Software Engineering Summer Intern Review

I really enjoyed my internship. The work was really enjoyable and challenging, the team was very friendly and inclusive, and I learned a lot; especially in terms of industry best practices and new technologies. The team also got me up and running very quickly, so I was ready to start coding very soon and able to commit things and get stuff done. The only thing I did not really enjoy was the location of Glasgow, but that's mainly because I'm not a big fan of cities.

I felt valued by my colleagues to a medium extent. The project I was working on was not directly part of what my colleagues were doing, so I didn't get to know them that well. Still, I participated in daily standups with them and thereby had a good time to ask about any issues I had. I also had another intern that I worked with, and he and I got along well and helped each other to get things done. We also did quite a bit of pair programming.

I was given a lot of support by my manager. We had weekly one-to-one meetings where I could bring up any issues I had and just chat about how the internship was going. I also got support from the rest of the team in pull requests, where they would review the code I'd written and let me know what parts could be done better and how. So I received really good, helpful, actionable feedback from the team.

There was always a good amount of things to do. The project we were working on was starting from scratch so we just worked through things as they came up. What I did appreciate though was that there wasn't huge pressure to get things done as fast as possible, but instead we were told to do things the right way even if it took a bit longer. This was great as it meant I was not stressed about anything and could just work on the project.

We were not given that much responsibility. We were responsible for the code and project we were working on but not much outside of that. What the project did and the direction we took it was determined by our manager and the eventual users of the product. This is good though as that's how products should be designed. Additionally, as an intern I wouldn't have been ready for any more responsibility.

I think that most of the skills I've learned here will be useful for a long time. This is especially true of things like speaking in meetings, and understanding work culture. On top of that, technologies and best practices will be useful for my degree and especially any job that I get in the future.

The atmosphere was relaxed but not too relaxed. So it was a good balance that allowed everyone to get things done while not being stressed about it. This atmosphere also meant that it was ok to ask for help from colleagues (assuming they were not obviously busy such as on a call).

The internship was really well set up. From the start it was clear what I was supposed to be doing, and there has always been something to work on that has been relevant to the skill set I want to have. As interns we were also welcomed into the company essentially as employees (except with a little less responsibility and less expectations).

There was a lot of investment in us. We had free access to additional learning resources that were available internally in the firm and also learning resources that were available from third parties. The feedback given was also really great and they also organized events at which we could develop ourselves further.

At the time of writing I'm unsure if I'll get a job offer or not, but it seems like as the firm is expanding its base in Glasgow they are offering more jobs in the future.

I did not participate in a lot of social events, but I did hear about quite a lot. If you want to have a good social scene among colleagues you just have to go look for it and you'll find it.

Living costs were quite cheap. It depends on where you live in the city though, and what kind of arrangement you have. Sharing flats is probably the cheapest way. The cost of food and going out is about the same as other places in the UK outside of London.

I'm not a very nightlify person so I'm unsure. I can tell you that where I lived it was not loud when trying to sleep so that was great.

There were some opportunities, but not usually directly from work. You would have to make your own opportunities and find out things that you wanted to do outside of work. Personally I prefer it as then you have live outside of work and the people there.