• Question: Are internships important for an engineering student?

    Asked by tree to Alex, Chris, Mohamed, Rik, Victoria on 6 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Rik Allen

      Rik Allen answered on 6 Mar 2015:

      Hello. Good question.
      While internships are not essential, I find they can be useful.
      I was lucky enough to get a year pre-university at a research lab for Philips electronics, as well as holiday work during my degree. For this I got reasonable pay, and the chance to learn a lot from very clever people. When I got to university a year later, i felt I could understand why i was being taught things – it all made more sense.

      I currently work with some interns from Imperial college, and I hope they get as much from working with me as i got from my experience.

      If internships are not available, it certainly should not stop you going forwards.

    • Photo: Chris Waters

      Chris Waters answered on 6 Mar 2015:

      I never did an internship or placement during my studies, but it would have helped massively had I found one – it’s something I regretted not doing as any real-life experience you get can be useful in figuring out what you want to do once your studies are over. It also gives you the edge over other candidates, but like what’s been said before they’re not essential.

    • Photo: Victoria Sharpe

      Victoria Sharpe answered on 8 Mar 2015:

      I definitely think it is helpful as it makes you stand out from all the other graduates.

    • Photo: Alex Shenfield

      Alex Shenfield answered on 9 Mar 2015:

      I’m not sure internships or placements are essential (I never did one), but they do help to provide some real world experience and enhance job prospects after graduation.

      We encourage all of our undergraduates to go out on placement between their second and final years of study. Not only do they get a bit of cash for that year (and the potential of being taken on by their placement company), they usually come back with renewed energy, enthusiasm and focus. I am always surprised how much difference returning from placement makes to our students – in terms of both their maturity and effort they put in to their work .

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