Technology Summer Intern Review

This summer internship has been one of the best experiences of my professional and personal life. I never thought that in only ten weeks it was possible to learn so much about the technology stack I used to build my project. I would highly recommend this internship to anyone looking to do a summer placement in technology.

I was highly valued by my colleagues and treated as if I was a member of the team. At American Express it makes no difference whether you are talking to another intern, upper management, your placement leader, the graduates or anyone else in the building; you are always treated like an equal and everyone is always ready to listen, help and support each other.

My supervisor and the management at American Express gave continuous guidance and support throughout the internship. There was always somebody available to ask questions if you needed help and even if you didn't ask if anyone noticed you needed help they jumped at the opportunity to help you. It was the best corporate culture I have ever been involved with.

My team and I started a completely new project and deployed it by the end of the internship and were responsible for every part of the development from choosing the technology stack to implementing and maintaining the project during our time at Amex. This meant that throughout the internship we were quite busy throughout the day and there were few moments where we were not focused and working hard. That being said, the work culture never made any of this stressful or difficult. We worked hard but the environment was such that it was a very enjoyable experience throughout.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement, from choosing and designing the complete technology stack for my project to implementing it. I also had plenty of opportunities to even get involved in other projects outside of my own and felt like I was in the position to make valuable contributions with production level code in my project and beyond.

When I started this internship, I had never done any front-end development. I came from an electrical engineering background so front-end development in particular was extremely new to me. However, the supportive environment and work culture at American Express meant that over the ten weeks I learned so much about html, css, JavaScript and the other frameworks I used that I now feel complicated to work on front-end development projects and could make production level code contributions to my project and to others as well. I have never learnt so much in my life in any academic or professional activity or experience I have ever had before. I received more than ample training and support and this internship has challenged my beliefs of where I wanted to go with my studies and given me an opportunity to work on a full technology stack including front end and backend development, and this is something for which I will be forever grateful. I could not recommend this experience to you more.

The general atmosphere in the office was always positive and supportive. There was never a time when there was not someone available to ask for help. Everybody at the office is friendly and the Amex corporate culture is friendly before anything else. People are generally not competitive and everyone always helps each other.

The internship was very well organised and the project given to us was well defined and explained at the start of the internship. Then after when we started working we had continuous meetings with our placement leaders to evaluate our work and make sure we were on track. It could not have been better organised.

The company greatly invested in personal training on all of the interns by providing a large selection of training courses and sessions as well as access to online learning platforms to continue exploring and learning even outside of the workplace. With regular presentations and meetings with senior members of American Express we also got the opportunity to learn about leadership.

The future employment prospects are good within the organisation and it is clear that there are plenty of opportunities to grow and develop as a software engineer and as a professional in the workplace. I have no doubt that American Express pushes its colleagues to continue to grow and learn professionally.

There is a very good social scene amongst the interns but also with the current graduates and full time members of the American Express team. Everyone is always supporting each other and there is never any shortage of people to ask for help. Outside of work there are plenty of social opportunities to get involved with as well.

The cost of living and socialising in Brighton is good. It is cheaper than living and working in London where I normally live and study. There are also plenty of places with student discounts and offers that make Brighton and Burgess Hill attractive places to live and work. No complaints here!

The nightlife was poor.

There are many opportunities to vet involved with activities outside of work.