Software Engineering Intern Review

I really enjoyed the first half of my internship while I was on one project but when I moved to my second project the work became a lot duller and I found myself bored on a regular basis. It depended heavily what work I had to do as to whether I was enjoying the placement or not.

I felt extremely valued by my other colleagues while working at GE because they always gave me great feedback and told me how well I was doing. I had regular meetings with my manager where he told me the good feedback he had received about my work as well and I also received a few bonus rewards for going above and beyond my normal work.

The support I got varied depending on which project I was working on. On my second project I received very little input from my manager at times which left me feeling very lost and without work to complete. However, I was able to get a lot of support from other members of my team which almost made up for the lack of direct management,

I could be very busy one day and then on the next have little to nothing to do. It just depended on how the project was progressing and whether my manager was around or not. There were some days when I just had to make up work for myself to do such as completing university assignments or creating random applications.

I feel like I was given almost too much responsibility at times. Myself and another intern were put in charge of training a group of outsourcers on how to do a job for our company but we felt like we had been thrown right in the deep end without enough knowledge to complete the task properly,

Most of the skills I have learnt will be very useful when i return to university and begin my career. Things like the software engineering lifecycle and seeing all the different stages of the project development are things i will definitely be able to use for my final year project and in future interviews/jobs.

This was very dependent on where you were sat in the office, I think I was lucky to be put next to another Intern so we could chat about things as well as do work. Some people I know though weren't so lucky and mostly just sat in silence and bored for the whole year.

I feel like the placement could have been a lot better organised because when I turned up the project I was supposed to be working on wasn't actually ready for me. They also had no project on-boarding training lined up for us which made it very difficult to get to grips with the job at first.

The project I was on was so short of people that they were hesitant to let me go and try other parts of the business. I would have been able to develop a lot more if I could have tried learning more skills such as a new programming language or how to use different applications.

If I wanted to I could come back as a graduate but I don't think that is what I want to do with my future.

The other Interns on my placement were really fun and we did a lot of things together outside work. We also had an Early Careers Christmas party and they organised quite a few nights out for everyone.

The cost of living is quite high in Cheltenham as it's quite a posh place; My rent was a lot higher than I was used to paying in Bristol. Bars and restaurants were normal prices, the same as anywhere else.

Cheltenham isn't really renowned for its nightlife as it's quite a small town. There are two clubs but they aren't the best. However, there are loads of pubs, bars and restaurants which do drinks deals and things.

There were a lot of volunteering opportunities you could take part in that were work based but happened outside of work hours. I volunteered with Girls Get Set which was a scheme which aimed to get girls into STEM related subjects and I really enjoyed giving up my time for it.