Networking Intern Review

The company has a great internship scheme, in the Enfield office there are around 30 interns over the summer, with lots of free drinks laid on by the company when new interns start so everyone gets to know each other well, and intern-specific events and morales (hackathon, escape room trip) organised. This socialisation with other interns makes the internship a lot of fun. The work itself could be a little dull at times.

The project i was working on was a product that was wanted by customers, so by being given this responsibility I felt valued by my department, and my manager gave me lots of positive feedback (as well as come more constructive feedback) that meant I knew when I was doing a good job and was being appreciated for it. However the project I was working on sat somewhat apart from the work done by the rest of my team, so it was only really the people i was reporting to by whom I felt valued.

There were weekly status meetings that provided regular, structured check in points to go over recent tasks and give guidance/planning help for the future, where any specific issues could be talked over one-to-one. Also sitting next to your manager means they are almost always on hand to answer any questions that may arise.

I was never particular busy, although I always had work to do. Sometimes there were only one, maybe two tasks at a time and that could get a little tedious, but for the most part there was enough to occupy me, and a few different aspects of the task to switch between so I didn't get too bored.

I was given my own project for my internship - coding a networking protocol, the finished product of which would be sold to customers. The high level design had already been done, but from there on it was my project. At each step I was given guidance from my manager about how to approach the task, but most of it was my responsibility.

The skills and training gained at Metaswitch would certainly be very useful for a job at Metaswitch (particularly within the same department), but it is hard to tell at this stage how transferable the skills will be in my degree or beyond. Certainly I have gained a greater familiarity with coding (from not having coded in C before (apart from a bit of C++) to coding thousands of lines of it - although using lots of macros built up by the company - not very much raw C) and greater knowledge of good practice when it comes to maintainable, readable code.

Pretty friendly, unless there's a game of Assassins going on. Can get quite noisy if lots of people are on their phones. People tend to be pretty focused on their work in the office, though there is a selection of table tennis, pool and table football tables for taking breaks. Free fruit and biscuits is good.

There's a well-established internship scheme, and lots of intern-specific activities and feedback/review sessions which is good. For the most part all your equipment etc is set up before you arrive so you start straight from day 1. Because different interns arrive at different times over summer I can understand that its hard to co-ordinate when to do things, but there are quite a few times when you're given information near the end of your internship when it really would have been more useful near the start (things like overviews of the company departments/areas metaswitch is involved in, introductions to things like git).

No previous coding experience is necessary to do an internship (although I have had some), so the company invests a fair amount of time paying you to learn to code/the specific language you're working in. I had about a week of learning the basics of C, then 1-2 weeks (of my 8 week internship) learning about Metaswitch products/how to code in a Metaswitch way, before actually doing anything useful for the company. There was also essentially a week off for intern activities like the Vacathon, and a presentation practise session. However most of the training is just to allow you to do your specific project rather than more general training/development, give or take the odd 1 hr per week talk/session.

Certainly going back for another internship is tempting (and is encouraged by the company), especially if no other opportunities present themselves. I got the impression that after doing an internship it is quite easy to get a graduate job at the company, as you're already tried and tested so it is good to have that safety net for when I graduate. It seems like a nice place to work if interested in networks/telecoms but personally I will be looking into other options.

Very good. In Enfield because there are so many interns, there's a company tab at the pub at least one evening a week after work for intern joiners/leavers so that's a good chance to socialise, as well as getting lunch together in the canteen/going to the park for a picnic. Because lots of interns take the company houses and live together, there's often events/parties outside of those organised by the company, including stuff at the weekend. The intern week which involves a morale (cluequest escape rooms this year) and the vacathon is also a great opportunity to get to know other interns.

London is $$$$$ generally, but for interns the company houses are at a subsidised rate (£11 rent a night), there's a LIDL nearby for cheap food, and also you get a lot of free drinks on the company.

Did someone say Bar Form?

Quite a few sports clubs, and a couple of other meet ups for employees like boardgames. And the 'Enger Games' was an ongoing event over the summer, where the two sides of the Engineering department competed in a variety of different events.