We asked each of our interns to tell us about their time at Labman – next up, Tom Benham-Croswell.
“Thrown in at the deep-end” - this phrase sums up my, and probably every intern’s, experience at Labman. It sounds daunting and it is. You will either learn to swim or you will drown, and some people do drown. However, they only drown because they don’t realise the most important thing at Labman, the thing that makes Labman different, the one thing that makes Labman such a good place to intern: Everyone around you is a lifeguard. If you are stuck and don’t know what to do there are 100 people ready to help. Everybody wants you to do well because they want Labman to produce good projects. It is that family feel here that lets interns do so well.
This culture is definitely helped by all of the extra-curricular things that happen here. Today I played a game of squash at lunch, later this week I will go ice-skating with bunch of employees, last Saturday a bunch of people went on a long walk. These both help you relax after work let you become friends rather than colleagues. Anyone who has done any team work anywhere knows the importance of trusting the people you are with. That is so much easier when you are working with friends.
I have learnt a lot at Labman. To list a few: my CAD has got far better and faster, I (finally) understand electric motors and what “flux” means, I am lathe trained, and most importantly of all I can design parts to be made rather than just looking good on Solidworks.
This placement has given me a chance to properly work as I will when I graduate. I wasn’t making tea or cleaning, I was doing the same job as graduates and treated like one. I would recommend this placement to anyone who wants that experience too.