Software Engineering/Cyber Security Intern Review

Overall, I quite enjoyed the internship as the work was on an interesting topic and I felt like I was completing a real, useful piece of work which would be of value to stakeholders, as opposed to being assigned something to do for the sake of doing it. However, spending the entire eight week internship working on the same project felt somewhat stale and draining towards the end.

When it comes to my team, I felt that my work and presence was appreciated at all times. The general attitude at the company was also quite positive towards myself and the other interns, and the work we were doing was looked at as genuine and important, which was a great feeling.

Any time I had a question or troubles I was always able to find someone in a superior role to help me, usually within minutes. I very rarely felt like I was talked down to, and even the most superior people at the company were very down to earth and felt approachable. Weekly meetings with my supervisor helped to assure that I was staying on topic and doing good work, while a variety of communication channels were available for general questions.

Since we had a concrete project brief and detailed weekly meetings there was always work to be done and I very rarely felt a lack of things to do. This made the entire internship go by very quickly. Different extra-curricular clubs are also available during lunchtime and after working hours, meaning you always have something to do.

While the project I was working on isn't something that was vital to the company's survival or earnings, my team and I were fully in charge of our own work and took full command and responsibility for a real-world project that when completed would be of value to both Roke and their customers.

Being a computer science student, the experience I gained in programming and using version-control were invaluable once I returned to Uni. Furthermore, the organisational skills developed by working daily and being in a real-world team environment were something I felt was very difficult to develop during the contrived University courseworks I usually partake in, so I found the overall experience very useful.

Very relaxed, in a big open office space with the rest of the interns. At times, it could feel overwhelming to be in a room with so many people, but if you wanted your own time there was always the option of putting on some headphones and getting on with it. Furthermore, the room itself had plenty of different furniture and types of spaces including standing desks and sofas and was quite re-configurable, which was very nice.

Pretty good overall, but while there were only really a couple of problems, they were quite frustrating. The biggest issue was with equipment as being in an environment where I was programming almost all day, every day meant that the rather poor laptops provided were a great source of frustration. Apart from that, the other biggest problem we had was with the rather plasticky and uncomfortable chairs we were sat on initially, but that was brought up and fixed within the first week and a half, which was great.

As mentioned before, the employees were always open to questions and were very helpful, and I learned a lot through the work itself, but there weren't many dedicated workshops for skill improvement, with the one notable exception being a Thursday Lunchtime Cyber-Security club which was quite good.

Overall, it seems like a fantastic place to work since there is a variety of things you could work on in different areas of computer science and science/innovation in general, so I would certainly consider future employment at Roke, even though the starting graduate salary seems a little lower than that of competitors.

It was nothing particularly special, but that wasn't as a result of the fellow colleagues as much as it was a result of my own lack of desire to go out/be particularly social. There were opportunities and times when we met multiple times a week outside of work, though, so I really can't complain about it.

Certainly more expensive than a lot of places up north, but still less expensive than Oxfordshire or London, for example. Romsey itself is pretty unimpressive, but Southampton has plenty of restaurants, shops, pubs and clubs to visit even if it is slightly on the more expensive end due to the tourists visiting on cruise ships and the uni's international students.

Once again, Romsey itself is basically dead, but Southampton is pretty good if you're willing to make the effort to go out. However, it is noticeably better during the uni year as a lot of the clubs are aimed towards students and are either closed or less busy during the summer.

There are plenty of things such as sports clubs and other less physical activities to get involved in at Roke, including clubs for Fishing, Rounders, Tennis, Data Science, Cyber Security and others.