Every year, it is our privilege to welcome interns who are studying at universities around the UK to undertake their summer internship with us. But what it’s like doing an internship at Frazer-Nash? Here, Inigo Burrell, a second-year Aerospace Engineering student at the University of Bristol, Inigo Serjeant, a third-year Maths student at Imperial College London, and Jack Bardoe, a second-year Computer Science student at the University of Warwick share their experiences of working on real-world projects.
Hello! Thank you for sharing your experiences of being an intern at Frazer-Nash. What drew you to doing your internship with us?
Jack Bardoe: “When I was looking for an internship there were a lot of technical internships which seemed to be just in one sector. But when I looked on the Frazer-Nash website, I was drawn to working on lots of different projects across different sectors and very varied experiences. Other companies were really only offering one project for the whole internship.”
Inigo Burrell: “I had looked at other internships but had not considered one with a consultancy. When I found out about Frazer-Nash internships via LinkedIn, working on lots of different projects at the same time with lots of variety really appealed to me, so the idea of working for a consultancy this summer was quite interesting to me as a result.”
Inigo Serjeant: “I’m a Maths student, and for my summer internship what I really wanted to do was to use my mathematical skills on real-world projects. A lot of Maths graduates go to work in finance, which is not something I really want to do. When I looked at the Frazer-Nash website and saw the incredibly wide range of projects that I could be involved with and use my Maths skills to support, an internship here just seemed perfect for me.”
How did you find the application process?
Inigo Serjeant: “The first round of the process – the Arctic shores test - was reasonably abstract. The part of the application process I really enjoyed was the next phase: a video interview with Mark Joyce, who heads up Data Science and Modelling here. I’ve been to quite a few interviews and they are usually quite intense. It feels like the interviewer is trying to find flaws or catch you out. But my interview with Mark wasn’t like that at all. It was just a conversation about engineering and how I might solve a particular problem which really interested me. So, it felt like if this was going to be the kind of thing I would be doing for my internship, then actually Frazer-Nash would be a great place for me to work.”
Jack Bardoe: “That was also my experience. I hate interviews, so I was quite nervous for mine. But when I got on the call with Mark Joyce and Lewis Bailey, who is a Senior Consultant in the Cloud Technology team, we just started chatting about Computer Science and the company. They were both so welcoming. I felt like I was just chatting about a problem with a colleague. The whole application process felt very reasonable for what is, after all, just a ten-week internship. It felt like I was getting asked about stuff that was relevant to the role and that Mark and Lewis were genuinely trying to get to know me and find out what I would be good at.”
Inigo Burrell: “Yes, my favourite bit of the process was the interview as well. David Richards, who is a Principal Consultant in Mechanical Design, gave me a great overview about the company. He then presented a problem and asked me, in a very open-ended way, how I would tackle it. I really liked that style of interview – it felt much more like a discussion about engineering than a test. It felt like the interview was a very good reflection of the real-world problems that I would actually be working on for the internship and looking back it was a perfect taster for what working at Frazer-Nash is like.”
For all three of you this internship was your first time working in a professional corporate environment. What were your initial experiences?
Inigo Burrell: “Really good. The people on my team made a big effort to be in the office as much as they could in my first couple of weeks. Any time any of them had an interesting project or something they thought I could learn from, they would say ‘come and have a look at this.’ That was great. My line manager was also incredibly helpful, giving me lots of advice, introducing me to everyone, sharing his experience and answering all of my many questions. I’d never done an office job before, so I had to adjust from being at university, but my team got the balance just right between giving me guidance and support while also throwing me in at the deep end and giving me responsibility.”
Jack Bardoe: “Coming to work in the office for the first time was very different from what I’m used to. But it was great. I felt like I could ask anyone about anything and they would be quite happy to tell me all about it. For my projects, if I needed to know something in particular, I could ask a member of my team and they would advise speaking to this expert who I would then email and say: ‘I’m an intern working on this project, please can you talk to me about it?’ That expert would be really happy to jump on a call with me and tell me everything about the technology or subject. It was a really welcoming atmosphere.”
Inigo Serjeant: “You can talk to anyone any time in the company and you’ll get a good reply. It’s quite different from university where you can email professors and you might get a reply three to six months later, if you’re lucky! I loved the sound of the Invictus project - a new programme to develop and build a Mach 5-capable aircraft at the edge of space, by early 2031. I tried to get an opportunity to work on the machine learning team supporting the project. Although the final outcome was that it wasn’t quite the right time for me to join, which I was a bit disappointed about, however, everyone was very enthusiastic and supportive of me getting on board and were trying their best to help me gain the experience of working on the project.”
You’ve each been working on a wide range of different projects. Can you tell us about some of the things that you’ve learned?
Inigo Burrell: “When I first started my internship, I was working on a project around novel technologies in defence. I was looking at design, and 3D printing of materials and different technologies: my aeronautical engineering knowledge came in very handy. I’ve also worked on a health technology project, supporting client Duchenne UK in developing a product to enable muscular dystrophy patients to retain independence with tasks such as washing their own hands, another drone project and a sports technology project.”
