Software Engineering Intern Review

I was provided with a software engineering project to complete over the course of the internship. The work was very relevant to that being done by the rest of the team; I even had the opportunity to incorporate my changes into the production codebase. I was under the guidance of an experienced mentor, and attended daily standup meetings with their team where I was able to take part. This allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the day-to-day of full-time engineers.

My software development skills have progressed greatly as a result of completing this internship. This is largely due to having to overcome the technical challenges associated with my project, as well as having the opportunity to observe closely and learn from far more experienced engineers. My ability to understand and incorporate changes into large systems of existing code has especially improved significantly. Technical skills aside, I have learned how ask more effective questions, and how to generally best communicate to other members of the team.

I was given responsibility over my own project to complete, with well-defined target outcomes at the start of the internship. These were not set in stone, though, and I was able to take ownership over my work and progress throughout. I was responsible for communicating my progress effectively at daily standup meetings and sprint retrospectives, and while my mentor would check up on me regularly, for the most part it was my responsibility to ask for help if I needed it. The project itself was not critical to the team's work per se, but it was highly relevant, demonstrated by some of my work being incorporated into the production codebase.

I was assigned an experienced mentor, who would often check up on me and was always available to answer my questions patiently and in detail. They helped me immensely in the early days of the internship to make sure I was settled in properly with computer setup, understanding the codebase etc., and as the internship progressed I was left to work more independently. The team lead would also meet with me occasionally to check that everything was going well, and they also helped me with sprint planning etc. to keep me on track.

Everyone in the office is exceedingly welcoming and friendly. They immediately made conversation upon meeting for the first time, and it quickly became clear to me that working here allowed you to meet new friends rather than just colleagues. There are an abundance of social events, including parties, regular sports, and attending other events as a group. This definitely contributed to making my internship so enjoyable. As colleagues, everyone is incredibly supportive, offering help and advice as much as possible, and I was pleased to see that people are not afraid to ask questions, because they know that their colleagues are ready to help.

Overall, I had a truly enjoyable internship that exceeded my expectations. My project was sufficiently challenging yet accessible enough so that I was able to make an impact in the short time I was there, and the support I received throughout was outstanding. I especially enjoyed working with and getting to know all the people, who are all incredibly friendly and welcoming - a reflection of the overall inclusive culture present in every aspect of working here.

Yes

Be yourself in the interview! After my internship, my understanding is that culture fit is incredibly important; all the people at my office personified the culture that Cisco promotes and strives towards, and so I would imagine that interviewers will be looking for candidates who meet this criteria. Of course, some prior software development experience will be incredibly helpful. In particular, having projects that can be discussed and presented at interview might well make an application far more interesting and eye-catching.