Intern Placement Review

Fantastic job - I spent 3 months working in the support team which was a great introduction into the business. I then moved into a project management role where I designed, developed and tested an IT solution which is now in use in all 1300 McDonald's restaurants. The job role was very challenging but also highly rewarding.

From day one, the whole team made me feel as though I had been there for years. They treat you like a valued memebr of staff and engage you in all conversations. By the end of the first week I was chatting to the IT director for McDonald's UK over a glass of wine!

The support was great, my boss regularly sat down with me and we discussed my progress and current project status. They were constuctivley critical in a way that allowed me to improve my skills and they also always recognise good work. As I completed my project on time and on budget, they told me I could choose a course I wanted to do and they would fund it, I am now a Prince2 Registered Practitioner!

As with any job, some days were very stressful and non stop work, and others were quite slow, however, overall the workload was quite well balanced. In my project management role, I was pretty much given total freedom, so any days that were stressful were down to me!

Loads of responsibility, I was given a project spec and told to get on with it! Quite scary at first and a hell of a learning curve, but a great chalange and even better feeling of satisfaction!

As my role was quite technical, many of the skills I learnt cannot be directly applied to my degree, however as IT is the career path I have chosen, these skills are invaluable. The more generic skills like communication, organisation, project management and general management have most certianly helped me with my degree, I have been able to apply my developed skills in a way that is far more effective than previously.

The overall atmosphere of the office was good, people are friendly and talkative. The IT department is a little quieter than the rest of the office. I was fortunate enough to work in a team with people I really got on with and could really have a laugh with.

We had a great induction led by the HR department (although a little late), this was really useful and gave us loads of information about our contribution to te organisation and a bit of background info on McD's. The IT department was well organised for placement students having run the scheme for several years now.

Whilst on placement, McD's put me through Prince2 Practitioner course. Microsoft Office 2010 training. Microsoft Sharepoint (Administration) training. Whilst not put through courses, I was also taught how to use and administer several applications. Thanks to McD's I am now competent in the use of Microsoft: System Centre Configuration Manager. System Centre Operations Manager. Server 2003/08 Windows XP and 7 (Advanced knowledge) Symantec Enterprise Hornbill Supportworks As well as many others!

Many of the students lived together whilst working at McD's. I lived at home and commuted as it worked out much cheaper. I regularly went out in London with the other placement students and there was a great social atmosphere.

London - Generally quite expensive! Even though pay at McD's was at the upper end of average, living is still very expensive, so living a busy social life was a challange (although not impossible).

Again, it's London - somewhere for everyone.

Not an awful lot in the IT department! Went paintballing a couple of times which was awesome. If the pub counts as an activity, the rating would be much higher.