Software Engineer Intern Review

The work I was assigned was interesting and useful in regards to what I will be continuing at university in my third year. The work was not too difficult and there was support available if needed. I also enjoyed the fact that I was left to my own devices, as I feel more comfortable working this way. Despite this, the only downside was that it took three weeks for me to be able to start any work due to problems with program licences and software being installed.

All staff members have been extremely friendly and welcoming, regardless of status within the company. I have always been treated with respect, and never felt like an intern at all to be honest. It is also nice to know that the work I am doing will be used by the company, and that I was given meaningful work to carry out instead of menial tasks.

I was always able to get guidance or support if needed from either my supervisor, line manager, or colleagues whom I sit by. I never felt overwhelmed with any of the tasks assigned to me, and if I was confused at any stage, the appropriate people were very approachable and so advice could be asked for without fear of dismissal.

At the start of my placement I had very little work to do due to not having the appropriate software available to me, and this took time to become available. However once I had work to do, it was self directed and so I found that I had enough to do to fill my days sufficiently.

I was given a project to work on from and design from a simple initial brief. The work that I have completed will be used by the company too. I have been given sole responsibility to develop the system in the way that I see fit. On other small work projects, I was also given a short brief to follow, and supervisors were happy with the results I produced without constant supervision or guidance.

I have learnt a few new coding languages, and developed my skills to a great extent in the ones I knew previously. I have also learned how to use a piece of software that will be integral to a large portion of my third year studies. I did not require any training for my placement.

The office atmosphere is very relaxed, but professionalism is also understood. You are not discouraged from talking with colleagues, and you can listen to headphones whilst you work if you want to. Everybody is respectful of the fact that work needs to be done. You can also eat at your desk whilst you work if you wish to

I was assigned jobs and tasks from the beginning, but could not start these for a number of weeks due to not having the software installed, or licenses at hand. Whilst waiting for these to come through I could only research the tasks at hand, and another task was given to me after three weeks when we were still waiting on a license key.

There was not any training required to carry out my job role. I did do some self directed learning for the initial three weeks to learn new languages and how to use the software I would be using I the later stages of the placement, which I felt was sufficient for the jobs I had been assigned

Whilst the work itself, and what the company does is very interesting and varies a lot, I may be slightly deterred by the time it takes to set up in the beginning and to process any requests through the many levels of the company. The graduate scheme also offers the opportunity to work at the other European sites which is appealing for sure.