Software Development Engineer Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Soho and feel strongly that I had one of the best placement experiences possible. Returning to University and comparing with others has only reaffirmed this.

The first half of my placement was very much focused on my personal development so that I could contribute in a significant way in the latter half. As I progressed I felt like I was treated like a normal full time employee as opposed to an intern. In the final six months of my placement I felt that the work I produced was very highly valued.

All colleagues were willing to help with my development in every area. While the support given by my direct line of management was excellent and proved extremely useful with my development as a Software Engineer, people in other departments were also always looking to assist me in improve skills outside the scope of my day to day job role

The nature of the Software Development business is that it is very demanding. During particularly busy parts of the development process I fairly frequently worked outside of the normal 9-5 routine. I was willing to do this because I felt strongly valued and that as part of the team I wanted to make a significant contribution.

The level of responsibility I had increased over the year. As I was developing they didn't overload me with responsibility and felt very relaxed. The more I was willing to take on, the more I was given. Towards the end of the year I had considerably more responsibility than I had anticipated I would have before starting the job. This is partly due to the fact that you work on actual shipping products as opposed to special "intern projects" that placements often offer.

While I didn't receive any formal training, working within an experienced team of developers on a large project has vastly improved my skill set. It's a bit of a cliché but you really do learn more in the year in industry than you have at University. Looking back, I feel like I knew very little when I started in comparison to what I know now.

The office has a very laid back and fun atmosphere. Everyone has a great sense of humour and share similar interests given entertainment studio setting. While a lot of work is expected of you, you're never going to be judged for stopping for five minutes to have a joke with a colleague or a quick game of pool in the late afternoon.

The intern recruitment process is managed by Microsoft UK and not independently by Soho. Everything was prepared when I started and I experienced no issues with the process.

I never attended any formal training courses and no specific training was offered by Soho. Despite this a number of courses were available to me by Microsoft UK that would result in professional qualifications, I didn't take advantage of this however, so cannot comment on them. My personal development was closely managed by my supervisor and he was very keen to help me learn in areas I was interested in. As a direct result of this the work I was given revolved around what I found interesting.

Depending on the success of the year, it is possible to be offered a job to work at Soho after your placement. Outside of this they will provide fantastic recommendations within Microsoft so I imagine there would be many opportunities to work for different Microsoft departments.

Soho has a small group of interns (6 in my year) so the intern social circle isn't anywhere near as large as on the other Microsoft sites. As a result of this we spent just as much time mixing with full time employees as we did other interns. It was just as likely that I would go out for a drink after work with a senior developer as it was to go out with another intern. I made some great friends over the year.

Fortunately I could commute from my family home outside of London, however the cost of living in the capital was the main factor for me doing so. There are plenty of pubs and bars around Soho which offer reasonable prices (granted there are much more where the prices are extortionate!)

You're in the heart of London, it's about as good as it gets.

There were plenty of chances to attend events and participate in other activities outside of work.