Intern Software Developer Review

I loved it, I learnt more in this year than the two years of university before it put together. I was given the opportunity to go overseas twice, present in front important people within the company and take part in several graduate and intern recruiting events, both on and offsite. I was also given a lot of responsibility and respect that as an intern I was never expecting to receive. I made friends both professionally and personally and have been keeping in touch with people even though my placement has now finished.

Leaving was very hard for me, and I really did feel like I had made a positive impact on the team and that my contribution was valued throughout my placement year, and not just professionally but also personally, I was made to feel very at home when working for Expedia and it felt like my leaving really mattered to everyone I worked with.

My manager and I made the decision early on that my support and guidance would be provided by the others in the team, and I think it was this decision that lead to me having such a close relationship with those on my team. My manager and all members of my team were always incredibly supportive as was everyone else who I had the chance to work with.

I was very busy but never bored. The work was always varied and interesting and was balanced perfectly with social events, chances to do learning/training and taking part in recruiting events and assisting the uni recruiting team with various tasks. Many of the projects I took part in were using new technologies, so I could balance development work with researching and learning about new tech.

Much more than expected, I was trusted with production access and was carrying out production deployments without assistance, I was also part of solving live production issues and contacting other teams around the world in order to resolve issues. I was also trusted to teach others on the team how to carry out these critical tasks.

I think that my final year of university will be a huge step down after learning as much as I have over the last year. Both my engineering and interpersonal skills have greatly developed and I now no longer struggle with tasks or situations that I would have found difficult or daunting before beginning my placement.

Expedia have created an incredibly enjoyable environment to work in, it manages to maintain the fun environment and facilities (i.e. table tennis table, arcade room, racing simulator etc) without getting too over the top (no slides between floors or constant distracting events going on around you). It is both a mature place to work and feels young and fresh, I think this is largely due to the relaxed dress code and themed meeting rooms creating a sense of fun without being too overwhelming. I was also very lucky to be one of the people who got to move in to a brand new office space with updated tech, sit to stand desks and a more open and lighter design.

Very well organised. We were provided with many events and opportunities, be it lunch and learn events or evening social events. The process from the interviewing all the way through to being onboarded on my first day and then my exit interview 14 months later was seamless, friendly and very simple.

Most of my training was done on the job, however I was given the opportunity to go to another country for a conference which was an amazing experience in both learning more about the technologies I was using and developing my professional skills when interacting with others in my industry.

Very appealing, I was offered a job for after my graduation from university, and given that Expedia Inc is a portfolio company, there are opportunities to move between brands so that you can continue to grow your career and stay within the Expedia family, I couldn't think of a better place to start my career and I am very much looking forward to going back.

Yes, Expedia is a very sociable company, offering many social events and activities each month for all employees, and the interns and graduates had our own events throughout the year where we could get to know each other in a social setting and become friends outside of work. I've made some very close friends over this year who I will hopefully know for many years to come.

I was living in central London so it is very expensive, however I also study in the same area so I was used to it, Expedia's salary and compensation is very generous and made it much easier and more affordable to work in somewhere so expensive. Also with so many (free) events are being paid for by work, it wasn't necessary to always be going out on our own.

Again being central London, it's the best nightlife in the UK with no shortage of bars, gigs and clubs to go to. It's a good mix of cheaper chain bars and the more unusual pop up bars, the Expedia offices are situated in East London which has the more exciting things to do in the city a short walk from the office.

Many, be it the Expedia day of caring where we get to help out local charities by giving up a day and doing tasks for them like litter picking of clearing up brambles. I was also lucky enough to go on a three day company trip to Budapest which consisted of many fun social activities around the city.