Program Manager Review

All round a great place to work, I can't think of a thing that would make it better. Here you can do so much, as long as you have the energy and enthusiasm.

I was positively surprised how friendly everybody is, at first I thought its only because I am new, however having met a number of people throughout the 5 months I been here, everybody is genuinly friendly and nice people. We play games, eat and drink together and get along very well.

If you need help management will always find time or point you in the right direction for you to learn. I have weekly meetings with my manager to talk about absolutely anything and also monthly social hours where we meet up in a pub for a quick drink and have a laugh.

There's always something to do, there wil not be a time when you can sit and do nothing. However this doesn't mean work is boring or too busy, because the work you do is enjoyable and very rewarding. The support you get here motivates you to do more. If you feel like there's too much to do, speak to your manager and he/she will help you out.

I have been lucky to work with feature teams and a personal project which me and colleagues took from scratch to approving budget and running experiments, next step is to officialy include it in the next release. It's a demanding task involving good deal of responsibility, however seeing your little project strive and management recognising your efforts is what its all about!

These really are skills for life. I have learnt so much I don't even know where to start, its as simple as knowing how to speak to people and engaging them to do something for you, identifying dependencies for your project and contacting right people to mitigate them, then there's the technical part of using bespoke software to officialy log actions or updates, and lots of opportunities to improve on the presentation skills. This knowledge will help me to be a much better professional in the future, I highly recommend everybody to apply for internships in general.

There's a good balance between work and fun. You work hard and equally you get to have great fun. We have socials organised by interns or managers every week, we play fusball table and I just hooked up Xbox 360 to a TV in one of the meeting rooms and organised a FIFA tournament, for example.

Everything went smooth, from getting to your first welcome day to setting up your computer on the first day.

There's opportunity to do online courses at any time and also if there's something that particular interests you, speak to your manager to find out whether company can fund you (course fee, hotel, travel), if the training you require is related to your job there should be no problem with arranging this.

After having met a number of people, you stand a better chance of getting back in the job. I know that some of the previous interns had their intern contract extended for a few months and also they secured a part time job whilst at university. If you are bright and hard working, the organisation will recognise this. Don't be afraid to ask about future prospects, there's no direct yes/no answer.

We organise weekly social events during the weekends or pub trips with colleagues after work; best thing is when your manager pays for the drinks =)

London is an expensive place to live in, however you pay for what you get; Intern pay can sometimes be little, but if you manage your money properly you should have money for socialising.

Its absolutely fantastic, you have countries' best clubs and pubs around here (Tiger Tiger, Ministry of Sound). If you don't plan anything, just make your way to Soho and enjoying bars and restaurants. London doesn't sleep, so you can enjoy longer night outs with your fellow colleagues and interns.

There are always opportunities for volunteering and working in different areas. I have personally volunteered to take part in BETT exhibition next year (search for BETT exhibition for more info).