Engineering undergraduate Kim Barker (Emmanuel College) recently completed a 12-week internship at Siemens. Here she details her experience.
I gained valuable experience working for a big company with a diverse range of people from across the business. It gave me a good insight into future career prospects.
Undergraduate Kim Barker
Hi Kim, what were the highlights of your internship?
One of my favourite projects I worked on was the Business Improvement Project. Working together with a team of other undergraduates, apprentices and graduates, the aim of this project was to generate ideas for the future of the Siemens CIS (communication and information systems) business.
We competed with other teams in presenting a business case for our idea to senior management.
Our team proposed a new future for the SCADA (data acquisition) system that also analysed this data to produce fresh insights and subsequent actions. This involved the turning of Big Data into Smart Data to enable predictive maintenance to reduce delays on the rail network. It is exciting to think that our solution could be implemented into live projects in the near future.
There were also lots of opportunities to get involved in things outside of work too, such as team building events which have helped me to form better relationships with colleagues. I also joined the Equality Diversity and Inclusion Committee to run events, and participated in the Siemens Charity Mind Walk.
Kim worked in a team on a Business Improvement Project to help generate ideas for the future of the Siemens CIS (communication and information systems) business.
How has the internship benefitted you?
I have had the opportunity to move around several areas of the business and get involved with a few different projects at Siemens. I gained valuable experience working for a big company with a diverse range of people from across the business. It gave me a good insight into future career prospects, as I would love a career in engineering working at a big international company such as Siemens on exciting large-scale projects.
The Department of Engineering runs an Industrial Placements scheme and supports current undergraduate students as they search and apply for summer internships. The Department also works closely with employers to promote vacancies and encourage applications for their internship opportunities. To find out more, email Vicky Houghton, Industrial Placements Co-ordinator, at placements-coordinator@eng.cam.ac.uk