“The project looking at novel technologies in defence was pretty much the first big thing that I did, and I was the only person working on it. I was given ten days of time and a set of deliverables for the client, and I had to plan out exactly how I would use the time to get everything done. I was pleasantly surprised that I was given a free rein in decision-making and so much responsibility straight off the bat. I really liked that. I thought it was a great learning experience because initially I wondered how on earth I would go about planning the project, but by the end I had a much better understanding of how a project is planned and put together.”
Jack Bardoe: “In very similar vein to Inigo B, I was surprised by the autonomy we have all been given from day one. Speaking to many of my friends who are doing software internships, they spent the first month or even half their placement, writing unit tests, making very simple fixes on things, or doing other grunt work. Whereas my very first job was making a website from scratch! Getting to do really interesting work and being given so much responsibility and free rein in structuring my tasks and selecting what technologies to use made my day job feel very rewarding. The balance has felt exactly right between letting me have freedom while being very considerately guided by my team who were always on hand to advise and check-in on my progress. I appreciated diving into a project and having to work things out for myself with expert guidance so I am constantly learning – it’s something I really enjoy.”
Inigo Serjeant: “Something I really enjoyed was working with Teensy and Arduino which I had not done a lot of previously. Because I had done some prompt engineering, I had the chance to work on a project which was looking at the potential of advances in AI video generation. I ended up actually making a half-minute promo video, which was really interesting.”
You’ve been working together on a technology project extending a previously funded UK Sport Institute project to develop performance tools for wheelchair sports for our sport campaign. What’s it been like combining your different areas of expertise and learning from established professionals while you work on a real-world client project?
Inigo Burrell: “It’s been good working together! We’ve each had all our defined areas of responsibility right from the get-go. Everyone is really easy to work with and it’s good fun. We’re each managing our particular technical areas of responsibility and have been given free rein on that. We can work with each other a lot, and when we need to tap into the experience and expertise of our team members, we can.”
Jack Bardoe: “Working with people with different specialities is so useful. For example, if I need someone to do the Maths, I speak to Inigo S, or if I need someone to do the hardware, I speak to Inigo B.”
Inigo Serjeant: “Inigo B was incredibly helpful with explaining how different pieces of hardware I had to integrate worked and Jack was great when helping me to debug different parts of my Arduino script. I’ve learned a lot on my projects. I hadn’t really used Arduino before or coded in any C-based language. I’m trying to pick up a lot on the software side, which is something new and a lot of learning, but everyone has been very supportive.”
Do you feel that you’re going back to university with new skills and knowledge?
Inigo Burrell: “Yes – I’ve learned much more than I thought I would coming into it. It’s made me aware of my blind spots as well and, in some cases, how much I don’t know!”
Inigo Serjeant: “I’ve also learned a lot. I realised that the people in this office are very, very good. No matter how good you think you are, that doesn’t really matter. People here are very clever and you see just what ten years of experience working on complex and challenging real-world problems for clients does for enhancing your skills, knowledge and practice. I’ve been in conversations in the office where people will give you a suggestion or recommendation and you think, wow, that’s a really good idea.”
Jack Bardoe: “In some ways, it’s going to be difficult going back to university because working on real-world problems is so much more rewarding than learning theoretical academic principles that you may not ever use, practising exam questions or revising for exams!”
Has your internship helped you to give you ideas about your future career plans?
Jack Bardoe: “I want to work in Software Development and doing my internship here has just reinforced that that’s what I want to do!”
Inigo Burrell: “I’ve still got another two years of university and so many things may change, but I’ve really enjoyed working in a consultancy. I thought I would enjoy the experience, and I really have. Long-term, I’d like to work in the space sector. Frazer-Nash does a lot of work in space, so if anyone here wants to give me a job when I graduate….!”
Inigo Serjeant: “We attended an Insight and Discover day here recently with all the other interns and year in industry students and it was fascinating to hear more about the different projects they’ve all been working on. I was really interested to hear about the sheer breadth of expertise of Frazer-Nash teams around the UK. It has made me think that a consultancy like this that is so diverse is something I’d be quite interested in, in the future.”
And finally, if you were talking to undergraduates who were thinking of where to do their internship next summer, would you recommend Frazer-Nash?
Inigo Burrell: “For me, definitely, yes. I’ve learned so much about how the company works, and how the world of engineering works in practice. It’s not just about equations, but how projects are actually delivered and managed.”
Inigo Serjeant: “Yes, I would definitely recommend Frazer-Nash internships. My advice to next year’s interns is: take every opportunity that is offered to you, and don’t hesitate to reach out to people, like I did with Invictus, because people here will really help you and support you in your ambitions and what you want to achieve.”
Jack Bardoe: “Yeah. The amount you learn and the freedom you have – I don’t know any other interns with all the opportunities we’ve be given. Between all I’ve learnt and everything I’ve been able to do, Frazer-Nash has really been the best place for me.”
