Software Intern Review
by Metaswitch Networks
This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
-
The Role
4.3
-
The Company
3.6
-
The Culture
3.8
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
Everyone's friendly and operate on a first name basis. Work was challenging but help was never far away.
My colleagues were very supportive. It was my first job ever. They often came to check on me and to see whether I needed any help. They were easy to get on with.
We all get an individual development plan. This comes in the form of frequent meetings with the manager to discuss about things in work in general. Any issues I had was quickly addressed.
Although we are under pressure to finish our tasks by a defined deadline, it is flexible according to what hurdles you meet along the way. So, while you always have something to do, it's no rush.
A lot! Just 3 days into my internship, I was assigned issues to debug and that involved communicating with other teams and having to figure things out on my own. Of course, your work gets checked just like everyone else but that's what it means to be an integral part of the team.
This internship trains you to be aware of details and forces you to be disciplined in your programming style. I can now say that my code is a lot more structured, comprehensible and maintainable now.
The Company
It was quite calm. Everyone had things to do on their own. But we sometimes gathered to have some cake meetings and stuff. The real fun started after office hours.
It was up to the manager to decide that I was going to do or now. It is not as structured as it seems to be in other companies but that just means that everything is tailored according to your needs.
They gave me feedback on both my programming skills and my attitude in office. This was very helpful.
Subsidised Canteen
Sports and Social Club
Financial Bonus
Since I was a first-year student, I was not offered a job with them but they did encourage me to come back and work for them in the future.
The Culture
Social life with the other 30 or so interns was great! We got to live in company houses so we went out quite often to pubs or the cinema.
I wouldn't say it's extremely cheap but it is outside central london so it was good enough.
Calm. Other than cinema and restaurants, there isn't much... However, Enfield is just about 20mins train from central london and within the oyster region so it's neither too far nor too expensive.
From sports clubs to more intellectually engaging board games clubs, there were plenty!
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
Computer Systems Engineering
London
November 2010
