Software developer Review

I really enjoyed my time at Softwire. The people are super nice, and put real effort into making you feel welcome and relaxed. The culture of the company is one of trust and valuing people, which is really refreshing to see. The project I worked on was challenging but a great deal of fun, and the weeks sped by.

Again, this is an area that Sofwire felt like a breath of fresh air. All of the company were incredibly welcoming and helped us settle in extremely quickly. Moreover after we finished the project, we gave a talk on it that loads of the company (voluntarily) attended and listened to, which made me feel like what I was doing was not just an afterthought, but a legitimately interesting project.

We were in a team of six interns with a technical lead who was extremely supportive and patient, and was always on hand whenever needed to explain some concept or other. The company also ensured we each had a line manager, with whom we would regularly talk if there was anything outside of work that we needed to air.

Again, since the project was a well-defined and thought-through piece of work, as opposed to an afterthought or whatever bit of work the full-time employees didn't want to do, the work was well-paced. Very rarely was I left with little to do or too much, since whenever you finished a piece of work you could pick up the next bit of the project straight away and work on that. Likewise if you took a while to do a bit of work, you wouldn't fall behind or anything, so we were never overwhelmed.

Since our project was just a sort of internal experiment, as opposed to a requested piece of work from a client, there wasn't all that much responsibility to be had in all. However certainly in the sense of being trusted to pick up work and see it through, we were responsible for our own schedules and work.

I have no doubt that I have gained invaluable skills in programming and software development. Before I started the internship I had little experience to speak of in software - I'd done the odd online course, but there's only so much you can garner from these. However both the training at the start of the internship and the actual project itself taught me a great deal of highly applicable skills in software.

The atmosphere at Softwire is super relaxed and fun. Everyone is cheerful and friendly, and there's the classic software in-office perks of a pool table and a table tennis table, as well as a music room and pinball machine which are available for anyone at any time, so often people will take a break with one of these. There's no set work hours to speak of, so if you want a break you can take one.

The project itself felt highly thought through and carefully planned, so the organisation of the work was managed well. As we progressed we did hit a couple of points where the project was less well-scoped, but I actually quite liked that because it gave us a chance to sit down and discuss where the project was going.

Again, Softwire really made an effort to invest in their interns. We were given solid training, and it often felt like the work we were being given was there to give us experience working with something new, so we could really get as broad an overall experience as possible.

I got offered a job with the company.

The social scene wasn't as much divided down the intern/full-time line, and everyone sort of did everything together. The social scene, on the whole, was nicely varied and there were always a ton of events happening (which the interns were always invited to take part in), so it didn't feel like the intern-specific social scene was lacking as such.

This was a bit of a downside - the area (Kentish Town/Tufnell park) is not particularly cheap. That being said, Softwire compensate you well for your time and effort, so you can certainly afford to live there during your internship and have a decent sum left over, so I'm not sure this is too much of an issue.

Camden is right nearby which is obviously a hive of activity at night. A bit more north, where the office is, is a bit more quiet but that suited me nicely. There is still a solid range of pubs around, and given that Kentish Town is on the Northern line (with Night tube at the weekend), pretty much the whole of London is on your doorstep anyway, so you shouldn't want for nightlife.

As mentioned, Softwire really go out of their way to offer opportunities outside of the workplace as much as within. We had funded pub trips, a theatre trip, a climbing trip, socials in the office, yoga, martial arts, a board games night, a mafia night, and plenty of other things to choose from.