Software Engineer Review

I really enjoyed working at Metaswitch over the summer. I didn't have too many expectations coming into it as I don't have any experience in coding but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and definitely learnt a lot of valuable skills which will be useful for me in the future.

I felt valued by my colleagues. I was placed in a fairly small team so the atmosphere was friendly and close.

I was supported the whole way at each step of the project. For each task in my project I would get a task brief from my manager outlining the requirements. We would also have weekly status chats to review the progress and set plans for the upcoming week. After finishing some code I would submit it for review to my mentor.

On the whole I was busy but there was nothing unmanageable. There were times were it was quite slow going and the work wasn't that interesting but the majority of the time I feel like it was about right. Towards the ends of tasks it was slightly less busy and when starting a new task I had lots of background stuff to learn.

I was given my own project to work on for the summer which I was given control to lead and make most of the design choices. The project was for a diagnostics tool for one of the company's products and was used by my colleagues in the team so it had a real use.

The skills I have learnt this summer will definitely help me be more confident with learning any other coding languages and put me in a better position for applying for other software engineering related job. I think it will also help me in my degree in the computational areas where there is coding involved.

The atmosphere was very friendly and the company has a good culture with no politics and it was very easy to ask for help from anybody. The office layout is open plan and there is a good sense of trust so that you can expect things to get done if you ask for it.

The organisation on the whole was very good. There was good communication from HR right from the start of the process with setting up the interview to organizing details of accommodation and internship dates. During the internship there were also frequent emails on upcoming events like meetings and social events which were helpful.

I had a personal Training and Development plan for the summer which set some goals to improve on. I think I made good progress on these and it was good to have a set of clear things that I should be focusing on. My manager and I would review the progress through weekly status updates.

The future employment prospects are good. At the end of my internship I was offered to come back for another internship the next year which I will consider. You can also do your second interview for a full job position while doing your internship so you can potentially get a job secured by the end of your internship.

The social scene on the whole was good. There were a lot of interns at the Enfield office, around 20 at the peak of the summer so it was quite easy to find other interns to get along with. Many interns eat at the canteen together at lunch and you live together in the company houses.

The cost of living wasn't too high as there was subsidised accommodation in the company houses which was really useful. There are a wide variety of supermarkets and shops in the town centre so it was relatively convenient and not too expensive. There are some company benefits for things like discounted gym membership.

There is not any nightlife around in the Enfield area but you can get a train into central London on the weekends.

There were lunchtime sports activities and new starter/leaver drinks after work.