My Intel Corporation placement

My name is Karolina and I am a 4th Year Business Computing student. I did my placement year at Intel Corporation. I worked there for 14 months as a Supply Chain Business Analyst.

The application process

Since the beginning of my undergraduate degree I knew I wanted to do a placement. It seemed like an amazing opportunity to gain experience in a professional setting. I started looking and actively applying for placement roles during my second year. Around October time. To improve my CV, I booked an appointment with the Professional Development Centre (PDC).

Mo is an advisor for the Computer Science department and I must say it has helped me a lot! I received loads of useful tips about my CV, the application process etc.

I highly recommend booking an appointment with your PDC consultant if you are unsure what you should be doing. I applied for Intel around November and received my offer in March. The recruitment steps were a telephone interview and assessment centre. This may differ for different type of roles and companies. Be prepared to do online assessments and video interviews.

Life at Intel

I started my placement in July. The standard length of the internship is 13 months. It is slightly longer than a typical placement. This is due to 5 weeks handover period that Intel provides.

When I started my internship there had been 2 interns in the same position as me. They helped me with ramping up to the projects. This allowed the seamless transition between the previous interns and me – a new hire. There were plenty of training sessions provided for the interns (and there were many of us, around 50!) and many opportunities to get involved in the extracurricular activities and committees. My role – Supply Chain Business Analyst – was never boring and each day was different. Which made the job really exciting.

I was involved in multiple projects throughout the internship. I supported stable tools and implemented completely new products that impacted large part of the business.

I worked with people from different backgrounds and multiple countries. I had regular meetings with the teams based in India and the US. Being able to work on multiple projects not only allowed me to network with many employees, but also learn valuable skills.

I learnt how to use Power BI software and have become more confident when expressing my opinions. I also learnt loads about how the company operates, and gained business acumen.

Even though Intel is a large corporation, you definitely get responsibilities! The opportunities to grow and learn new things are pretty much endless.

Extracurricular Activities

I had an opportunity to shadow the Digital Marketing team and learn more about web analytics because I expressed an interest in this area. I was also elected as a Publishing Committee head and produced a bi-weekly newsletter for interns. This included weekly meetings with other interns, who were part of this committee.

I was involved in multiple STEM activities. I created quarterly newsletters for STEM @ Intel Committee. It was sent out to all of the employees based in the UK!

I also was a core member of STEM committee. I helped with organising an Intel stand for Swindon Science Festival. It was attended by over 2000 people. During this event we showed VR and AI offerings. We allowed participants to experience VR and gain deeper understanding of AI.

There were many opportunities to get involved in volunteering and helping the communities.

Social Life

The Intel intern community is truly amazing. During the first 5 weeks and towards the end of the internship, there were both new and “old” interns on site. This means there are almost 100 of us during this period!

We ate lunch together everyday in the canteen, and we had a chance to socialise on Thursday evenings. There is also a Sports & Social Committee made out of interns. They organise multiple events and nights out, as well as sport activities and competitions.

In order to say goodbye to previous interns, a Handover Ball is organised each year. Unfortunately, in 2020, the Handover Ball was cancelled! However, I had an opportunity to attend one in 2019 and it was truly amazing and I had loads of fun.

During my internship I have met many amazing people and I know some of them will stay in my life for a very, very long time!

COVID

Due to pandemic, I started working remotely from March up until the end of my internship (which was extended by an extra month) – September. Even though it felt quite scary not to see the team in the office every day, the company did everything to ensure the interns get the support necessary and continue with their projects as normal. On top of that, having catch-up meetings with fellow interns ensured we stayed in touch and we did our best to do so, by organising game nights etc.

It may seem stressful to be “thrown” into a professional environment, but let me tell you, it really pays off! So have a look at the opportunities out there and you will not regret it. The amount of knowledge you gain through placement year will definitely help you when looking for graduate positions