Summer Technology Analyst Review

My team of 4 interns were given a challenging but accomplishable task to complete over 10 weeks. During these weeks we learned a lot of valuable industry skills to help us complete this task and gained a lot of experience working in a professional environment. Everyone I talked to was pleasant and helpful and I felt very supported.

My team’s task was to improve the workflow of existing colleagues in a specific way so we worked closely with them and they seemed very appreciative of our work. Our manager was happy to see our progress and learning. Within my team, the other interns valued my contributions to our project.

I had weekly informal coffee meetings with my mentor who was only two years older than me and had gone through the same experience. Our product owner gave us a lot of guidance as our task was his idea. Our manager did not provide a lot of support but he did say this is because we didn’t need it which is true.

It varied between some days where we would be problem solving and working constantly to reach our next goal to other days where we would be slowly fixing problems and making small tweaks here and there as we waited for our next goal to be given to us. The work pace was set by us as we did not have 10 weeks worth of work but we were motivated enough to keep reaching our goals quickly.

My responsibility was kept within my intern team’s scope, however I could use my manager’s team’s projects to test our own project with. From a work perspective, within my team the work was split fairly and evenly by us and we delegated work to ourselves based on our strengths and interests

I have learned a lot of valuable skills in professional software development and good practices in this area. I have received training in some business areas, Maven, Jenkins, and Spring Boot. I have also gained insight into best Java development practices and had valuable networking experiences to further my professional network.

It was a very relaxed office that still produced a high standard of work. Everyone who already worked there was really friendly and there were often doughnuts/snacks around. The intern community was amazing and there were often socials organised by the company and by ourselves. Everyone was patient and could joke around as well.

My team and I spent the first week learning and the remainder of weeks working on our project. We progressed at a faster rate than expected so sometimes we were left with very little to no work to do for a day or so. In those circumstances we would carry on with learning courses that were provided by the organisation.

They provided a lot of training and support when we just arrived to help us set up and learn the necdessary skills. There were always opportunities to improve ourselves by going to intern events and doing more online training. If we ever needed more work we could always ask and if we were interested in other areas we were allowed to shadow other interns/staff.

It seems like there is a lot of opportunity for personal development and growth as a full time employee which is very important to me. It is also commonplace for employees to switch teams based on interests in other projects or other personal reasons if they wish. I also had a great time which is a major incentive to work there again.

A lot of the interns there would go for nights out after work and on the weekend. Every lunch time the interns would flood the social areas to chill and have lunch together which was really nice. I am aware of lots of interns who had social events with their managers and manager’s team as well.

Firewater on Sauchihall Street has 90p drinks and a great pub quiz on Wednesdays. Other local pubs and bars were fairly inexpensive and there are multiple Wetherspoons within 10 minutes of the company. Other interns paid cheapish rates for their accommodation according to them, I lived at home so I didn’t face this problem.

There are so many clubs and bars in Glasgow which provide a wide range of music tastes and settings. As mentioned above, Firewater is a classic but also Garage was great for nights out especially on Fridays after work. Interns usually live not far from these places so it’s easy to pre and go out.

I couldn’t keep track of all the opportunities but there are groups for so many different sports and activities which meet regularly. For example there is a lunchtime running club which does about 5k every day. There was a corporate responsibility day where all of the interns were given manual labour jobs for a day in a place outside of Glasgow.