Software Enginerr Review

Parts of this internship were very enjoyable. Meeting, and spending time with, the other interns was very enjoyable - Metaswitch seems to attract good people to work for it. Another highlight was the "vacathon" - a 3 day hackathon. There were a few downsides, but I think they mostly revolved around the fact that I think software engineering might just not be for me.

The work I started off doing felt small and unimportant. Towards the end of my internship I received a small project to do that was related to something a colleague was working on, and so I felt more useful. However, for the duration of the internship, I was working on actual product code, so I must have been somewhat valued.

This, I would say was the main shortcoming of the internship. My supervisor would either give me too much help (and basically just do the task) or not enough help so that I was still stuck. I was also not given any feedback on my progress, or what I should try and improve throughout the internship.

I was usually moderately busy such that there was no desperate rush to finish work, but it was always there for me to do. I say usually because there was a few days during which I had to stall for time until my supervisor got some more work ready for me.

From as soon as I began working (ie after a brief introduction to programming in C), I was working on actual product code. Obviously I wasn't working on anything too important, but it was good that I was working on the real thing. However it was not overwhelming and there were checks in place to make sure I didn't mess anything up.

The main reasons I took this internship was to try out software engineering and learn how to code, as Metaswitch will take on people with no coding experience. The training I received in coding was (I thought) a little bit lacking. However, the exposure was still beneficial and I will almost certainly use coding in the future.

The office was actually quite dull. There was very little talking between colleagues (even work related). However, it was also quite relaxed - people could wear whatever clothes they liked, and it was fine to listen to music (on headphones) during the work day. It was also always very chilly in the office - so bring a jumper. I think this can depend a lot on which floor and which office you get put in though, as other interns seemed to think very differently.

The organisation was generally very good. I received multiple emails before the internship started telling me what was going to happen. During the internship there were various intern events, such as welcome drinks and various pub lunches. It was also very easy to get things fixed in company houses if you were staying in one.

There was an opportunity to give a presentation, which was quite useful. Asides from that there was very little. There were some lunchtime talks (which mostly went completely over my head). I received very little feedback about how I was doing and what I needed to work on. There were supposed to be weekly status reports with my manager, but very few of these seemed to manifest.

I took this internship to try out software engineering and I just don't think it's for me.

I found the interns very friendly. There were various events, welcoming/leaving drinks, a rounders match against the New Starters, and an intern group meal. We also met in the canteen for lunch everyday. I also got on well with the people who I shared a company house with. There wasn't much going on outside of work though.

Company house was just £9/night including rent and bills, which in London is incredibly good value. There was also a big tesco nearby so food prices were as you would expect. The canteen sold reasonably priced hot lunches, although I still don't understand how they price their sandwiches - the large ones usually seemed to be the cheapest. There are quite a lot of pubs around Enfield, none of which are quite at central London prices, but they aren't cheap.

There was none.

There was a lot of lunchtime sports put on by the company. At the Enfield branch, during the summer they have various competitive events against different teams within the company which I could get involved in - including dodgeball, go-karting and rounders. There were also local gyms and various local sports clubs.