George Hutson - Summer
2006 Placement Student
Why did the prospect of an internship
at Gurit (UK)
appeal to you?
I wanted to gain the experience of working for
a global company, but at the same time, I wanted
to be able to add value, rather than ‘doing
the rounds or work shadowing’ like most
interns do at other companies. Gurit was perfect
for this, as I was allocated my own project
to work on.
What was the selection process like?
I had a telephone interview and then went down
to the Isle of Wight for a formal interview
and a tour around the immaculate facility. The
Interviews were mixed, asking questions about
my extracurricular activities, my knowledge
of composites and my reasons for applying.
In simple terms, what did you actually
'do' as an intern?
As an intern I worked on a project that was
very valuable to the company. Projects usually
come about as offshoots of previous work or
extensions of current work going on around the
globe, but without the use of interns, the company
wouldn’t necessarily be able to fully
explore them. Projects that would normally take
a term to do at Uni, are expected to be completed
in 6 weeks. Initially I spent a week working
at their prototype and development units and
then I spent most of my time in the development
labs preparing specimens or at my desk analysing
the stream of mechanical test reports.
What projects were you involved with?
I worked on two projects that looked into Gurit’s
Corecell, I had to prepare and test; density,
tensile, compression and fracture toughness
specimens, I had to lay-up and infuse laminates,
analyse cell microstructures and I even infused
a 20ft boat.
Which skills proved particularly useful?
After a week of orientation, I was left alone
to get on with my project. My manager was always
there to help if I needed guidance and to solve
problems, but you must be able to work independently,
be a good communicator and be happy to approach
anyone to ask for advice. Fortunately everyone
was really helpful and would go out of their
way to explain what they were doing or help
you.
And do you have
time to relax?
I enjoyed my time on the island. I shared a
house in Cowes, which luckily served two purposes;
firstly it meant I could easily get back to
the mainland and it enabled me to save money
by leaving my car at home and either riding
in or taking the company bus to work. Secondly,
I was living in the centre of, in my opinion
the social hub of the island, whether for Cowes
week or the boisterous pub scene. However I
would definitely recommend renting a room with
someone as the island social life can appear
rather closed without a local guide. During
the summer there is also the IOW festival, Bestival,
and Cowes week, all of which were really good
fun.
|
