Team member - Engineer Review

Had some really interesting projects that due to the sensitive/commercial reasons you wouldn't be able to do at any other place so was quite a unique opportunity. I really liked the fact that the work you do can potentially have a direct impact on helping our armed services. The work was really varied and luckily wasn't just stuck in an office the whole time as I was able to go out and participate in a few field trials.

Although everyone was very friendly and happy that you were there, I was given a couple things to do just because I was a summer student and the more senior members didn't want to use up their time doing it. It was a regular occurrence to be called 'cheap' in the office but I suppose that's why places do summer internships in the first place.

Everyone always made time for me if I had questions or needed help with things. Occasionally you need to follow things up yourself as people forget you're waiting on them but aside that cant fault them.

This tended to vary a lot week by week. After I'd finished my main couple projects my team struggled to find additional work for me to do in my final weeks so there was a lot of waiting around not doing an awful lot.

I was given sole responsibility for producing the deliverable for my project. Wasn't told specifically what it needed to include/look like etc. so it allowed me to use my own judgement and do the work as I saw fit.

A lot of the technical work was far removed from what I learn in uni so not that useful for future studies. Saying that there were a lot more general/transferable skills that I improved such as report writing and time management.

This really depends on your team. My team had some very funny characters so there was never much time between laughs. The open plan office definitely allows for a more social working environment. Some other teams however did seem very dull and I imagine I wouldn't have enjoyed working with them very much.

Started off very structured but as projects came to an end it became more a case of just talking to lots of different people asking if they have any work for you to do. Rather than just being confined to the department I applied to, I was allowed to do some work for another one just so I could get a broader experience of Dstl.

They happily bought me things like safety boots so I could go on trials but in general I wasn't allowed to go on a lot of the training courses that ran solely due to not being able to justify the costs for a temporary member of staff.

If you impress during your placement you'll usually get a sponsorship offer and a guaranteed interview after you graduate. I took the opportunity of making a few contacts in various departments and they were all very willing to help me out if I decide to come back next year.

There is a group run for all the new starters/placement students that does lots of social events. I went to a couple but wasn't really my crowd, preferred to make friends with some of the recent graduates in my department.

I lived in Southsea as that's where everyone recommended for the social scene. The costs of living and socialising are a bit more than at uni but still average. The only downside of going out is that because the uni term is finished, many of the bars/clubs are pretty pricey for a student.

I made friends with some of the recent graduates and went out a lot with them. We always went to the student areas so the bars/clubs were no different to any you find at uni. Depends on what you fancy really, many of the groups at Dstl don't really go out at all.

Was given the opportunity to go out on lots of field trials around the UK, even got to have a flight in a Chinook at one point. There are quite a few sports clubs that Dstl funds such as cycling that do tours to different places.