Intern - Software Development Review

I really enjoy the company atmosphere. It's casual, friendly, and allows me to get work done in a structured way without having to worry about bad management or other issues.

I felt good that the work I did helped my colleagues and helped the team.

I sat next to my manager and was able to talk to him at any time, even for small questions. We also discussed my personal development, and what skills I want to learn on the placement, and I was given tasks that corresponded to what I wanted.

There were just a couple of times when I had to wait on someone before I could continue with my work. In general, I always had work to do, but I didn't feel stressed or pressed for time. There were no time deadlines given for my work.

Near the end, I was able to take on the design and almost complete implementation of a new system, which involved designing and writing parts in the database, backend, and front end. I feel good about the amount of responsibility I had in my work. I didn't have or want responsibility over other people, like in a management position.

I learned a lot of things. Metaswitch is very good for training software skills: there's a codebase to work on, you can always ask your manager, code reviews help you write good-quality code, and overall there's an interest in training and personal development.

Casual but still professional: flexible hours (it was fine to come in at 10am), flexible dress code, a well-stocked tea room with free biscuits. I didn't feel any stress to overwork myself, and I almost always had someone to ask for help if I needed it. No one got angry at me for flicking to facebook or slack. We also had cake together every Wednesday which was lovely.

It was well managed, I always had interesting work and knew what I needed to do. I was rarely left with questions about what to do or where to go. There is also an intern enrichment week, which includes things like giving presentations, going to an escape room, and a three-day hackathon. Those were all good for making friends and developing different skills.

Each person comes up with a development programme with their manager, essentially just saying what skills they would like to improve, and the manager works to give them what they want. So there's a good interest in training. At the end, my review was comprehensive and also specified three areas that I can improve in.

Very good. I was offered a bonus to come back and intern next year. My manager also mentioned that, if I don't take it, I can be forwarded to the 2nd interview stage for a job. With the good review I got, I will essentially have a job offer. The company also asked what department I would like to work in if I return.

There was, with a drinks culture of free drinks for starters and leaving interns (so pretty much every week). Sadly I didn’t engage in it much since I would like to go home early on most days. There are pretty regular morale activities (like going to escape rooms) which are fun for bonding.

I live in London, so it is comparatively cheaper, but still not that cheap.

I think it was good but I don't know.

There were opportunities like sports clubs, as well as an intern enrichment week which was very fun. But in general I had a bit of trouble socialising, as someone who is not interested in sports. I didn’t sense a lot of enthusiasm for some of the other clubs. There were also many after-work drinks events, but since my commute is long I missed a lot of these.