Security Solutions Architect Review

It was a good placement. I learned alot about working in a large global company, had a lot of great opportunities, exposure to senior management and was trusted with real opportunities which would have an impact on customer deals and internal processes. Also the ability to work from home was great if ever you were travelling at the weekend.

I was trusted to carry out tasks I wasn't really expecting to be given the opportunity to. This was great for my confidence as it shows they truely valued my knowledge and input. A lot of my work was also customer facing; taken to customers, shown to customers or involved customers in one way or another. Some would have a direct impact on customers if it was incorrect so it was good to be trusted with such tasks. Also I delivered some training courses on an area I was working on throughout the year, which is great exposure and a confidence booster when it comes to showing your knowledge.

I can not fault my management at all. They were always supportive and pushing me to do training courses, giving me help with my c.v./cover letter, giving me job/work advice and just advice in general. They were always available to contact as well, wether it be email, instant messaging, phone or face to face which was great. It was not just my supervisor but also the intern manager, my team manager, his manager and even the director who I had quite a lot of contact and exposure to.

You could make yourself as busy as you wanted to with training courses available both internally, through partners and through whatever other reading you could gather up. I was pretty busy 80% of the time but at times there was less work to do but I feel like this wasn't just because I was an intern, it happens all around the company where some days are absolutely manic and others are more relaxed because, for example, your deadlines have been met and there are only smaller deals to work on.

I was given, I feel, a lot of responsibility. A lot of my work was taken to customers or would have a direct impact on the customer in some way. I also worked independantly on a number of projects which were both internal and external facing, with regular checkpoints that I felt suitable to organise between myself and management which was a great way to independantly work and not be babied.

I feel like the skills I've developed will help me a lot during my last year at university as I have a broader understanding of networks, security and network architecture (as well as how it is works). Also for after university, I have got insight into new roles I didn't know existed and have now been considering a lot to do whenever I graduate. I have also gained qualifications and experience with partner solutions which will put me ahead of alot of other candidates when looking for jobs.

I enjoyed the atmosphere in my office. I sat with quite alot of managers and other teams - ranging from myself to a director of cloud/security. It is surprising as to how they act and the type of people they are, they are often not what you expect and make the atmosphere a good one in the office as it is generally never boring and there's someone to not only ask for help but also to have a laugh and a chat with.

Due to being the first in my role and the internship scheme overall being new I feel it was set up pretty well. I am also glad it was open late for applications as another placement of mine fell through and without this being open late I'd of been left without a placement. I feel as if the structure for my personal internship from my management was being planned and was depending quarterly as it was depending on projects and opportunities which were coming in which is absolutely fine as Verizon is such a large company and there is never a shortage of meaningful tasks/work to do. I also enjoyed the aspect of meeting with senior managers/stakeholders to hear their opinion.

I was given the opportunity to travel to Amsterdam for 2 days and multiple trips into london for events/courses/meetings, as well as a training course in which I stayed near london for 3 days. I also had the opportunity to go on another training course in our building and was offered multiple other training courses to go on. In my opinion, as long as the cost wasn't too ridiculous then Verizon were willing to invest a lot into myself as an intern.

I think that future employment is a possibility whenever I have experience. In my role I believe I would need a few years experience and would probably feel like I made enough of a name for myself, and impact, on the company and my manager for him to consider me as a future candidate to come back and work in the team. There are always plenty of jobs opening or being created in the business as well.

I think there was, there was not a lot of us like in some other placements. After about March time there was only around 8 of us but we have been out multiple times for; drinks, nights out and food. We also eat lunch everyday together (whoever is around that day) and have run events together. We have also played some sports together with some other people in the company.

Reading is not the cheapest place due to it being a commuter place to/from london so it is slightly more than I am use to be considering I come from university in the north. I was paying £500 per month with bills (which is pretty standard) but people have been known to pay upto £600 a month. I think it is like any place where bills and rent can vary depending on where you want to live. Socialising was ok, reading is still a town and not a city. Most people go out in london if they want nicer drinks.

Average.

I think there was enough opportunities outside of work to get involved in to get by. However as an intern most of the time after work I was in the gym so weekdays I would not have enough free time to do other things and at the weekend I was mostly traveling/visiting people so I did not really get too involved outside of work in other activities. I did however play 5 a side with some other people in the company.