Software Quality Assurance Engineer Review

I have found my time at HPE to be very enjoyable overall. I got along well with the other interns on my team as well as the permanent employees I was working with. The working atmosphere was very relaxed and I was given a lot of freedom to get on with my work at my own pace and trusted to meet deadlines on my own.

I always felt like a useful part of the team and the jobs I was given were always of some importance so I didn't feel like I was just being given unimportant work to keep me busy. The employees I work with on a regular basis all value my opinion on the projects I am working on and quite a few of my suggestions have been implemented in the final product. I feel like my ideas have merit and my suggestions will be taken seriously.

My manager is often very busy and doesn't have the time to manage me and the other interns directly as much as he would like to. However, he will always make time for us if we come to him about any problems or questions we have and takes out development as interns very seriously. Our supervisor gives us a lot of freedom and trusts that if we have any questions or concerns that we will come to him about it. This means that the responsibility is on me to ask for the support that I need, however, he is always available and willing to help when we ask.

The work tends to come in waves. There have been times when I have been extremely busy for a month or two, trying to meet a deadline or implement a complicated feature in the project I am working on. Then there are times when I have finished all available work and things slow down for a week or so. During these times I am often going over previous work and doing tests/fixing bugs and/or helping other interns on the team with their projects.

Although the work load wasn't necessarily constant, the work I was involved in was all important and meaningful to the company. I was heavily involved in a project throughout the year that the whole office will eventually be using on a regular basis and I was given a lot of freedom to complete the work, from start to finish, along with the other interns on my team. I got a real sense of ownership over that particular area and really felt responsible for it's progression.

I am in a slightly unusual situation as I am studying Electronic Engineering but my job here is purely Software Engineering. I do a lot of software on my course and the skills I have been developing at HPE will be invaluable for my return to University and beyond. I am, however, very out of practice when it comes to working with hardware and this job will not help very much with those aspects of my course. I feel like, in terms of professional experience, this job has helped immeasurably. I now have real experience of what it's like to work in this industry and what the job involved and have gained massive amounts of experience in working as part of a team and bringing a product from idea to reality.

The office is very relaxed and full of friendly and interesting people. We are welcome to chat as long as it doesn't disrupt our work or the work of those around us and lunch and break can be taken any time. We are trusted to be sensible and to complete the work that is required of us. Hours are also flexible, provided we work a full day, and there is no clocking system to keep track of us. We are trusted to be honest. There is a Ping-Pong table in the foyer that we are welcome to use on out breaks and it has proven to be a very effective stress reliever!

The overall structure of the internship is very relaxed but effective. We were largely in charge of our own training initially, but help and support was available from everyone in the office if we required it. Unfortunately, shortly after I started working here there was an important software release going out and our whole team was very involved in it. This meant that they didn't have as much time for us interns as they would normally have liked and as a result our work came a bit slower than usual during that time period. Since then, however, things have picked up a lot and everyone has time to help us any time we need.

There were a lot of training documents and tutorials available in my first month, however, I was left largely to my own devices in terms of how I used them. There was an on-boarding checklist to complete but a lot of it could be skipped if I was so inclined. In terms of one-to-one training there have been a lot of times when my supervisor has sat down with me to discuss complicated topics and has endeavored to teach me as best he can. I have found this very helpful throughout the year. There have also been opportunities to join online courses regarding various aspects of the job and the product that we work on in the office, however these offer no externally recognized accreditation and only serve to broaden our knowledge of the topics we are working on.

I would say that HPE is a place that I would be very happy to work in. The atmosphere is pleasant and the work is interesting. There also seems to plenty of opportunity for advancement and annual pay raises. The only reason I would hesitate to accept a job here is that I'm not sure if i want a career in pure software engineering, given that my degree includes electronics as well. I do feel, however, that I would be very happy here and would hesitate to turn down a job in such a reputable company with such good opportunities.

I got along very well with all of the interns on my team. We took lunch together every day and always had something to talk about.

I lived at home for the duration of the year

I never went out in the area of work

The interns in HPE are in charge of much of the charity work that the office is involved in. We were given full responsibility to organize events to raise money for charity and at the end of the year we were rewarded with vouchers based on how much we raised. During the year we were involved in two charity walks for the British Heart Foundation, a pancake sale on Pancake Tuesday for SOS Bus NI and a 24 Hour gaming marathon for Mind, the mental health charity. In addition to this there was also a Christmas lunch and party which was payed for by the company.