Software Development Engineer Intern Review

The placement with Expedia Group is honestly one of the highlights of my degree so far. I started the placement with minimal expectations, and even had the intention of completing postgraduate study in place of entering the industry. I have now changed my plans to join Expedia again after graduation. The placement didn't just challenge me technically and allow me to develop my skills, but I also thoroughly enjoyed my time with my team. Expedia were incredibly social and hosted plenty of events to network with others, which I found really improved the experience. I spent many evenings going on team outings and to intern/placement student events and participating in company hackathons.

My colleagues always treated me as an equal, and were incredibly inviting. In terms of work, they put a lot of effort in at the start to ensure I was up to speed and knowledgable in the areas that mattered; once I was working to a good standard I was treated as an equal member of the team with equal responsibility to other team members. I was never made to feel like 'the intern' at work.

Managers and supervisors were incredibly helpful, I don't have any faults with the support and guidance given to me. The technical workshops and sessions taught me valuable skills I needed for my day-to-day work and the soft-skills allowed me to develop skills I wouldn't usually think to work on. I had frequent meetings with managers who would ensure I was being supported by the team. The early talent team were also very supportive and helped with any issues I brought to them, and provided plenty of un-biased career advice.

Dependent on the work being undertaken. I never stayed late and it was never expected that people should stay back in order to finish work if the day was over. Overall, I was never short of time, the work given to my team was entirely proportional to the time we had available, and only ever got stressful if there was some kind of un-predictable event such as a service going down. Sometimes there would be a lot of context-switching, but this is part of the job; going between meetings

I was given plenty of responsibility during my placement, especially after the first couple of months. Initially, I would be put on tickets/projects that were not on a critical path and were not time-sensitive, which worked out for both me and the team as it allowed me to familiarise myself with the processes and company whilst still providing genuine business value. Eventually, after around two months I was put onto the 'on-call' rota, meaning I was on call for my team should any of our services break which was significant responsibility to have as a new member of the team, but allowed me to truly support the team. After the first couple of months I was working on the exact same projects with the exact same expectations as full software engineers.

Having just entered my final year, I am now selecting my dissertation topic. My placement has driven my choice of project proposal as well as the technology I will be using to implement it, I would not have learnt much of the technology without my placement and as such, I can attribute this to my placement experience. My time management and other organisational skills have also developed since starting at Expedia Group, and I believe this will help me when managing deadlines effectively.

Very relaxed, there are plenty of facilities such as table football, games consoles and so forth that are used to wind down during work hours when there isn't much work to do or during lunch. Directors and managers sat with everyone else, and the whole office layout is open plan which makes the work environment feel very relaxed. It was common place to stop and chat to people whilst walking around the office and it was not serious in the slightest.

The placement was very organised from the start with plenty of events organised.

There were many different opportunities for training and development provided both by my team and the wider company. We have access to various learning platforms and MOOCs with Expedia which allowed me to develop my skills as and when needed, and company wide trainings were provided on a variety of topics which could be taken when ever you wanted, provided your manager was OK with this. Visiting conferences in other countries was arranged but was ultimately cancelled due to COVID19.

I have an offer to return after graduation which I have accepted.

The social scene amongst the placement students in my year was great, I managed to make plenty of friends who I am staying in touch with. The intern/placement student events held bu the early talent team really helped everyone to bond. I also socialised regularly with my team both during and after work, team lunches were very common as well as trips to activities after work. I made plenty of friends in Expedia Group during my time there.

Relatively expensive, but this is due to the location in Central London. The salary allowed everyone to enjoy the city and socialise as and when you wanted, but you did have to be frugal at times.

Pretty good, London is good for nightlife all round and everything is well connected.

Plenty, there were many charity events you could get involved in if you wanted to. Expedia encourages teams to go and engage with charities every year, with full pay.