Software Engineer Review

I had a fantastic time during my placement year and feel that I have made a some great friends from the experience. Throughout the year I took part in many activities (charity events, go karting, airsoft) outside of work, and the atmosphere within work was professional yet relaxed which I felt was the perfect balance to enjoy the work I was carrying out

From the very beginning I felt as though I was a member of the team, I had been provided my first major piece of work within a week of arrival and after various meetings across the various project's departments (Software, Systems, Test, Quality Assurance) I felt as though I knew everyone I needed to know from a very early stage.

Management and the team leads were fantastic, they were all extremely supportive from the very start and I never felt as though I couldn't ask them any questions. There were times where I would run into a little trouble with work and both my line manager and team lead would always be supportive and help resolve the situation professionally. My manager in particular took spent a lot of time discussion my career and personal development within my fort-nightly one-to-one meetings and I felt that these really aided me in understanding what I want to achieve from my placement, and more importantly, how I can achieve this.

From start to finish I always had plenty of work to do, many placement students seem to feel as though there isn't enough work for them, or that it was too basic for them to complete, but I was never in such a position. The work was consistantly challenging (yet not impossible) and was particularly rewarding too (seeing software developers using my tools felt great) and work always seemed to be changing, so I was never stuck on the same type of work, even though I was based on a single project throughout the year.

I was assigned my own personal task throughout the year which involved moving multiple Configuration Management systems over to a single system. The original systems were being used by the entire software development team (approximately 20-25 developers) and it was a relatively high risk task (any errors could result in safety-critical software containing new bugs) so I would consider that the responsibility was fairly high.

Nearly all the skills I developed were on the job. I didn't attend specific classes or lectures throughout my placement but I didn't need to. The skills and knowledge I gained on placement are impossible to learn in a classroom, I learnt a lot of good skills from the developers around me (most with 20+ years experience in software) and by experimenting with the tools that I was provided. These skills are very transferrable, whether it would be for using in my degree (i.e. tackling software difficulties and debugging problems) or more general skills (i.e. time management). One of the main differences I noticed from the entire year, however, is my boost in confidence, especially when discussing ideas with other developers and speaking up within groups of peers/managers.

I cannot fault the work atmosphere, everyone was friendly and helpful, people often joked about yet it always remained very professional. We had a very good professional relationship with the customer (we were based on their site) and this was very clear to see.

I felt my placement was handled very well, the work was sufficient throughout the year and it seemed as they knew what they wanted to get out of me and how they can help me get what I wanted too. I spent my time with 2 other placement students who started the same time as me and they also shared a similar experience to me.

In terms of training, as I mentioned before, a lot of it was on the job, to be completely fair I didn't require any additional training for the work I was needing to do, however the experience I gained from working within the organisation was invaluable. The main benefit I took back from the year would be the feedback from my manager and mentor as it was something that I could clearly work on throughout the year and continue to improve once I left. So I would say the main thing my company (or more so, the people) provided for me was their expertise and time.

After what I would call a successful placement year with the company I have already received a letter of intent which will allow me to join the company after my final year as part of their graduate scheme. A position which I would definitely accept.

When I joined (July 2011) there were a few graduates and new interns who had started recently or at the same time as myself and we would organise small events amongst ourselves and there were always larger events that the team organised together (e.g. go-karting) that everyone was invited to.

The cost of living is relatively cheap (£275-400 p/m rent, depending of quality of room/flat), travel was reasonably price too (roughly £100-120 p/m to work and back [train]) and going out cost roughly the same as any other area of the country.

The site in which I worked was quiet (Whiteley) however, the nearby areas (Portsmouth and Southampton) are far better, with a large variety of places to go for all sorts of price ranges there was definitely pleanty to do of a night.

There are loads of events throughout the year that the placement students/graduates organise all the time, plus there's events that the rest of the team organise and even more that the organsation as a whole organise (usually for charity)