Software Developer Intern Review

I've had an incredible 14 months at Expedia. I've learnt a massive amount amount and had a great time doing it. The work was interesting and varied, and there was always someone who could help me if I got stuck. The companies culture is amazing - there are regular socials and everyone is super friendly.

Even as an intern I felt like I was an ordinary member of the team. The work I produced was used by lots of other employees in the company. My manager would assure me that I was making a valuable contribution in our one to ones. Whenever I helped out someone seeking support or completed a big task then the team would thank me in the retrospective.

I had weekly one to ones with my manager to discuss how everything was going and get feedback and support. We created goals for me for the year and would revisit them often to check my progress. I was always encouraged to ask questions, and when I did I got proper answers. The head of university recruiting also scheduled meetings with me to check up on how everything was going.

The story tickets I picked up didn't really have hard deadlines - I could mostly work at my own pace. There was always something new to start when I finished stories. I never felt that I had to stay late, and rarely found myself without anything to do. If I ran out of tasks then there were always people who I could ask what to work on next.

I was treated as if I were a normal member of the team and had more or less the same responsibilities as any of them. I was given access to all of the internal tools, but not given permission to anything which could have caused a complete disaster if I had broken something.

I have had experience using so many different new technologies that I previously hadn't had any exposure to. I expect a lot of what I have learnt to assist me with my final year of my Computer Science degree and expect it to make it a bit easier. I feel that both the technical and the soft skills I acquired will prepare me for the future after university too.

The office culture was amazing - everyone was so nice and friendly. We had weekly standups with everyone in the technology department of the London office where we would share any announcements and afterwards participate in a quiz. There were regular socials organised by the company for everyone in the London office over all of the Expedia brands, .

Everything was organised very well by the University Recruitment team. The interview process was fair and there was always someone I could contact if I had any questions. Upon starting I was given lots of information and again, always had people who I could ask questions to. I had regular meetings to check on my progress and see how things were going.

I was firstly given my own mini project to do with the purpose of teaching me some of the core technologies used by the company. I then progressed to working on stories like the rest of the team, but was able to choose which tasks I wanted to work on. I had weekly one to ones with my manager in which I could ask to work with something new and learn new skills. I ended up having worked with a wide range of technologies and tools.

They have offered me a full time job for when I graduate and I have already accepted. I'm super excited to be going back!

I feel like I've made lifelong friends with some of the fellow interns and graduates. When I first joined, there were also summer interns with us. We had a couple of socials organised for the new interns by the company, where we could get to know each other. Soon after we organised socials between each other and would go for lunch and breakfast together.

The office is in Angel in London, so it's not the cheapest place to live. I lived in Stoke Newington which was half an hour away by bus. The rent was slightly cheaper but it was still an expensive place to live. London prices, especially in the pub, will seem very steep if you're moving from somewhere outside London. I still found myself (just about) able to afford to go out and socialise a few times a week.

Angel has lots of nice pubs, bars and restaurants which you will often find people heading to after work. There are also comedy clubs, theatres and the O2 Academy Islington. There are a couple of places for dancing, but not really any nightclubs, however it's right next to Shoreditch - about a 15 minute bus journey or one stop on the tube - which is absolutely packed with clubs and nightlife.

I had the opportunity to get involved with various hackathons, and was always encouraged to by my manager. There are volunteering days once a year where you can help out some local charities. Also, Expedia runs regular tech talks in which internal employees and also the public are invited to the office in the evening for someone to do a talk, like a Ted Talk, about something tech related. There are free courses ran by employees for other employees, usually an hour a week for 8 weeks, on something tech related. I was a teaching assistant twice, then a lead teacher for the class 'Ruby for beginners'. Finally, there was always opportunities to help out the university recruiters with events put on for students looking for an internship/grad roles.