Software Engineering Intern Review

As a software engineering intern, I complete an individual project with supervision from a full-time mentor on my team. I typically attend my teams stand-ups, team meetings, sprint plannings and retros, as well as some other departmental meetings where they would provide insight into the workings of the company. I also attend intern-specific talks, some technical and some on professional development, perhaps once a week. The rest of my time is spent on my project.

I have developed my Python, and learnt some other technologies. I have also received training on proprietary languages, and developed my soft skills relating to working within a team of engineers. By networking with interns and full-timers outside of engineering, I have learnt more about the world of financial institutions and how the software we build is used.

My specific project was very separate from the work my team do. Therefore I had no responsibility over the tasks in their sprint, or over functionality in their codebase. However, I had sole responsibility over the completion and functionality of my own project.

I had a dedicated mentor to support me in my project, but due to unlucky circumstance he was not as involved in my day-to-day as is the norm on the intern program here. I did regularly have to follow up myself to ensure that our one-to-one meetings happened, but when available, my mentor was very willing to meet me and discuss the current state of the project.

Before I arrived at Bloomberg, I didn't really have any understanding of what 'company culture' meant, and how this could differ between companies. Now, I would consider the company culture the driving factor for me to return- the office culture is very communicative, everyone is friendly and willing to take time out of their day to meet you. There are full-timers who put huge amounts of energy into organising activities away from their full-time jobs and I have made genuine friends among the interns here.

This summer has been a really valuable experience for me- I have really enjoyed being a part of the office life here, making friends with other interns, and learning about Bloomberg's workflows. I have struggled a little with a lack of direction in my project, and as a result have achieved less than I would have liked to, but I have successfully completed what I needed to despite that.

Yes

Company culture is everything! Decide what exactly you want from a work place, and listen to your interviewers about their experiences. They will be evaluating you, in part, on whether you would be someone they would like to work with closely on their own teams.