Software developer Review
by Metaswitch Networks
This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
-
The Role
4.4
-
The Company
4.1
-
The Culture
3.5
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
The job was really interesting, and the community of 30-ish like-minded summer interns is great fun to be part of.
Many of the employees at Metaswitch started out as interns - everyone values and respects them.
Formal reviews and informal status meetings keep communication going between you and your manager. I always felt that my manager had time to help me out and explain things.
Varied a lot, but I never found myself without anything to do.
Interns work on real product code, or on internal tools that people within the company will rely on. All your code gets checked so there's that safety blanket there, but by the end of my internship, I was being trusted with tasks that could have caused serious headaches if I messed up!
I'm grateful for the experience of a chunk of work at a company like Metaswitch. The technical skills will probably be useful but it's the perspective and exposure to the real world that I think I'm going to value most.
The Company
Probably depends on the team you end up in, but everyone's really friendly. Yeah, it's slightly dull at times, but it's an office, so what do you expect? People still have plenty of fun though. There were a couple of Nerf guns lying around (but I never saw anyone use them)...
Metaswitch has loads of interns every year, and it's got a really good process in place by now to make sure everyone gets as much out of it as possible (and you get company-provided accommodation living with other interns!)
I spent a lot of time researching technical stuff or learning new programming languages, and you get assigned communication exercises (giving presentations) to develop that side too.
Flexi Time
Company Parties/Events
Like a lot of the interns, I will probably have the chance to go back for another internship, and the hire rate for interns applying for full-time jobs is meant to be really high.
The Culture
The company pays the occasional tab at the local pub to get new interns talking to each other, and the other interns are also your housemates, so you quickly end up getting to know each other and doing stuff.
Metaswitch's Enfield office is on the edge of London, so it's not crazy expensive. The company house rent is £270/month and you can walk to the office and shops, so transport costs are just going out at the weekends.
From the Enfield offices, you can get the train into London if you want nightlife, but Enfield itself doesn't have much to offer.
There are a few weekly sport activities at the offices (and a couple of other things like bridge and board games). Other than that it's up to you to arrange things in the evenings or weekends.
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
London
September 2012
