Software Engineer Intern Review

I have really enjoyed my work placement, especially when I was in the office working with all the Technology inside Tesco. On the other hand, I did not enjoy very much intern extra activities such as the visit to the Data Centre or to the CFC. Unfortunately they have been poorly organised in my opinion.

Throughout my placement I always add the feeling that my colleagues really valued what I had to say and were also interested in hearing my opinions. However, sometimes I wished they involved me a bit more in other projects and felt not very much part of the team I was in.

Both my two line managers have been very helpful. Despite being always very busy, they found time to answer my questions or to help me with my project. Also, all members of the NW Team have devoted a lot of time to us intern and promptly responded to any issue.

The work environment is really relaxed and stress free, however sometime I wished I had more work. I felt like I could do some more work but either there was not much to do or my skills where not good enough to take part in any of the other team projects.

From day 1 I was assigned a project and was given complete freedom on how I wanted to structure it. No one has ever tried to impose his ideas on me or to take some responsibility off me as long as I was ok with that. There was a good balance.

I was given lots of time to learn new skills during my placement. I took great advantage of the free Pluralsight subscription and were able to tackle a few courses. Later I had also the chance to apply what I have learned to meaningful projects in order to strengthen my new acquired skills.

The atmosphere was really relaxed. There is not pressure of any kind and everyone is ok with that. However I do not like it on Friday. Everyone is working from home on that day, the office is desert and the atmosphere is very sleepy. I felt like people are taking advantage of this great possibility.

The graduate scheme that Tesco offers is pretty appealing. There is a good chance that after the internship you are given the possibility to take part into it. However, having to relocate and to live in London, which is very expensive, I wish that they were able to pay their graduates a bit more.

I have been working in the London office. Hence I rented a studio flat near Finsbury Park. The rent was very expensive and the oyster card as well. At the end I have probably lost a small amount of money considering al expenses I had. Probably if I rented a room I could save some money after the internship, not very much though.

Being in London, the nightlife is great. However, most of the interns were living outside London because they were working in the Welwyn office. As a result we did not spend much time together as we could if I was leaving outside London as well. However London offers great opportunities to socialise and there is always something going on!

The first two weeks there was the world cup. Everyone was crazy about it and regularly someone was organising an event to go to the pub to watch the games. Unfortunately, most of the time it was in Welwyn and I was working in the London office. Also, all teams have their own after work activities such as going to the pub for a drink.