Software Engineer Review

by American Express

Rating

4.8/5
  • The Role
    4.6
  • The Company
    5.0
  • The Culture
    5.0

    The Role

  • 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
  • I thoroughly enjoyed my internship at American Express. I was very skeptical about what could be offered especially during the Corona situation but they really made the effort to give us something to do every single minute of the internship. There was not one minute was I lost or confused about what to do. The vast amount of talks from senior people was beyond what I thought they would offer so I was able to be in contact with people from Product to Finance to Technology VPs and directors.

    5/5

  • 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
  • The team I worked with were amazing! We had daily standup about work with our scrum master and everyone in my team checked up with me daily. I met my manager at least twice a week where he would check our progress, ask how we are and give us valuable feedback. I then also got to meet our Vice President of Technology at least once a week where he would also give us feedback. The buddy system at Amex was amazing, where they placed us with a similar aged person whom we could ask anything about and if they didn't know the answer, they would direct me to the right person.

    5/5

  • 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
  • I had daily stand ups with our scrum master who made sure we were on task. My manager would check our code and frequently meet up with us to guide us about our project. I was easily able to message other senior engineers to help with my project and they would really take the time to give me a call and explain why a certain approach to the problem is the best and this really taught me so much.

    5/5

  • 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
  • During the first week of introductions, we had something on everyday and able to network with all parts of the organisation which was great to be able to hear what other teams work on. From the second week on, when we started our project, we were given daily tasks to complete and if we did complete them, our scrum master would happily give us more work to do and so we were always able to do something and never waiting for tasks to come.

    5/5

  • 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
  • The project I was working on was part of a bigger system which is a new product at the company and all of what we built has now been put into production so I would say that is a lot of responsibility into our code. We were not spoon fed anything and had to learn most things by ourselves with guidance from senior members and I think this really excelled my development in software. I'd say I was given the same amount of responsibility as a normal employee.

    5/5

  • 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
  • This internship really has given me a platform to strive in the future. I was definitely much more worried about software development before my internship but having had gone through the entire process of development, I am confident I can apply these skills to anywhere I work in the future. The soft skills I learnt was also monumental from time management, to organising coffee chats and public speaking are all things I will attribute to have learnt here.

    3/5

    The Company

  • 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
  • Unfortunately due to Covid, we had to work remotely but for the company to have set this is up is phenomenal. Furthermore, they sent us all MacBook Pros to work on.

    5/5

  • 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
  • I am in awe at how well organised the entire internship was during this pandemic. It was the first time they have ever had virtual internships and I feel I was valued by the company. They would constantly ask us if we wanted any extra events and if there was something we wanted, they would offer it. There was always somebody on call to ask about Payroll, technical issues and others which made it super helpful to have.

    5/5

  • 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
  • I had so much training whilst at Amex from learning their internal developer tools, to how software is shipped from production to development, to learning extra materials. I really knew nothing going into this internship and have come out feeling that I could really work anywhere in software development. Aside from all the technical skills, I think I have also improved hugely in my networking skills and not being scared to organise calls with senior people.

    5/5

  • 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
  • Flexi Time

    Financial Bonus

    5/5

  • 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
  • They are super responsive and have told us whether we will get a return offer within two weeks of our internship ending.

    5/5

    The Culture

  • 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
  • 5/5

  • 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
  • 5/5

  • 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
  • 5/5

  • 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
  • 5/5

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Details

Internship (1 Month+)

London

August 2020


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