Software Placement Student Review

I am currently on placement and am very much happy about how it is going. I have made friends that I will have for life. They support the students really well and try their best to adhere to the students' needs. I have learnt things I will be using in my future career and have benefited greatly from spending time in a work environment.

My opinion was always valued within the team. Even if I misunderstood, my colleagues would always hear my point of view, and would try to guide me towards the correct answer. I also enjoy taking part of various team bonding events with my colleagues, and always felt 100% included in the team.

Even though they were busy, they did not fail to give me all the guidance required by me. They taught me the pros and cons of various practices in programming. I was assigned to 2 mentors, which meant that if one was too busy there was another I could ask for help when necessary. The help I received was always excellent.

I have always been very busy, either working on defects, working on my project, or writing documents. If there was any time that I found myself with no work, I'd ask my line manager for any outstanding defects, and these were assigned to me on a prioritized basis. I also often took part in integration testing, which consisted of installing the latest build of software and testing it against the defects fixed in that build.

I was surprised at how much responsibility I was given, especially being a student. They trusted me with some crucial parts of the code and even assigned a project to me that was very challenging but a really good learning experience. This project is currently being reviewed, and will become production code by January.

I have been given expert guidance during my time at ASM, which has helped me to immensely improve and hone my skills. I will be able to apply this newly gained knowledge and experience during the last year of my degree, and onwards with my career as a software engineer.

The atmosphere in the office is very friendly and welcoming. It really is a fun place to work. I have had a chance to work with a few of the different departments, and people from different backgrounds within the company, and have always felt very welcomed and accepted. Everybody is pleasant and well-mannered, holding doors open and wishing you a good morning / evening. There are always cakes and sweets around for birthdays, and everybody likes to have fun. People are very encouraging and happy to help, which makes for a very productive work place.

It was really well organized. The placement is for 13 months where the first month overlaps with the previous placement student and the final month overlaps with the new students which allows the new students to learn from the already experienced students. I had 2 mentors along with my supervisor who were always there to help me.

In addition to the overlap with the previous placement student, I was also allocated 2 dedicated mentors whom provided full support throughout the placement with constant 'training' and guidance. I was also provided a years membership to Plurasight; an online IT training course provider, as well as a half day per week set aside for personal development.

As an international student, it can be difficult to find an organisation willing to sponsor a work visa, but having spoken with managers; ASM seem willing to offer sponsorship, should a position be available upon graduation, and provided my Skills meet the requirements. Currently there are multiple former placement students being kept on so there is a clear emphasis on bringing people back into the company.

The placement students hang out as often as they can, going to the cinema, restaurants or for some drinks. We also regularly attend the sports and social clubs, including a weekly Badminton session. Amongst my colleagues we have team bonding days, social events and gatherings, which all help create a friendly co-operative atmosphere at work.

There is a lot to do outside of work, some with colleagues, through the sport & social clubs, some completely separate in and around Weymouth. Currently I partake in Badminton, Boxing and Swimming. Bournemouth, a busy student city is just up the road, which adds a lot more options for evenings out and fun weekends.