Information Systems Placement Review

I really enjoyed my placement and my time in London - the work atmosphere is amazing and being able to have a walk by the side of Thames during a break still makes me smile.

At M&G, everyone is considered an essential part of the team, regardless of whether you are summer intern, placement or a permanent employee! The atmosphere is very easygoing and supportive! When you get in the office, you see more friends than colleagues.

All of my managers were very supportive! I had scheduled 1:1 meetings weekly but those were just the formal representations of open and productive communication that was happening all the time really. I also had monthly personal development meetings where I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my personal development manager showed great interest in my future career goals and how I can get achieve them.

My workload was dynamic having days where there is less or more to do than others but I was never overloaded or left myself to have little to do. My managers will always ask for my workload before assigning a new piece of work and be flexible with deadlines when I am working on many things at once. Nonetheless, I was present with a variety of tasks and given a lot of freedom to manage my time.

During my placement, the responsibility that I was given steadily grew with time and was directly related to the results of my work. I found no 'set limits' on the responsibility an intern is allowed to have - if you are doing well and you ask for more responsibility - you will surely get it. On the other hand, your managers will always keep an eye and make sure you are comfortable with the levels of responsibility you are given.

I developed a wide range of skills most of which technical and directly related to my degree, the rest were business and soft skills relevant not just in my studies but in any other work area. There were formal training sessions and an entire library of online courses available to boost any type of technical or non technical skills. I find my studies much easier now than my last year in uni!

As I said before, the atmosphere was very friendly, supportive and easygoing. Everyone is very approachable regardless of their position - if they have the time they will speak to you straight away, otherwise they will come back to you as soon as their immediate preoccupation is sorted. The open plan of the office could only add to the latter. As a placement, I had loads of questions - anyone was doing their best to help me with those or point me to the right person for the more specific queries.

I think it was quite well organised, up to all of my and my university's expectations. We were formally introduced to the company and the business' landscape and how our department fits in the big picture. There were dedicated people to help with any placement queries I had.

There were formal training days in the beginning and I was able (and encouraged) to attend a wide range of business, technical and soft skills internal courses. The company was more than happy to pay for external training when necessary. I did not need to take advantage of that though, none the less it was available to me as it was to every placement student.

At M&G, interns and placements are not viewed as people that just come and go! My placement was extended to the end of the following summer and many of the interns who were there when I started, came back, a lot of them getting offers for after they graduate. As I have two more years in uni, I was offered an internship for next summer.

There were many new interns/placements/graduates at the time I joined. They were all very social and that was on cross department level as well! We would often go somewhere for drinks after work. This was the case for the teams I was in as well where we would often go out for dinner or lunch together.

London's super-center is not the cheapest place to live or socialize in. Nonetheless, socializing is affordable as the company is well aware of its location and this is reflected in the pay rates. I lived like 20 mins away from the office and the prices were not bad at all - it just takes a bit of research before moving in.

If Central London does not have a lively nightlife I do not know which place does! Clubs and bars are dotted all over the area and the views at night can only contribute to the atmosphere. As everywhere, getting your credit card on a night out is a bad idea.

There were many social and sport events being organised all the time - Prudential Ride London being just the tip of the iceberg. There were many opportunities for charity activities, voluntary work or just socializing with your team and other colleagues on a night out. Whatever your interests and time constraints are, there will be at least a couple of activities you can take part in.