Research & Development Intern Review

I really enjoyed working at JDE, the office environment is very relaxed and coffee breaks to discuss your work with other staff members or interns is encouraged. Quite a few interns are hired at a time for the R&D department which makes it easier when starting the internship because other people in the office are in the same boat.

I felt valued by my team as they gave me a lot of responsibility from the onset. I was allowed to travel with the team and organise events within the first couple of months which made me feel important within the company. Team building is also encouraged by the team managers.

Directly from my manager I was given a lot of support and guidance. Whenever I didn't understand something, know who to talk to or couldn't find something my manager would always help me out. I believe they went above and beyond to make sure I knew what I was doing.

In the first 6 months I was incredibly busy doing a lot of work for the team and also learning a lot about the coffee industry and how it is managed. The later half of my placement involved a lot more university work which was accounted for. I was allowed to complete this with less daily tasks to do.

I was given quite a large amount of responsibility within the projects I was assigned. I was expected to produce results within quite a short amount of time which was fairly difficult. I had to make Important calls with other members of the company using information that was previously discussed with my more direct management.

I learned a lot about how a global corporate company runs and what their objectives are. I also learnt a large amount about how to make processes efficient and cost effective. I completed some lab work and pilot plant work whilst at the company which has further developed my university skills.

The office had a relaxed yet busy atmosphere. General conversation occurred regularly across the office but people were also able to concentrate on their own work. Small meeting rooms to the side of the office could be used if you required a quieter environment. The dining room was really good with barista style coffee available when ever you required it.

From day 1 the placement was well organised with induction days running smoothly and frequent introduction to permanent staff members. Regular assessments were done throughout the year to see how you were handling your work load and how much progress you had made on your projects. Events for interns were organised which were very enjoyable.

The company trained me well to do a similar job in the future. They imparted a lot of company knowledge on to me about how things run in and outside of the coffee industry. They also trained me on a lot of equipment in the production of lab and pilot scale instant coffee.

Future employment was very appealing as the company had friendly and warm atmosphere. It also gave employees good opportunities to develop and travel. Although jobs were not guaranteed after the completion of university they were largely talked about by managers and often interns were told to keep in touch if they were looking for a post grad job.

I had a very good social life during my placement as there was a lot of placements students where I was living. Most of them were always up for a drink at the pub or to do something at the weekend. A group of us also went on a skiing trip during the placement which was a lot of fun.

For the area I was living in it was quite expensive. You could live quite cheaply but on internship money your wage wouldn't go very far after you had paid rent. However it wasn't anything like London prices which was a relief. The club nights on a Saturday were quite expensive.

There were a lot of pubs in the town which was good but the clubs were quite poor and very cheesy. The surrounding towns however were more scenic and only a train ride away. Other than drinking there wasn't a lot more that you could do, however when the sun was out the parks were quite nice.

The company run a student charity society for the interns in which they have a monetary target to reach. This money is all donated to charity. The Charity is picked by the company and the events are all organised by the interns. I had a lot of fun participating in the events over my time as an intern.