Technical Solutions Specialist Review

I enjoyed my placement. Being a Technical Solutions Specialist meant I could experience the business and the technical side of the software development process. Developing software products for many different customers was quite exciting and being involved in the front-end side of the software development meant I learnt a lot of web-development techniques and programming languages.

Throughout my placement I felt very valued. Despite being an Industrial Placement Student I was treated just like a normal employee. There are a variety of tasks required in my team and so I was trained to do all so that I could jump from project to project quite easily.

I was guided and well trained in my team. My colleagues are always easy to talk to and quick to answer my queries when I am lost. I had regular placement meetings with my manager to ensure that I was on track with my learning and would get some learning challenges/goals throughout the year.

Despite the amount of work, I find that I was never too busy. My team always had time for a monthly team lunch (different time preferences across different teams). Our work is estimated before done, so it is always planned to ensure that our team is able to do the work set.

Throughout my placement, as I progressed in my skills and learning I was given more responsibilities. It started from making a very simple 1-line code change, then slowly moving to implementing functionalities to be used by the customer and even designing functionalities to be implemented. One of my challenges throughout the year was researching and presenting to my team about a methodology that would change the way we communicate the requirements of the client - Now we are using this methodology in our processes.

I find these skills and experience I learnt very important in assisting my degree. Technical wise, web technologies is a large part of my degree. But also, the problem solving and programming techniques I learnt in general were very important. Understanding how a company uses the Software development life cycle, how to convert customer requirements into functional designs, how to create test plans, user-acceptance testing... And the list goes on.

I found the atmosphere in the office was very relaxed. I found it very easy to talk to anyone. The break room was also was a very relaxing place to be. Occasionally there would events in the building to celebrate certain milestones met by the company or certain teams or projects.

I found the overall work placement was well organised.

I found all of my training was done internally, within my team. I don't think really, that it would be possible to receive certifications for the type of job I had. I would be given real-work as art of training, but also side-projects to help me improve my web development skills

There are a lot of opportunities in the company and plenty of room for progression in the job.

I find the social side of the company is good. I find it amazing that whenever someone has a birthday, they would bring treats to the break room. Occasionally, we would have celebrations for team, project or company milestones, be it in a building or in another venue. Team lunches are very common in the company, a lot of teams tend to have team lunches on a weekly basis

Seeing as Newbury wasn't a student city (like Reading for example), cost of accommodation was more expensive. It can be quite hard to find shared housing as well. However, it is not impossible and with the salary we receive from work, we are still able to pay for our rent, bills and and go out on trips with my other intern colleagues. However, despite saying it's expensive, Newbury is a very lovely, clean area to live.

There aren't many clubs in Newbury. There are quite a lot of pubs though. Some of these pubs also turn have dance floors so the night isn't always quite.

A number of different people from work organised certain events and socials. So far I've participated in weekly tennis, occasional Go-Karting sessions. I know that there is cycling and football arranged by people from work as well. I know that there are sports team in Newbury. Also, Reading is quite nearby so there are plenty of activities there as well