Software Engineer Review

Overall I enjoyed my experiences very much. I got to work in a team and project that I was really passionate about but I also got to complete tasks from outside my comfort zone, thus learning more than I expected. It was a great development process for me and I had all the support and resources I needed to achieve that.

The interaction with the colleagues was great for me. Everyone was supportive and my team constantly helped me overcome my blockers and develop myself. I was seen as their equal since the start of the internship and we managed to communicate very well. Every worker I met was very open to provide advices or explain concepts that were unclear to me.

My interaction with the manager was very good. Despite being in a team with a few other interns, my manager kept track with my progress, what I was specifically doing and offered very good feedback. Besides that, he guided me through good practices & methods that can help me achieve my goal in a more organized and sustainable manner.

What I really liked about this internship is that I had the freedom to engage in different projects besides my internship project as well as use resources to learn more concepts. Depending on the load of tasks, whenever I had time I was able to give my attention to this type of side tasks.

I imagined that I would work on a porject that would be actually used in a firm but I didn't think that it would be something that would affect my team and improve their future work so much. The only downside is that it wasn't a project that affected the infrastructure and we did't have set dealines for specific tasks, thus we didn't felt the pressure of the responsability in this sense.

I didn't expect to learn as much as I did. This will be a great help in my studies as I'm doing my final dissertation project in the same topic so now I am able to aim for a more complex approach. Having applied my knowledge in industry I now know how to value and apply the knowledge I got from university, thus improving my learning process.

The atmosphere was really balanced. It is a combination of people working and people communicating or collaborating. We took breaks whenever we wanted to and interacted with people from office as much as we wanted as long as we managed to finish our work. The environment is pretty friendly and dynamic.

In terms of organisation, the structure and events were well organized, announced in advance and mostly helpful. We had a clear plan of the distribution of work over time and what is expected from us. We had a very good balance between work and events and got to enjoy amazing socials.

I was highly impressed on the time and resources that I had for learning. Whenever I was assigned or took a task where I needed additional training everyone understood and supported me - as if it was a natural step in the process -(even provided further resources). I was also directly guided by my manager and various workers, receiving very good advices for my personal out of work development.

As suggested by my team and manager I am highly considered for a future role. I enjoyed my time in the company and I believe that it can provide me a lot of benefical personal development as well as travelling opportunities and diverse learning experiences (working on different projects and infrastructures).

I managed to interact frequently with the other interns and form long lasting friendships. We had the best time during events organised by the program as well as our outside the work meetings. Moreover, we helped eachother during work hours, did shadowing and learned from other's knowledge and experiences. It was a welcoming and supportive environment.

Most of socialising was fairly expensive but not over the line. We managed to find affordable places to go out or events. The cost of living is not particulary low but is way better than London (transpotation + housing). Being in a city close to the beach, we were able to enjoy the summer in the best way at the lowest cost in the context.

During nigth there was almost always something interesting to do. From parties in common rooms to clubs and locals, we had a pretty exciting nighlife. Also, as a bonus, going to the beach or at the pier during night time was just as amazing. The town is quite full of life.

Even though I mostly got involved in activities organised by other interns, there were quite a few sports clubs or societies that we were advised to join. Moreover the firm is also strongly encouraging voluntary work. Also, depending on the colleagues, there are socialising events organized within the work team as well.