Internship Review

A particular highlight in terms of enjoyement was the 'vacathon', a four-day hackathon, working in small teams with other interns. On occasion the tasks I was given felt a bit drawn out or repetitive.

My colleagues were always friendly and willing to help me out.

My supervisor and my boss both put a lot of time into teaching me all the new things I needed to know when I first arrived. They continued to give me guidance and support throughout the internship, both when I asked for it, and when they thought it necessary (eg. when starting a new task).

Most of the time I had a good amount of work to be getting on with. There were occasions when I felt a bit bored.

I was given responsibility to code and test a particular part of a product. Whilst I had responsibility, I never felt unsupported -- I knew that my code would be reviewed to check it was up to scratch.

One of the key reasons I took an internship at Metaswitch was to develop my programming ability. This I did; I can now program competently in C, and was able to hack around with Java in the hackathon, too. During my internship I gave a presentation, the feedback on which will be something I will draw on for future presentations. I also gained experience of working in a corporate environment. Some of the things I learnt will be less transferable, such as all the details of particular Metaswitch products!

Whilst the atmosphere was professional and everyone did have a job to get on with, there were a whole load of welcoming features, eg. lunchtime sports activities and welcome drinks for new interns at the pub. The people I worked with were all friendly. The hackathon week in particular was very fun. The informal atmosphere, the unusual and sometimes silly projects, the free food and socialising with all the other interns combined to make it a great 4 days.

The organisation was very slick.

Every week I had a meeting with my boss, discussing how the work was going and how I could acheive my targets. A lot of time was spent teaching me how to program in C to the metaswitch standards as well as the details of the product I was working on. I also had to do a presentation during my internship, on which I received detailed feedback.

I was invited back to do another internship next year and have accepted. I don't know yet if I want to work in this area or go into acdemia. When I do come to make that decision, if I choose to work in software engineering I will definitely consider Metaswitch.

There were lots of interns living in company houses in Enfield, so we got together on several occasions, for a meal, or to the pub, partying, to the cinema or to see a BBC prom. Every Thursday, all the interns had a pub lunch together. Also, just the fact of living in a company house with other interns meant that there was lots of socialising -- our house was fond of board games!

I was living in a subsidised company house which was only £9 a night. Whilst there isn't a massive amount to do in Enfield, it's cheap and easy to get a train into central London.

No good nightlife in Enfield, as far as I'm aware. Some pubs and restaurants, and a cinema further out, but no nightclubs. However, if you were inclined too, I'm sure it woudl be easy to go into London and find some.

There were many sporting activities, mainly practising at lunchtimes, to get involved in. There were also other activities, like a boardgame night and the like.