Summer Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship at Metaswitch Networks. I had a good time during my summer there and I was happy with my time there, from the tasks I have been given to the activities organised specifically for interns. Everyone was extremely friendly and keen to help. I’ve learnt a lot during those 11 weeks!

The project I was working on was not tightly related to what my colleagues were doing on a day-to-day basis, so it was hard to judge how much my work was valued by them. However, my manager and mentor always valued my viewpoint when I was explaining my design plans to them.

Both my mentor and manager were extremely helpful, no matter what my questions were about. They always made time to explain difficult concepts to me (sometimes even multiple times) and gave me advice on any aspects of the tasks I was unsure about. I also had great interactions with colleagues from other offices.

I was neither particularly busy nor bored. Towards the end of the internship I wanted to finish as much of the work as I could but my manager made sure I focus on the most crucial parts of the task so that I don’t feel the pressure to stay too late trying to finish everything!

A lot of my project was set out for me but I have been given a lot of freedom to decide how I want the features to be implemented. I also prepared design plans for some parts of my task and I felt like my opinion about how things should be done was valued by the team.

I developed plenty of new technical skills (since this was my first software engineering job) but I feel like I improved my personal skills as well. I’ve also had an opportunity to participate in workshops on presenting and creative thinking, and those kinds of skills are useful no matter which career you choose.

In general, everyone in the office was rather focused on their work, but there was always time for a friendly chat in the tea room. We also had other opportunities to socialise, like Friday drinks and every intern had both welcome and leaving drinks which were a good opportunity to get to know others in an informal setting.

I feel like a lot of thought has been put into the mentoring system and making sure you can always ask questions to someone which was great! You have a weekly meeting with your manager which is a great opportunity to take a step back and rethink your work. The leaving review system is very structured and I found it good to talk to some senior staff too. There’s been some technical hiccups though but nothing too serious.

I had to be taught a fair share about Metaswitch products and that took a lot of my mentor’s and manager’s time which felt somwehat surprising since I was only there for the summer and the company has no guarantee that I will be coming back for a full time position. Overall I think the company wants interns to have a good time and enjoy their work so they do invest in them quite a bit.

The company seems to be growing and developing new technologies for the growing telecom market. There is plenty of excitement about the future and the senior staff seem to be pretty optimistic about the prospects of the company, so I think it is a good place to be in right now.

A lot of interns stayed in the company houses so there were plenty of opportunities to socialise outside of work hours. In addition to that Metaswitch seem to think that any occasion at all is good for drinks (new starters, employees leaving, getting married, moving offices...) so there was some sort of a tab in one of the pubs almost every week.

There are plenty of sports (and not only) clubs running at lunch time so there is something for everyone if they wish to exercise and relax during work day. Every summer the company holds a competition between the departments and it's really fun to take part!