance or policies. I understand this is completely necessary in a job, but I would've enjoyed learning more coding or trying to work out a particular failure in a component. I don't believe I used any of my engineering background throughout the internship, which was a slight shame.

The work environment is fantastic, employees are extremely friendly and my colleagues treated me as an equal and not an intern. I really appreciated working on real-life tasks that benefitted the company, working with other interns as well as managers, as it felt much more rewarding and valuable and I was able to develop my communication skills with a wide range of people.

My manager was fantastic, ensuring I had clear, well-defined assignments and giving me fortnightly reviews to see how I was getting on. She would always provide me with support/guidance when I required it and was easily contactable and flexible which really added to the placement. She was clearly extremely busy, but still had time for us interns, which was great!

Occasionally I felt like I didn't have much to do, but at the end of the internship it was suddenly hectic and I was rushing around doing quite a lot! That's just how it goes though, rather than being anything negative. I think overall, I was set a good number of tasks, there's just always delays and set backs and additional things to consider as you progress through.

As I have mentioned, I was given tasks that actually benefitted the company, even if they were more admin than technically based. I gave a couple of presentations within meetings and in a promotional video task, as a group of three interns, we were given full responsibility, ensuring we had our work checked regularly.

I really developed my team work, organisational and communication skills, as I have never worked in an office environment before, so undoubtedly it will be very useful for the future. That being said, I didn't develop my technical understanding quite as much as I'd have liked. I think exposure to this sort of environment is more valuable however than the technical skills, as that is something I could learn in my own time.

The office environment was very flexible, as I have mentioned - with no strict working hours. People also regularly brought in cakes or cookies etc!! It was an extremely friendly environment and I was working with 5 other interns, so it was good to also be around people my own age, as we had a laugh.

My internship had clearly been well organised by my manager, with clear assignments as said and my work laptop and PKI card being available on my first day. I did not faff around much at the start of my internship having to get things sorted! I was also given a range of tasks that I could really progress with as an intern, rather than being set something just to give me some work to do.

We undertook some Yellow Belt training and were also given some budgets for an Intern Café at the end of the placement to talk to employees about what we'd been up to during our internships and for our volunteering events we set up. We also went on a site visit to see some gas turbines in real life.

It was a great experience, but I'm not sure how keen I am on working in an office environment. Siemens seems like a great company to work for however, with a great atmosphere and you feel valued as an employee. I was impressed by how relaxed I felt so quickly. I also really like the mobility you can have within Siemens and the opportunities to work abroad!

As said, there were 5 other interns who started at the same time as me and we took part in an escape room together and all came into work together in the same car! We were also invited to drinks after work and other social activities by other employees, so it was a good social scene.

I had to arrange my accommodation in the middle of my exams and it ended up being quite expensive - around half of my total pay at Siemens. It would be great if Siemens could ask previous interns what they did for accommodation and suggest well priced recommendations to help us out a bit.

I only went out twice and it wasn't too bad, it was fun because of the people I was with, not because the clubs were that great!

We went to paintballing and basketball outside of work and could regularly meet up as interns as we all lived in the same accommodation block. Leamington is not particularly exciting though!