Business Technology Intern Review

I worked on frontend development of an internal tool, refactoring and extending the functionality. I worked with the team adopting agile methodologies: daily stand-ups, weekly syncs with product family, sprint refinements, reviews, planning and retros. My responsibilities included code development, deployment and CI/CD pipelines. Attended meetings, workshops, internal and external talks. Went out for lunch with the team almost every day. I worked with technical leads, subject matter experts, other developers, product owners, managers and other interns.

I improved my skills on frontend development. I am much stronger in React.js and other supporting packages and tools. I learnt about a lot of other tools needed in CI/CD pipelines, deployment and for applying agile methodologies. This included Jira, Jenkins, OCP, AWS, Helm, etc. I also improved my soft skills. I gelled well with the team, improving my confidence and collaboration skills. I became more courageous, innovative, set ambitious goals, gained responsibility, created positive energy and developed myself and others.

Yes. I got to be my own product owner, designer, developer, tester and client. I decided on the work that would be required, sorting my priority and planning across the available sprints. I created designs for what I would make, developed all the code and tested to try and break functionality. I led meetings including daily stand-ups and weekly syncs with other teams in the product family. I was able to challenge those senior and helped teach others.

There was a lot of support. The onboarding process was comprehensive and provided with all the information, tools and hardware required. I had a dedicated manager and subject matter expert (SME) which was my first point of contact. Having this SME was extremely helpful and allowed me to ask all questions I wanted without ever feeling shy and afraid of what I could ask. There was a strong support system in terms of having both technical and non-technical help.

Company culture and the general atmosphere was amazing. The work/life balance was great and heavily pushed. No one required to be online outside of work hours. We played different games including table tennis and frequently engaged in non-work related discussions. It felt more like a family than an uptight and corporate environment where everyone focused on helping each other rather than trying to get ahead themselves. Things were fun when possible but serious when needed.

I absolutely loved it. The career prospects are great, the work completed was meaningful and important. The team was amazing to work with. Maintaining a healthy work/life balance was seriously stressed. As it was said to us at the beginning, "This internship is like a well kept secret". The intern cohort was not huge but enough to gel together and make great friendships. There were so many extra opportunities and fun social and volunteering events.

Yes

Ask as many questions as possible. Do not be shy. Be curious. Adopt the Discover behaviours. Have fun. Meet as many people as you can; I tried to meet a new person everyday and everyone was overwhelmingly friendly and positive. Many of your coworkers will be relaxed and laid back but have serious technical knowledge. Use these people to your advantage. Learn as much as you can from them and if every there is something which does not make sense, these people will be the first and happiest to explain it to you.