Junior Engineer Review

I enjoyed my internship because I was given the opportunity to understand how a large business like Sony ran on a day to day business. Being a part of the Sony Placement Year (SPY) programme allowed me to socialise with interns from other departments and made the past 12 months thoroughly enjoyable.

Other than the team I worked in, I felt somewhat valued. There were roughly 50 members working in the department and even though everyone was friendly, I felt that there was a lack of cohesion. Having said that, the work that I produced was heavily praised within my team and everyone was supportive with each other.

If I was stuck with an issue and I had a good attempt at trying to resolve it, my team was always there to help. My manager would share some of her code if she knew that it was related to the problem that I was facing. In the world of software development, a lot of help is found online and I feel that this was my main resource of getting over obstacles.

It varied. In the run up to Christmas, it was hectic as I had to manage my time wisely between 2 projects and prioritise the features that I had to implement for both. However, towards the end of the internship, I felt that work has slightly eased down and more time was spent to prepare for the handover period for the next intern. In general, I'd say there was a good balance and if you want more work, then this can be accommodated.

Quite a lot. When I was working on a project, I felt that the whole project belonged to me because I would be the only person developing it. Since the project was my own work, I felt that I had to ensure the code had as few bugs as it could otherwise the finger would be pointed towards me! There were times where I felt I was performing tasks that others could've performed.

I feel that I have definitely strengthened my ability to program in the one language that I was taught at university. As a result, I am more inclined to program in this language for my final year project. In addition, I have started to persevere a lot more with my work.

The office was quite relaxed and casual which surprised me when I first started. For the majority of the year, I was wearing a t-shirt, jeans and trainers to work and no one had an issue with it. It wasn't loud in the office so I was able to complete the work at hand. However, I feel that the office could've been more sociable and welcoming.

The Sony Placement Year (SPY) programme itself was very well organised. There were 4 SPY days during the year where the interns from both the Weybridge and Basingstoke office (roughly 30 in total) would meet up at an event space where we would take part in a workshop. Before the internship, the interns were put in contact so that we could discuss housing arrangements.

Most of the time, it was on the job training (Googling problems that I faced). During the year, there were roughly 10 workshops held by different members of the department where they would discuss the work that they do. Apart from these sessions, there was very little time that was invested by the department.

There are always job roles that are vacant within the company and not just for the department that I work in. After this placement year, I have developed a threshold of job satisfaction, benefits and personal growth within the company that I would like to meet when I decide on my job after I graduate. If I was offered to come back as I graduate, I would consider it.

There was a great intern community at Sony and this made the placement year very enjoyable. At lunch, all the interns would gather and socialise together. I was lucky that I worked with 2 other interns so it felt like I was working at university. I will definitely stay in contact with the interns after the placement scheme.

As Basingstoke is a commuter town into London, the prices are moderate. I was living in a shared house very close to the town centre where I was paying £550 pm with bills included. You can expect to pay between £500-£600pm in Basingstoke. There is a free shuttle bus that Sony provides.

Sony has a sport and social club where they hold regular social events throughout the year. However, there were no socials that happened within the department outside of work.