Software Engineer Review

I joined a group of professionals as a software engineer for the summer. I was working as if I was a full time employee for the company, and as I got used to the systems and routines in place for everyone, I was treated how an actually employed Junior Software Engineer would have been treated, with the same tasks and responsibilities. I was helping the group create new features and fix bugs, as well as occasionally being assigned tasks to do solo to show my technical ability. If there was something I did not understand, I was given the time to go away and learn about it during work hours. We would have daily meetings in the morning to track our progress through a sprint at work, and we would go in and out of a group call throughout the day (if we were working remotely) to simulate being in a group at the office.

I have learnt lots about Redgate's various software's, I learnt about how Maven projects worked and how to make them, how to use Docker, how to use VS Code, various extremely useful features of IntelliJ, lots of techniques and features of Java (e.g. lambdas, the ternary operator, streams, etc.) how to use plenty of new databases which I had not tried before, how to write more efficient and easier to read code, how to use JUnit, how to use TeamCity, much better GitHub knowledge, and the in's and out's of how a CI/CD pipeline works.

I was trained throughout the first few weeks, and as I learnt more, I was given more and more responsibility. I reached a point mid way through the internship where I was able to develop new code for the software we were making solo, and was trusted to create the code and unit tests, as well as make the call on small design decisions. Nothing in my team was completely solo, however: code must always be reviewed by another team member before being merged, no matter how senior the person who wrote it is. This is a positive thing, as it means no silly mistakes were made. I had the same level of responsibility as other Junior Software Engineers by the end of the internship.

I had just the right level of support and guidance throughout. I had regular catch ups with my intern manager, who helped me make a plan for learning and personally developing throughout the internship. They gave me help when I needed it, and also let me take the time to figure things out on my own if that was more valuable. It felt very reassuring the know there was someone on my side who wanted me to succeed and grow.

Extremely friendly and supportive. Redgate clearly does lots to make their employees lives enjoyable, and in doing this they have created a company of people who want to try there best and care for the best of the company. Everyone is keen to do their best and learn, and everyone is very friendly too. I felt like I could ask anyone any question and they would be happy to help. There's also a general atmosphere of fun here. Everyone gets to use 10% of their week for personal learning, and each team gets some money to go and do fun days out every year too.

I really enjoyed the work throughout. It was challenging but not overwhelming, all my colleagues were a good laugh, and very supportive and knowledgeable. It was extremely rewarding to learn about so much new stuff and et to make a difference by creating code for a real software. There was so many fascinating things to learn about, which I will definitely be applying to the work I do during the rest of my studies at university.

Yes

Be friendly and relaxed. Be open to advice, and if you're keen to learn make sure to show it. Be kind and respectful to others and try to be as helpful as you can. Don't be afraid of asking questions, and try to be clear about your thought processes. Keep others in the loop, don't try to hide yourself away from the team to try to prove yourself or anything, just get involved with the team and the company as if you had a full job rather than just an internship. Try to have fun too :)