Intern Review

I have really enjoyed my time at Metaswitch. The work was varied and for the most part, it was very interesting. What really made my internship enjoyable were the people in my department. I was in a very lively department where there was always someone to chat to. I also felt like the people in my team genuinely cared about my life and how my internship was.

I was given initial training on what to do, but after that I was not given a lot. I felt my internship lacked any longer term structure. I had a number of tasks during my internship and they were self contained. Many other interns had longer term goals set to work towards throughout their time, such as the skills they were expected to acquire. This was lacking for me.

I had a very good balance with my work. There was enough to fill my time and I had a few tasks to juggle which meant I could move on if I got bored of one. I also felt comfortable enough to let people know when I could not take on more work because I already had enough. This was perfectly acceptable and I did not feel any pressure to take on more than I could handle.

I had a few tasks to complete over my internship and they had varying levels of responsibility. For part of my internship I was directly dealing with vendors and in other instances I was working on small internal projects for one person. I did have a lot of autonomy over how I did my job and how I wanted to structure my day.

I learnt many soft skills rather than practical skills. Many of the practical skills I acquired were very specific to the tasks I was set and so are not easy to translate across into other areas of life. However, the soft skills of being in an office, communication, and time management are always useful in further life and studies.

I really enjoyed my wing in the office. My team were really nice and very easy to socialise with. There were also good relations with the other interns. There are morale events organised which keeps the internship fun. The interns had a trip to mini golf, pizza ordered to the office, and fish and chips. With my team we went to a ping pong bar in London. Day to day was like most other offices, but there were opportunities to chat to my team and get to know them a little better.

I was trained in the jobs that I needed to do very well and the company ethos makes it very easy to ask questions. I never felt like I was stuck on a task because I always new I could ask someone for help. There are also optional talks at lunch time ranging from very technical topics to tips with interviews and jobs.

There were good social scene amongst my team and the other interns. The interns had their own group chat to organise lunches and TV show watch parties. Every day the interns met up for lunch and every Friday we went to the pub for lunch. My team were absolutely brilliant. I am actually a bit sad to leave because I have really enjoyed working with them and socialise with them.

Enfield is still in London so it is expensive to live here. The food in the canteen helps with this because you can get a cheap home cooked meal each day. The company has very subsidised housing available for all those who do not live nearby. Like most things there are cheap ways to do things and more expensive ways to do things. it is very easy to do the internship cheaply by walking to work and bringing in your own food.

There are a huge number of clubs and sports events to take part in. There are clubs at lunch and after work. There was also an interns sports day organised one afternoon which was a fun afternoon activity. There is currently the Game of Phones competition going on, which has activities to get involved with from bake offs to sports events.