IP Software Engineer Review

For the most part, the work that I completed was interesting, allowing me to learn things that I would otherwise not have learnt at university. Some parts of the work were less interesting but the good outweighed the less interesting work over the course of the year. I enjoyed working within my team as I got on with them well.

Throughout the year I felt that my colleagues appreciated the work that I did and always valued any input I had into any conversations. This was also shown in performance reviews where praise was given but also ways to improve were suggested (along with goals for the next few months), which I found helpful.

Management/Supervisors always helped out when I asked for any help. As well as this, the whole team were always available to help so it wasn't just management that gave guidance, it was the whole team. I appreciated this as it meant that I could ask anyone rather than having to wait until management were available.

This often varied. Some days I had enough work to just get on with and the days went quickly, other days could sometimes be a bit boring if there was nothing interesting to do but there was always some work that could be done, even if it was a little less interesting. There wasn't ever really a time when I was too busy that it was stressful though.

I felt that I had quite a bit of responsibility throughout the year. I wasn't just stuck on the low priority work, I was involved in larger projects that were important to be completed. I felt part of the team and on an equal level to the other team members, despite having less experience.

This placement has allowed me to develop a greater understanding of the area that I worked in. This has given me ideas for my dissertation for university, as well as the skills to do so. It has also increased my confidence in communicating with others in the workplace - this will help greatly in any future jobs.

The atmosphere is positive and often there is conversations about non-work related topics, although sometimes the office is quiet. There is an area of the office where people can go on the games consoles, as well as work on the sofa or bean bags - this also provides a positive atmosphere as it is a bit more chilled out.

The set up for the placement ran very smoothly. I had my interview, which felt fairly relaxed, and then a few weeks later heard back about getting the job and then from there I was provided with all the information I needed and once I started settled in quickly as part of the team.

Most of my training and development came from doing my job day in and day out as I started with no experience of working in this environment so learned new things most days, especially the first few months. Other than that they did provide one training course that I took part in, although it was quite close to the end of the year.

I have enjoyed working in the company as well as with the people I work with. There is other areas of the business that would also be interesting to work as part of so I feel that you could gain good experience by working in a few of the teams around the company, so future employment prospects are good.

I chose not to take part in most social activities so I can't really give this a certain rating but there are some opportunities to engage in social activities. Often the company would go to the race nights at the local race course as well as having a Christmas party.

The cost of living in Newbury can be quite high but there are other areas nearby that you can stay. You could also cut the cost by sharing with the other placement students. Reading is about half an hour away and has a student area so there is plenty of accommodation options available there.

In Newbury there isn't much of a night life but Reading isn't far away and there are plenty of places to go out there. The night life there is pretty good, there are plenty of places to eat and drink, compared to Newbury and it isn't too far to get to.

The company often attended the race nights at the local racecourse which were popular events. As a team we would sometimes go out for lunch at the local pub as well. Other than that there wasn't really too much outside of work activities that I can recall that took place.