Technology Intern Review

Overall I really enjoyed my time with BP - my team was fun, my work was interesting and would be useful for the company, the city was nice and there were loads of other interns which meant I wasn't on my own for the whole summer.

I got on with the other members of my team. We were all working on different things but they were always ready to answer my questions, help me out or just chat. They appreciated that I am young and inexperienced in the oil & gas industry but knew I was working on something which needed doing and trusted me to do it.

I was given a desk next to my line manager. He judged what work I could do, and how long it would take, perfectly. He was always prepared to answer my questions and give his advice. He was not overbearing at all and let me get on with it, but asked me to keep him updated with my progress.

Because I was responsible for my work and my deadlines were at the end of the 11 week internship, I was able to manage my time as I felt appropriate. I was given plenty of work to do, but not so much that I felt overstretched or having to work extra hours

I was given a project to update various graphics and documentation for an oil & gas platform in the North Sea. The team was very busy so my manager gave me some of his own work and trusted me to complete it and submit. He wanted to do as little editing and re-writing as possible, so (subject to managerial reviews) I was entirely responsible for my work.

Managing my time, reviewing old documents, assessing information and data and writing official documents and reports are useful skills in all jobs. My specific work helped gave me a real feel for how process/chemical engineering is applied in real life, the stages that occur during the lifetime of a project, and gave me a really good base level of knowledge to enter the oil and gas industry with.

Everyone was busy and working hard, but there was always time for a tea/coffee/biscuit and a chat. This was really useful as it gave me a chance to get to know the other team members better, how they find their job, what their career path has been like and any interesting stories or experiences they have had...

The internship was set up as well as it could be. I cannot think of how else it could be improved. HR keep a tab on you but don't come across as nagging, and all the practicalities have been thought through e.g. choosing managers and letting them set work, providing office space and equipment, suggesting accommodation.

BP provide loads of opportunities for training and development - presentation skills workshops with professional feed back, official assessments of our behaviors and performance, intern & graduate talks at lunchtimes given on a range of topics by anyone from an intern to the head of BP North Sea (these are called "lunch'n'learns"). There are also opportunities to visit sites (e.g. where gas/oil pipelines comes onshore, workshops etc) and an extensive online web-learning system.

I am writing this on the penultimate day of my internship, but the prospects look good and HR / my manager have been saying that they want to offer interns a graduate position!

The other interns were fun and friendly. Most of us stayed together in some local university halls and in the first few weeks there were quite a few big social get-togethers / nights out. After a few weeks things settled down and there were fewer organised events, but by that time most people had settled down and gotten to know their flatmates better. As the internship progressed, more and more people used the flexi-Fridays (every other Friday off) to take a 3 day trip to their home / friends / partners / Edinburgh.

Aberdeen is a relatively expensive city to stay and live in, however it is still cheaper than London and BP pay well enough that it is not a real issue. If you are happy to live on a shoestring, it is certainly possible to save a decent amount of money for final year of uni / traveling.

There are plenty of places to go: bars and pubs all over the place and several clubs. However, prices on a Friday and Saturday get a bit steep.

I'm a rugby player and I was able to get in touch with local rugby club to train and play with them over the course of the summer. They were a high quality rugby club with proper coaching and the players were good fun and from all different backgrounds - students, engineers, policemen, electricians... Elsewhere other interns got involved in intern/graduate touch rugby or football evenings. My flatmates even played badminton once a week together (whilst I was at rugby training).