Spring Into Technlogy Review

It was really easy to get deeply engaged with the activities we were doing and the people around us, both employees and other attendees. The whole environment just suck me in during those five days and I am really glad that I had the opportunity and tooke the time to do it. The two best parts were perhaps: getting to know the company and seeing how much more relaxed than I thought it really is, and meeting all the amazing people

Most of the time people were extremely nice to us. All the engineers I had the chance to talk to were super keen on answering our questions and discussing ideas we had. There was only one time when the mentor I was assigned to in one of the activites was not really paying much attention, because he was on his phone most of the time, and did not really listen to what we were trying to say, suggesting that we should "instead" do the same thing.

Everything was really nicely explained and there was never any point at which I felt lost or extremely confused. We had two chances to do work shadowing and for one of them the person I was assigned to just went on to giving us tips on how to make the most of university as a Computer Science student after I asked a couple of questions related to that. That was really useful and enjoyable.

Most of the skills acquired were practical things that will definitely help me in my professional life. For instance, it was great to work in teams twice, as I had the chance to apply most of the advice and feedback given in the first time to be much much more effective in the second time. However, as far as my degree goes, nothing really applies directly.

The general structure was laid out to us in the first day and I would say it was very well balanced combining workshopss, challenges, work shadowing and networking. The activities were relatively simple but always allowed us to learn at least a little bit. The only thing I can point out is that many times the morning start got delayed by up to half an hour. This is not a major problem as it gave us more time to chat to each other, but still shouldn't be the case in my opinion.

I attended the Spring into Technology programme in Glasgow. Given that Glasgow is an office dedicated exclusively to technology, everyone was really relaxed and approachable. The dress code was truly casual and there seemed to be lots of interaction between everyone. With other attendees we had multiple chances to network and socialise and it was extremely easy to make friends. Overall it was also good to feel that everyone attending was so driven and smart.

I feel like there really was quite some effort put into designing this programme as well as openness to feedback.

I feel like the work shadowing was a perfect opportunity to understand what I would do if I were working there. Additionally we got to learn about the extra activities and community work that they do, which I think is also very important when considering how much satisfactiona job can give you.

As far as the Glasgow office goes I feel like a got a good grasp of how things work. However, we were told that most other offices, which are not just for technologists are quite a bit less casual and more formal. For that reason, due to the need for colaboration in global teams, I feel like we were only exposed to one of the "flavours" of the company culture.

I would say it did not change my ideas much as I feel like I still have much to explore, but it did show me the advantages of having a regular 9 to 5 job and still being quite happy with my life. This was something I had a chance to discuss with employees during work shadowing.

We were not paid, which I completely understand since we did not really produce any work for the company, but we were fully reimbursed fro accomodation and travel. In the end they sent an email for us to claim food expenses as well but unfortunately I did not keep my receipts so keep that in mind if you wish to get your dinners covered.

We had at least 4 or 5 chances to meet and chat to engineers, including senior engineers, interns and industrial placements. The younger people seemed to be satisfied with most of their experience and the senior gave us some nice insights on what they are looking for. The only downside there was is that networking with food does not work as well as with just drinks (in my opinion) and most times we had either lunch or dinner networking.

On the first evening there was a bowling social, which was a great opportunity to get to know my fellow attendees and have some fun. Additionally, some people doing industrial placements also came along with us, which gave us yet another opportunity to ask questions about the companhy and their experience.

We got to learn about the "Ignite" communities which are special interest groups about technologies that people would just lile to learn some more about, like machine learning, and cyber security (those were the only ones that I remember the topics of). Additionally they also have groups for certain communities such as LGBT, veternans and young people who want to advance their careers. They call this the BRGs (business resource groups) and they mostly organise socials for people to meet each other.

Depending on the experience my friend has I might just tell him to go stright into the internship as they may wish to be paid and really apply and learn more technical skills. This is mostly about getting a first contact with a big corporation, working in teams and getting to know the place and culture.