Assistant Developer Review

I completed tasks as part of the triweekly sprints. This involved coding them on the front-end with HTML, CSS and TypeScript and on the back end using SQL, as well as middle development in .NET Framework C#. The first two weeks of each sprint involve purely coding these tasks and functionally testing each other’s code. The final week of each sprint was used for quality assurance testing before this sprints code was pushed live.

Throughout the placement I have developed several soft skills by working within a team. By doing so I have furthered my communication and presentations skills. Coupled with these soft skills I have also gained a greater understanding of software development skills including the use of Git Source Control, API technologies and unit testing.

Throughout the placement I was given the responsibility to undertake tasks of my choice and work on them, asking questions at my discretion. As such I gained a lot of freedom with the day to day workload. I was given free reign of how I completed each task, though the final result was check numerous times before it was pushed live.

Throughout the placement I received ample support and guidance. Each day began with a morning stand-up meeting where I could detail the issues I was having, and the other team members could provide suggestions. The other members of the DevOps department were always willing to offer a helping hand or suggest a more effective solution to a problem if asked.

The company culture was relaxed while still maintaining a sense of urgency. The nature of having only two weeks to complete as many tasks as you could led to the latter. Otherwise, our team would play an online group game each Friday for the final 30 minutes and we also did have a company meal when the Covid pandemic allowed. I was told that, usually, there would have been far more social activities during the placement.

Several aspects of the placement were very enjoyable, learning new things and meeting new people were the highlights. I found many of the tasks were quite interesting to complete, enabling me to use software development tools I never would have used otherwise. I did find that a few of the tasks were more tedious to complete, but these mainly involved coding older parts of the overall system.

Yes

The main things I would advise would be to ask as many questions as you can during the first months, and ensure you write down the answers. The DevOps team is very willing, and even expects, to answer questions across the whole system.