Technical Solutions Professional Review

Microsoft has given me experiences well beyond the day job. As well as having your key priorities and projects you're also able to join communities within Microsoft to skill up/ get hands on and demo the products and services you're interested in. This approach allows you to really branch out and gain exposure to many areas of the business.

When starting at a company as big a Microsoft I assumed that I'd be 'The intern', but this was not the case. From day one you're working with people in your team as peers and by the end of the internship they're coming to you for you're help. By the end of it you're just another member of the team

The management direction given to me was perfect for the way I work. I was given key areas to specialise in and have catch ups on a monthly basis to ensure that everything was running smoothly and I was on track. I could also just message my manager at any point for a quick call or get any of my questions answered.

With you're day job, stretch projects, other communities as well as a plethora of online courses and learning materials you can really be as busy or as free as you want to be. There's no one telling you exactly what to do at each point in the day so it's really up to the individual to work in their desired manner.

As mentioned earlier you are really part of the team you are working in. This means that you are given responsibility for certain aspects of projects. In this internship you will be doing the job as if you were any other member of the team and that come with all the responsibilities of one.

At Microsoft you'll grow your skills far quicker than at any other point in your academic life. You'll be talking with customers, demoing products and skilling up on the Microsoft ecosystem. You also have a huge amount of extra learning material you can use to improve in any are you wish; Microsoft certifications being a key one that Is free as an employee

As an intern everyone is very willing to help you out. That along with the other interns in the cohort allows you to really relax and know that people have got your back if you need them. This doesn't mean that the job won't be stressful at times but there's a lot of people to turn to

This internship has many different areas to to into and your experience will differ depending on what one you go into to. The area I went into did not have any early in careers before so it was really up to us to provide feedback to shape the way our year went

You have about 90% access to all of the perks/ materials that a full time employee has. It's really up to you to ensure that you get what you want from it but managers are always around any questions you have. If there's a Microsoft held event happening, ask to go. If you ask they're more than likely to let you.

In the last couple of months at the company you'll go through an internal 'interview' prosess to transition from an intern to a grad. This consists of manager approval and a presentation to any of the hiring managers. From here you'll know with a few weeks whether or not you have a grad role.

The inters have their own committee that is subsidised my the company. This means that the socials between yourselves and other early in career areas is only as good as that committee. In my year it was pretty good and would regularly have socials - at least once a month.