Technology Intern Review

Working at YouView is a pleasant experience; everyone is friendly and easy to work with. The flexible hours are convenient, as I can choose to come in later. The social committee are doing a great job, organising a range of interactive events such as Football Tournaments and a Company Picnic.

Everybody treated me as an equal, as a colleague and not just an intern. I felt quite valued, especially when they trusted my judgement when I gave my input. I was quite surprised when I did a presentation to the company and afterwards several people complimented on how well I done.

My supervisor would usually set some small projects/ tasks for me to complete, to demonstrate an important concept used in development. Almost all the concepts were new to me, but whenever I needed support (that I couldn't solve by myself) I would ask and they would explain in a way I understood easily. There were lots of support and guidance throughout my time there, with some sessions to discuss my projects and others done through Pull Requests and code reviews - all of which were encouraging.

Unfortunately, I started off with a low workload (mainly reading documentation, learning new skills, doing small projects etc). This changed later on in my placement, but was due to the cluster being a new experience (for the whole company) and the team experimenting with various pieces of technology. There was, however, a sufficient workload to keep me going. The work I did was both an enjoyable and interesting experience.

I was tasked to create the foundations for an upcoming project, which would be used throughout development and testing (and eventually into production, which meant live in people's homes!). This was a great amount of responsibility and my code was thoroughly reviewed and tested throughout various phases of development. The other interns and myself were tasked to raise £1,000 for the company's charity of the year, Apps for Good. It wasn't mandatory and we didn't have to do it in one event. We worked together to plan and organise multiple fundraising events, such as a Nintendo 64 Mario Kart Tournament, 10km runs and a raffle. This was quite an enjoyable and social event.

I was using the latest technology and new concepts that I haven't learned from my degree. These will greatly help my degree and programming skills, as some of them are solutions to problems that I have had. I have learned certain skills at a faster rate than others, surprising my supervisor. I have learned how to manage my part of the project and I have more confidence in the future than I had previously.

Everyone was friendly and welcoming; the office environment is open and calm. You can see people are busy by the work they do, but there aren't arguments, shouting and lots of noise. The environment is quite pleasant to work in. If you need to talk to someone you don't know about an issue, they're quite friendly and willing to help.

As I said previously, it was a slow start because it was a new experience for the company as well as myself. There could have been more work for me at the start (as I prefer higher work loads), but I felt my projects and tasks were well organised and careful though has been put into setting up the internship.

Everything I used in my internship was new to me, and I learned it by myself (along with the support of my colleagues). The company invested a lot of resources into getting me up to date with the latest technology and concepts they were using for development, and the result is that I have earned more value. I provide dev reviews for over developers as well as writing code so other developers can review my work. By investing in me, they make me happy and have the skills they need - it's a win-win!

Looks good, some employees are past interns!

Definitely, together with the charity fund-raising events and projects we're collaborated in both the other interns and our colleagues know, in some way, each other. There are regular standups, meetings and presentations where we get to know each other better. Even if we don't know each other, we introduce ourselves and try to get to know the other person - everyone is quite friendly!

Travel is expensive (as it's central London) but because of that the location is great. I was commuting, so luckily I did not have to pay rent. Socialising can be expensive, but there are some places with fair prices.

Personally, I didn't stay very late very often but I could see that there was a lot of activity around the area as I was leaving work. It's in the centre of London and there's lots of transport to get around too. I'm sure there are many opportunities to enjoy yourself in the area.

There were many opportunities to get involved with activities outside of work, some being organised by the social committee. There's a football club, running club, cycle to work scheme etc. On top of that there are events held by specific teams or clusters.