Technical Author Intern Review

I learnt a lot over the seven weeks I was there, and had a great time doing so. It was definitely challenging, but in all the right ways.

I felt I could contribute more to the team and project I was on as time went by. It took a while to feel confident about contributing.

I was given plenty of feedback on my work, both scheduled and as I asked for it. The regular 1-to-1s were always a little intimidating! My line manager did a very good job of giving me the training I needed.

I was usually quite busy, but enjoyed what I was doing. The fact that regular tea/coffee breaks were acceptable definitely helped!

I was working on the same tasks as a permanent technical author, so in that sense I had similar responsibilities to them. Towards the end, I grew more confident in setting tasks for myself.

It confirmed that technical authoring is a career path I'd like to go down, and I picked up the basic skills. Internships in technical authorship in the UK are rare, so this was a great way to get some experience.

Really friendly and welcoming, both within my team and within Red Gate as a whole. The company culture is quite informal and relaxed.

It was really well organised; I was the first technical author intern, and I sent a speculative email (as Red Gate at that point hadn't advertised a vacancy), but Red Gate handled it really well.

I was given all the help I needed, and interns at Red Gate follow the same system of performance review as permanent employees. I was the first user to test some of the training tasks Red Gate have developed for new technical authors.

I'd love to work there again, if the opportunity came up.

I didn't get to know many of the other interns very well; I worked on the same team as one other intern (but in different roles) and got to know the intern who started in the same week as I did. Red Gate gave us funds for an intern social evening, which was the only time I really spent with some of the other interns.

Accommodation can be expensive, and not necessarily easy to find, especially if you don't have connections. I used a bike, and enjoyed the (excellent) free breakfast and lunch that Red Gate offered, which cut down on travel and food costs. Pubs are fairly expensive.

There are plenty of very good pubs around. Cambridge is not, however, the place to come if you want clubs.

Red Gate offers a lot of clubs (e.g. frisbee, climbing, squash, languages, board games etc.) and also runs social events, so there's plenty to get involved with within Red Gate. Finding things to do outside Red Gate can take a bit more effort.