Software Developer Intern Review

It was interesting to say the least! I was moved to different team after 2 months of working there, due to the surprise redundancy of my original team. And then actually was made redundant about 2 months short of my official leaving date. Although this was not a surprise due to many hints of other financial changes happening within the company. However I feel I was in quite unique situation. Also the job role I found out throughout the course of the year, was not really to my taste and not as exciting as I hoped it of would been. Also the lack of team spirit and the fact I was the only intern doing this role within Slough office, made me feel a bit secluded at times. However the positives of meeting new people and experiencing the business office working life, will help me in future careers.

Not too much given really. Although I was given occasional moments of praise for my efforts on a project at hand. However I was in a unique situation at the time and can't really fault my team, as I wasn't originally meant to be working with them and they weren't really within my age group.

Apart from the surprise redundancy from my original team and had to move to another. There was mostly support on the changes the company was going through and how this will affect me personally. We each got assigned mentor, as well as overall representative for interns working there. So if I was unsure about something you could ask either one of them for help and they would try and get back to you with an answer, hopefully in a short period of time. My manager was always there to help if I needed anything. Although regarding work, there was not much he could of done given the circumstances.

Actually surprising busy within the first 6 months say due and then due to the announced redundancies, the work given to me and rest of my team was halted, as projects were cancelled. Also there was optional courses you could undertake in improving your software skills. Which I did take advantage of when there was some down time.

Defiantly some responsibility with some work, however I feel I could of achieved more, if there was the opportunity at the time.

I've learnt defiantly some more software skills over the year as well as how to work within a team on project and in a office environment. There are certainly some are transferable skills I will take to my future job roles. But I feel that some of software skills that I did learn, I didn't really get a chance to apply them to a real project. Which in my opinion feels a bit of waste of experience and probably could of learnt the same skills at university.

Defiantly better at the start of the year, then at the end due to announced redundancies. Also in my both my teams, I feel like I didn't really fit in as well with other employees. Mainly due to different age groups, personalities and mainly because I was the only intern within the teams. But the interns that I lived closely to, made it much better atmosphere and mostly socialised with them at lunch time and at coffee breaks.

Well my original situation till I was moved, was at a good start. However the surprise redundancies of my original team, did feel like there was no communication between me and my new manager regarding this situation. And was only till the redundancy day, me and my manager was told that I would be moving to their team. Quite poor really. Most other aspects were organised in proper fashion, such lunch and learn sessions every month with all interns, discussing about other departments work. As well as initial talks on who we be working for and what will be doing. What benefits can be had working here etc...

I was able to take optional programming courses with the BlackBerry Software skills scheme, which they pay for limited time period to learn externally through online tutorials. Which I thought was excellent and defiantly made use of this. They also at the start of the year gave us a 3 day training course in Birmingham to learn UMTS for mobile devices. And although was a bit heavy handed, it was interesting and useful in parts to my job role. There was not much beyond this though

Not very likely tbh. I certainly wouldn't pick the role I was doing gain there. And the role has ceased to be anyways. The only role I would consider is in OS/application development. However those roles exist atm only in USA and Canada from what I could tell and given the company situation, it would be a very risky career move.

Yes I would say so. Although I was lucky and moved across the street from some other interns, where we usually have a lot of after work activities such as badminton, clubbing, go karting, going to the cinema.. etc. Otherwise It would of been a lot less fun without them!

Relativity expensive to what I usually pay back at Uni. Although I lived in Reading where it's quite close to London, so prices are generally higher. Plus I was been paid over £20,000 per annum, so money wasn't as big as an issue then back at Uni. There is quite a lot of things to do in Reading, such as clubbing, pubs, bars, cinema, lots of shops etc.. I also was only about 10 mins bus ride away from the town center, so was convenient and easy to get to. I didn't check out much of Slough had to offer as Reading was awesome anyways. But from a glance I think Reading is a better choice of area.

Can't really comment as did not go out in Slough at night. But from a first glance, It didn't look too promising.

In terms of socialising with other interns defiantly yes. In terms of work related activities not as much as I hoped. There was Expo convention I went to in London to help them recruit and market for next years placement students. However this wasn't much of a experience to be honest. There was a few charity events throughout the year, which I did help out at one occasion and found that rewarding. Finally there was some school events. Unfortunately my work load at the time was too much, for me to participate in these activities.