Solution Architect Review

My role involved working with other Solution and enterprise architects to contribute to the TM Forum by helping write YAML files for ODA Components. My work also included using GitHub for version control with my team and at the beginning of my placement I received some training to get up to speed. If I was confused on anything I would ask my peers and they were always happy to help me. I also had regular meetings with other members of TM Forum to discuss our work and receive feedback.

I developed my existing skill of writing YAML files. I had done this a little during my studies but I thoroughly developed this at this placement and I believe I was able to improve my understanding of YAML a lot. On top of this I also deepened my understanding of the telco industry. Thus included learning about the TM Forum standard which was very interesting to me. This was quite new to me and I believe these skills will help me in future jobs.

I believe I was given a fair amount of responsibility. I worked with another solution architect so we both developed ODA components for the TM Forum. These solutions were inspected by others and feedback was given. I was able to see how my work would be used by others in the industry and thus I believe I had good ownership of the products I made during my placement. The software blocks I made can be used by many other companies.

I received a lot of support and guidance. At the start of the placement I was given some training videos to go through about basic work practices and then I was also taught by other peers some industry specific skills which were more technical. On top of this I was able to ask anyone for help, even if they were not in my immediate team. This created a positive environment in which asking questions was perfectly okay.

The company culture was very friendly and fast paced. I quite liked it as people were encouraged to work hard/fast but there was also a pretty relaxed atmosphere in my office in which there was no micro managing. This made me feel comfortable just focusing on my work without having to worry about managers constantly checking up on me to make sure I was actually doing the work. This fostered an independent work culture

I enjoyed my placement a lot. My team were super friendly and always made me feel welcome/part of the team. The work itself was doable after the training period. There were of course a few challenges when learning new skills but the team explained everything well and helped improve my understanding. I also enjoyed the relaxed yet hard working culture and would definitely recommend it to other students and would go back there myself if given the chance.

Yes

My advice would be to read about the job description and try to research before the interview so yo can show off some researching. On top of that I think having researched the company itself is equally as important and should be quite easy as they provide you with some material to read. So be sure to read and research your role/team and when the interview day rolls round, be positive and energetic when speaking with the hiring manager.