Software Engineer Program Summer Intern Review

Working in an agile team developing a new application used by internal clients (other teams within technology). Had a daily scrum call with our team to discuss what we'd done yesterday, what we would do today and any blockers we had. We had weekly sprints where we all had assigned tasks, however also helped each other and programmed/designed software together. At the start/end of every sprint, we had a meeting with other people who worked closely with our team to gather requirements and decide what work we need to do in the next sprint. Involved lots of requirements gathering, software modelling, wireframing designs and getting lots of feedback from our clients.

Learnt to use Python and React, which I had never used before. Also worked with databases and got very familiar with SQL. Used other query languages such as GraphQL which was completely new to me. Our team helped us learn about all the internal technologies that were specific to the firm and by the end we were able to make an app, set it up to build and deploy correctly on to the internal frameworks.

We were the main developers on this project and built it from a basic skeleton that we were provided by the team. We had great guidance from the wider team, but ultimately as interns we ran the scrums and set up meetings with clients ourselves. We were definitely given a lot of opportunities to take responsibility and ownership of what we were building. We wrote all of the code for our app and reviewed each others code.

We had a really supportive manager and team. All of us interns had lots of opportunity to meet up and do things together, we all supported each other. We were all assigned a mentor to look out for us and have regular meet ups to check we were happy and answer any questions we might have about the area or the firm. Our buddies were all on the SEP program which meant the are all recent graduates who are on the grad scheme.

The company culture is very inclusive and accommodating. As someone with a long-term health condition, I had calls before I arrived with HR to see if there were any accommodations I needed and I had a workspace assessment carried out to make sure where I was working would not trigger or worsen my condition. Everyone in the office is very friendly and supportive. Generally everyone seemed happy and motivated to work and made us feel very welcome.

I really enjoyed this internship, and if I had the chance I would definitely want to do it again. You learn so much about how to actually apply what you've learnt at University and feel like you are making something useful. There were many good opportunities to network with other interns as well as other colleagues in and outside of your team/department. One of the benefits of being at such a large company was that there were about 50 of us starting our internship in my location, so it was easy to make friends with each other and hang out after work/on weekends.

Yes

Be yourself, if you like the culture and feel comfortable, you will naturally fit in and have a great time. Don't force yourself to be someone else because it's probably just not for you. Have an open mind and be keen to learn new things, but don't be afraid to ask when you don't understand or know something, people are more than happy to help you! Definitely learn about the business and what they do as it's really important!