Intern Review

A fantastic placement all round, I had a great time in a very challenging but rewarding environment

My work was instantly useful for the functioning of my team and I felt like I directly made an impact despite my short placement length

The company has a mentor system on top of the usual manager - employee relationship which meant that I had two people checking up on me daily to help guide me in the right direction and

Whilst my tasks seemed daunting at first, it was definitely the right amount and my manager made sure that my workload scaled as my ability increased

I was very much independent as I worked. I was relied upon to teach myself how to program although I had both my manager and mentor there to help whenever I needed. Within my first week I was working on my own project and managing myself, the sense of freedom and responsibility was very satisfying

Before I started this placement I did not know how to code or what the interior of a telecomms network looked and operated like. Now I can safely say that I am "conversational" in two different programming languages and could easily describe a large amount of an internal phone network to a layman - acronyms and all!

Very hard working but casual and informal also. There's a very enthusiastic drive to achieve with minimal supervision, the internship is what you make of it.

I never ran out of tasks to complete and they always seemed suited to my skill level.

I was very much pointed towards online programming tutorials but then again whenever I had questions there was someone there to answer them. It's much more of a supported learning environment but I definitely prefer it to being coddled through a placement.

I was offered a sponsored year at university on the terms that I'll return next summer - which I'll definitely do with enthusiasm! The idea of returning for a permanent position is also appealing although that's definitely a decision I'd rather make in a few years' time.

Being a technology company there were surprisingly few interns who lived up to the antisocial stereotype. Everyone was friendly and up for a laugh, I had a great time.

Company accommodation is subsidised and you don't have to worry about finding your own since you'll end up in a company house. However being near central London means that drinks prices were always going to be high.

Almost zero in Enfield itself, but London is never far away.

Most notably there was a lunchtime laser quest session during my placement, but company organised social activities were few and far between - during my placement there was a single intern dinner. An exception to this is their policy of hosting weekly drinks with a company tab for new starters and leavers.