Web Development Intern Review

There was a decent balance between time spent working on projects assigned to me, as well as regular day-to-day work, and social activities, whether in the form of after work drinks, volunteering and fundraising opportunities. Overall it was quite fun, with the occasional repetitive office work days, yet I still find a learned a lot about the functions of a large organisation.

Towards the end of my placement I definitely felt comfortable around the team I was working in and they felt they could trust me when giving me tasks to work on. We got along well and everyone was very friendly. However I feel I would have been able to complete more work than what had been planned out for me over the course of the internship, given that I finished my long-term project in my fourth week of 12 week placement.

My manager was very supportive at all times; even when she could not answer my questions she would put me through to someone who could. As the workload planned for the duration of my internship was completed quite early on, she made sure to keep me busy and supported me when I would ask to be kept busy. Furthermore I was interested in shadowing a number of other teams out of interest as to how they function, and she managed to organise this.

In the first few weeks I thoroughly felt I was doing the right amount of work. I had to coordinate working on my long-term project as well as completing day-to-day tasks. Yet I finished the project very early on, despite this there was still more work for me to be done up until the last couple of weeks of my placement. Towards the end I found myself quite bored, therefore there could have been a greater balance.

The long-term project they assigned to me, despite being briefer than expected, required a reasonable amount of trust in me to be able to carry out the project successfully, therefore regarding that I was given a significant amount of responsibility. Towards the end, however, I had to be very proactive in order to keep myself busy, as despite the continuous support of my team, there was a vey limited amount of work they were permitted to give me due to the organisation's policies.

In terms of a politics student interning in an IT department, I did not learn much that would contribute towards my actual degree studies. Yet, in terms of a student who was seeking to diversify their skill set and learn about a field which I had little knowledge of previously, I learned a great amount, especially through networking with other teams and discovering various resources they used themselves. I was very fortunate to be working amongst a number of extremely helpful employees.

The atmosphere was largely positive, most people were very friendly and the open space plan contributed towards a sociable environment.

The set up of the internship was impressive given the large amount of interns that were taking part. We had meeting reviews with our manager three times throughout the internship to monitor our progress, which we would then report to the our director of placements. Each intern in each department was given a long-term project to work towards and there was a general consensus that the placement was well organised amongst the interns.

The company is very keen on investing in their employees and in improving their skills. There are a number of workshops and training sessions which all employees can sign up to. I did a course on a web development software which gave me a good grasp of the software. In hindsight I feel I could have benefitted by partaking in more of these classes. Furthermore, beyond the company itself, the vast majority of employees and volunteers are more than happy to help others and assist them in their development.

The graduate scheme seems very appealing, especially for an individual who is not certain on exactly what field they would like to work in. The scheme is a two year program in which you would work in a different role every 6 months. Given it is such a large company with a number of different department, this seems to give a good insight into what it would be like to pursue a career in each field.

There were around 50 other interns, all of which were very friendly. As many of us lived far away from our work place, social gatherings were mostly limited to after work events and volunteering projects. Yet, given the large number of fundraising events we had, there seemed to always be something going on.

Generally quite expensive on first impression, yet there are decent value deals for lunches as well as drinks in certain places.

The placement was based in Angel, which is a short trip to Shoreditch, which boats some of the trendiest bars in London. Despite being quite pricey, the nightlife is really fun.

Definitely. There was an abundance of events going on, the company's corporate partnerships meant that there was always a volunteering opportunity going on. Some of the activities I was involved in include marshalling a marathon, volunteering at Wireless festival and selling tickets at the BA Fun Run.