Software Engineer Review

The internship was great fun! This was because of all the extras you get: mario kart, foosball, chess or just chatting at the coffee machines if you are not busy at the moment. There are also lunchtime or after work clubs, of which I went to clojure lunch and juggling. I have never programmed in clojure before, or did any juggling but that was not a problem. There is also a 3D printer which I learnt how to use, again never used one before. The company also provides a "feel good fund" from which we had an intern evening out bowling and dining. There are also events for going to something like "Go Ape" but I could not make that date. Though being honest about the actual work as a software engineer, I think that is the same here as everywhere else, maintaining other people's code. This can be annoying at some points as sometimes a design decision earlier on goes against what you are trying to do, or sometimes perhaps a bit boring because mostly you are just adding boilerplate code.

Due to me being the least experienced on my team, I was obviously the one asking for help and the team took that well, gave helpful answers or when needed sat down next to me and helped work through the problem with me. So while I did feel like a beginner (and I am to be honest) the team were helpful and taught me.

Quite a lot at the beginning, my manager also did some pairing too. If I need to I can still ask for help, but towards the end, it has become less hand-holding and I was given more freedom to do the bug fixes/features I wanted to add. The company also had two code retreats for interns, in which we just got taken out of work to learn certain skills like how to refactor code better, which I found quite useful.

Th right amount I would say. I usually was not bored (also, if I did not have anything to do I could play mario kart) but I was also not so busy that I did not have any time to play/chat/relax a bit. There was some variation in the busyness, that is it always got busier near a release and at some points I was waiting for other people to get back to me.

I was working alongside my team on one of the main product, and in that I got to add my own feature and prioritise fixes on my own. We used morning stand-ups to ensure everyone was getting on fine.

Definitely useful for software engineering, with all the training like code katas (small toy projects on which developers pair to share knowledge) and code retreats which are day long (fun, done in short bursts) training sessions. However I am not sure of my plans yet and the stuff I learnt at university, I did not use here and I am not sure how much of this I will use if I go into research.

Relaxed, though I could also say a war-zone ;) (in a fun way, nerf bullets flying everywhere—though with the rule that you are only a target if you have a nerf gun). Also, games of mario kart/fusball/chess, free breakfast/lunch, interesting talks to go along to.

From application to getting the offer, everything was easy going. Then at work it took me about two weeks to get up to speed with the code; this was done with doing bug fixes of increasing difficulty. After the two weeks I was given the freedom to do my own bug fixes/add my own features.

We have code katas, about an hour and a half of pairing with other developers on small projects to share knowledge. Also, intern retreats, where we (as interns) got specific attention to develop the skills that other engineers already have. And to top it off the company also did talks by external speakers.

I don't know about this one yet as I have not finished my internship. But the company does seem to want to extend job offers to interns based on the internal recruitment posters around.

We had regular pub-goings, as well as internal clubs for nearly everything including bouldering, ultimate frisbee, running, juggling, worms armageddon, clojure to name a few. There is an internal wiki to help you find what you are interested in.

Cambridge is expensive, but because I also study here I got college accommodation which is more reasonable. Also, not necessarily about cost but it may be hard to find a place near the business park so you may have to cycle (I prefer to run, it takes over half an hour to get in but you have showers.)

I think pretty much all clubs shut down outside of term time, but it is Cambridge anyway so even if they don't shut down, the place is not known for its good clubs. However I don't do clubbing; for me there are a few classical concerts around.

Social clubs that are easy to find on the internal wiki means that there is everything from basic pubbing to sailing, bouldering, ultimate frisbee.