Lab technician Review
by Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl)
This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
-
The Role
4.3
-
The Company
3.6
-
The Culture
2.9
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
The work I did was incredibly interesting and I felt like I was given the opportunity to make a genuine positive contribution to the company rather than just being kept busy with unimportant tasks.
My colleagues at DSTL were all very welcoming, I settled into my office very quickly.
My manager and lab supervisors were always very happy to help me with any problems I had with my work, if I didn't understand something there would always be somebody around that I could ask to help.
I had a number of projects to do, one of which ran through the entire course of the project, so if I ran out of work in one area there was always another job for me to turn to. However my deadlines weren't so strict that the workload ever became stressful.
I was given lots of help on how to operate the equipment in the lab at first. As the year went on and I was trusted to be able to carry out various tasks by myself I was given the freedom to prioritise and carry out my projects without excessive guidance.
The skills I developed at DSTL will be invaluable in my degree and in the future. I have gained an enormous amount of practical experience in the operation of electronics lab equipment and soldering, as well as experience of writing technical reports.
The Company
Very relaxed.
The induction process was very smooth and made the switch from sixth form to full time work much less jarring than I had expected. The one issue I had was that information on when the placement would begin was given to us at very short notice.
At the beginning of the placement I was given the opportunity to attend various training courses relevant to the work that I would be doing, for instance a soldering course and a manual handling course.
Flexi Time
Company Parties/Events
Staff Sales/Staff Shop
Above 25 days holiday
The workplace benefits and the rewarding and interesting nature of the work done at DSTL make the possibility of working there in the future very appealing.
The Culture
There were around 15 placement students, living in three houses in the same town, and we all spent a lot of time together outside of work hours.
Rent and bills only came to around a third of my income during the placement, so I had plenty of spare money to spend on other things.
In the town we were living there wasn't much going on besides a couple of pubs, however we were a 30 minute train ride away from central London as well as a couple of other larger towns.
Not particularly, other than 5 a side football or the gym.
Details
Placement (10 Months+)
London
October 2014
