Programmer Analyst Review

I really enjoyed my year at Atos. I was able to work on a variety of projects for both public and private sector clients at different stages of the project life-cycle, from requirements gathering and design phases to implementation, testing and support phases. This mean the job was never boring! and that I was able to use both my business skills and my web development skills over the year. The thing I liked best about Atos was the friendly and supportive culture. I had a good relationship with my manager as did the other interns and we all got on well with our teams.

I felt hugely valued by my colleagues throughout the year. I was surprised by the responsibility that I was given to manage a few of my own projects and directly communicate with the client and manage project requirements myself. After a few months I was able to help others in my department with using Microsoft SharePoint and general web development work which meant I was a valued member of the team.

If I ever got stuck with an issue my manager was able to help me in person or on the phone straight away. He was also able to point me in the direction of other experienced developers and analysts in our practice so I built up a good network of support contacts over the year.

I was working on 2-3 projects at any one time over the year which meant I felt valued and kept busy. If I had a little downtime on my projects I was able to jump in and work with the graduates on my team on their projects to keep productive.

I was given full responsibility to manage the development and documentation of my projects. Actively communicating with my clients to gather and develop their requirements for the SharePoint websites that I built, tested, supported and documented over the year. I was pleasantly surprised by the responsibility that I was given as an intern!

As a business studies and computer science student my time at Atos was hugely valuable to me, (1) in gaining an understanding of the IT industry and (2) in developing my programming, testing and business analytic skills. I was able to see first hand the systems and technologies used in industry and to see the up and coming trends in IT such as Enterprise Social Networking, Cloud computing offerings and Big Data initiatives. These topics and the contacts I have made are especially of use to me for working on my final year project next year.

The main London office where I worked is an open-plan office with hot desks which meant there was a nice social atmosphere in the office and it gave me the opportunity to move around and meet different people around the office. The breakout area - a large space with sofas and coffee machines etc was great for lunch breaks with the other interns and graduates.

The internship was well set up. I started my internship by shadowing an experienced SharePoint developer and then after a month and a half of doing that I was able to work individually on the project and to take on my own projects with full responsibility! On other projects I was able to work with the graduates in my practice as a team, a good mix! There were intern introduction sessions and general Atos training sessions provided throughout the year.

I did most of my training on the job this year, by shadowing a SharePoint developer and having the responsibility to manage my own projects. I was happy with the level of training and development I had as I was able to work on and manage my client projects confidently. The graduates received more off-the-job formal training sessions than the intern scheme.

I am able to return to Atos after my final year without going through the application process again as they have been pleased my work over the year!

There is a classy pub outside the office where we go for after work drinks every now and then and the interns/graduates organise a football match every Wednesday after work! We all have lunch together on the 5th floor in the breakout area! (sofas, coffee machines etc). We all get on really well.

London.

The office was in central London so there were lots of good bars and clubs nearby. We often went to Camden for the bars and clubbing on people's birthdays.

Lots of invites to events in London with the other graduates and interns, football matches on Wednesday evenings and corporate social events, mainly with the staff at Grant Thornton round the corner.