Student Intern Review

This was an eye opener to the software industry coming from a mechanical engineering background. I enjoyed everything in the office, especially the relaxed open office work environment. The workload was ideal and very interesting. This has also helped me gain interest in software development as it has exposed me to various stages of a development cycle including designing and use experience to quality assurance.

My colleagues had given me confidence and shown that my work is valued in the company. Even though I am an intern, they have trusted me with various different projects and would take their time to listen to my opinions. In some cases, my inputs has affected the development scope. They have been very friendly towards me and always made me feel welcomed. Some of my colleagues even took their time to share their life experiences with me which would definitely help in the future as they also came from the mechanical engineering field.

I was shifted around the office a bit and for each group I was involved in, I always have a point of contact if I face any problems. I could not ask for any more support than what was given to me. I was never asked to do anything if I do not understand the topic or if I wasn't given enough training. Colleagues were happy to set of their tasks to get me up to speed on an assignment before leaving me with the work. Besides that, they have clearly distinguished specialists within the office which we could go for guidance on certain topics, for example, physics, user interfaces and so on.

Working in an agile environment where the acceptance criteria and effort required would be determined with my inputs, I would say that the company had an almost ideal workload. There were only a few times where I felt a bit overloaded because some members were on leave. However, team members happily shuffled their roles around just to get the workload right.

Responsibilities given to me exceeded my expectations. Initially, I was given testing jobs which involved legacy work and had someone supervised. Basically I came up with test cases and discussed with my supervisor if he/she though that was sufficient. Through the placement, I have moved to be in charge of tests for a project we were working on. At that point, I was discussing test scenarios directly with a software developer and sometimes had to review ideas from other testers. So I would say that responsibilities of a test engineer and intern involved would be pretty much the same.

Working mainly on the physics testing of the software, I have gained a lot of knowledge heat transfer and fluid dynamics, which will contribute greatly in my mechanical engineering degree. This has widen my horizons on how physics are applied in real life. Besides that, I was exposed to VBA and C# coding language daily. In the past, I have little knowledge in these languages but right now, with some searching online, I am able to write physics tests for a software. This would definitely be a useful skill in the future.

The office was generally relaxed and full of enthusiastic individuals. They were working on cutting edge technology, most of which I was never exposed to. However, technical specialists were always more than happy to go out of their way to explain their area of expertise to you. Besides that, we are always working on a different assignment as we go on, so I was always looking at something new.

The internship was set up very well as some of us switched role in the middle. Besides that, I was also able to support other interns when they are on leave. This has exposed me to the various elements in a development cycle. I wasn't only involved in the physics testing (which was my main role) but also in user interface tests, performance tests and maintaining some progress monitors. Besides that, the company was well prepared in terms of work as I have not spent much time looking for work during the placement as they always had things ready for us.

The company has invested a fair bit in terms of training and development. I spent the first month undergoing training on the various jobs that I will take up, and also shadowing a previous intern to get up to speed. Besides that, whenever there was something new for instance C# or VBA coding, I would be given enough training, and some time alone with minimal workload so that I could practice before taking up the actual tasks.

Although no offer has been given, a previous intern has already been offered a job and is back in the office. So I personally think that there is a possibility for interns to go back to work for the company.

Socially speaking, the office was great. We often speak to other colleagues during work, regardless of what topic it is. Besides that, there were 4 interns in my office and we tend to spend time together during lunch hours. We have got along pretty well and it was great knowing students from other universities.

I have worked in Milton Keynes and the cost of living was lower compared to Bath, where I study. With the pay we were earning during placement, it got me through the year and I was able to save almost half of it.

The nightlife was pretty good, with restaurants and pubs to go out. Besides that, the buses in Milton Keynes was pretty frequent and there were also lots of taxis to get about during the night.

The company had a field trip to celebrate a release of a new software version during my placement. We had a chance to have lunch together and also go to a forest for a walk. Beside that, we also have meals together either in the office or outside for a BBQ.