Intern Review

I had interesting work to do, and it was relevant to what other team members were doing, so it felt 'real'. It was nice having my own project to take responsibility for. Metaswitch clearly value, and invest a lot in their employees - this includes their interns, and I felt like I was part of the team. The office was friendly and laid back, and there was also a good social scene with the other interns (I was in the Enfield office).

The team I was assigned was friendly and helpful, and although I was clearly not as well integrated as people that had been there for years, I never felt like I was given the cold shoulder, and other employees were always happy to lend a helping hand, or just have a chat in the 'kitchen'. Being part of the morning 'stand up meetings' that the team had helped me feel included.

The 'review chat' at the end of the internship was a good forum to discuss how I'd found the internship and what I'd done, and receive feedback from my manager, and I was given a written document summarising this, which is really helpful to have. I had fortnightly 'status' meetings with my manager, at which I kept him up to date with how the work was going and how I was finding things generally, and he gave me some feedback. Day to day I was given some support and guidance on an ad hoc basis if I asked for help, or if my manager came over to see how I was getting on.

Apart from a couple of days inbetween tasks, I always had something to be getting on with, but was never overwhelmed - I got on with projects at my own rate, and that worked well.

I was largely in charge of directing my own work - I would be given a project to do, and some general introduction to what I was supposed to be doing, but day to day I just got on with it in the way I thought was best (occasionally asking for or receiving advice, and updating the rest of my team on what I was doing at our daily 'stand up' meetings). I was working on projects that would actually be used by the company, and felt like I was being given tasks that full-time employees would have been given, the only difference being that I had to ask for help more often!

I learned many practical skills on my internship (such as Python, and understanding how large programs are designed) that will be useful in my degree studies. I will probably use python in my final year project, and having this experience will be valuable in the future, as programming is present in all areas of engineering. I also think that the experience of working in an office environment and being part of a team in this setting will help me perform better at future interviews (and in other jobs), and has probably also given me useful life skills too.

The office was a great place to work - it was friendly, spacious, and productive. People getting on with work, but also always available if you wanted to ask them something. There was also a fair bit of non work related fun - foam balls, a nerf gun, and a golf putter all made their way into the office at some point.

Metaswitch have got a good intern set up - I always had people I could contact before starting if I had questions, and when I arrived I was given the usual intro, and then taken to my team. My manager had a project in mind for me, and there were also various intern events such as a communication skills workshop, and even a laser tag evening followed by a meal out.

I had the attention of my manager and team members, and I think the feedback I was given was very useful. There wasn't much formal training (aside from the communications skills workshop), but I learnt a lot just doing the tasks I was given.

Metaswitch seem like a great company to work for. However, I was not offered a job with them.

There were lots of other interns at the Enfield Office, and we usually sat together at lunch. We also usually met up one evening a week, which was fun (and aided by the fact that most of us were living in company houses, within walking distance of the office). I enjoyed getting to know the other interns - it was quite sad when people started leaving at the end of summer!

Really cheap - largely due to the subsidised accommodation, but Enfield was an area had a decent range of shops (from Aldi to Waitrose), and the local pubs and restaurants were ok.

Don't know

There were lots of lunchtime sports/activities (e.g. ultimate Frisbee, magic: the gathering, football, board games after work, badminton....).