Software development intern Review

I found the work really interesting and my mentor was always making an effort to make sure I had things to do that were interesting, but that I wasn't struggling too much. I was given flexibility to choose in what direction I wanted to take my project which helped make it more enjoyable.

I felt very valued by my colleagues. I often played basketball and other sports with several people from my office at lunchtimes. I was often invited to (and went to) lunch trips on a Friday or to the pub after work. The office was very friendly and I felt very welcomed.

I was given lots of support my by mentor, and could always go to him when I was struggling with anything. I was given guidance when needed, but was also given freedom to steer the project in the direction I wanted it to go, but given advice to make sure I wasn't attempting anything too unrealistic.

I always had work to do and my mentor always made sure that I didn't run out of things to do. As the projects had quite a long deadline, I was never too busy but always had work I could be getting on with, so was never bored from lack of work.

For my first project, I was trusted to produce my scripts my the deadline, while being asked how comfortable I was to be able to do this. I was allowed to make my own decision about what technology I was going to use to do my second project after writing a report on the options. I was also allowed to decide what optional features to add on to this project.

My coding ability has improved greatly over the course of my placement, and this will help me with the two computing projects we are set in the final year of my degree. I have also been taught other useful skills like version control, which I will find useful for these projects and throughout my career.

The atmosphere was very good in the office. Everyone was always very friendly and many people in the office played basketball together (among other sports) at lunchtimes. There were also regular lunchtime trips for food and people going to the pub after work, which helped the atmosphere feel very inclusive.

The intership was very well set up. My work was always structured and my mentor went to a lot of effort to ensure I always had work to do and was enjoying the work. We also had an intern week with lots of activities and things on which was very good.

I was always asked what I was hoping to get out of my time here. I learned lots of new software skills and we also had a presentation and feedback session to help us improve. I also got to write a formal report for my second project, which was very useful experience.

Future employment prospects are excellent within the organisation. They have several offices around the country and take lots of new graduates. The company is a very enjoyable one to work for and there seems to be really good long term career prospects here. All of the employees I have talked to really enjoy working here.

There was a good social scene. There were regular meet ups for all of the interns outside of work as well as all of the social things happening in work. The intern week was great for meeting the other interns and the lunchtime sports and other activities were also very good for this.

The cost of living wan't very high, as the company provided a house for us to live in at a price which was very reasonable. There were many supermarkets nearby so you can cook for yourself fairly cheaply. Eating out was surprisingly not too expensive, neither was going out for a drink.

There wasn't much nightlife in the area, some of the interns went to the local club once, but reported that I wasn't worth going to. There are several pubs that people often go to after work as well as a Whetherspoons not too far away, but on the whole quite quiet.

There were many opportunities to do sports at lunchtimes, including football, basketball, ultimate frisbee, volleyball, touch rugby and so on. There were also other events on like netball, basketball throwing, poker, treasure hunts for the whole company to take part in. There are also other regular clubs like board games.