Commissioning Engineer Review

I really enjoyed the work and being part of the team. The work was challenging and completely new which meant that you definitely learn a lot while on the job but that's a good thing as once you finish you want to know more about what you were doing (at least I did). It was a good learning curve and would definitely carry it out again.

You do really feel part of a team especially so when you have morale boosting events with them after work/during lunch breaks. Colleagues are very friendly and want to get to know you as the teams are generally quite small and close knit. Also during work where you communicate as part of a team and others rely on the work that you do so they can get their work done - there's a real sense of responsibility and that's a good motivator.

My manager was very helpful. The work I needed to do was sent in an email to me and in case I needed help I could easily approach him and talk to him and he wouldn't rush in explaining anything. The support and guidance would be delivered at a suitable pace so that you wouldn't feel undermined or expected to know everything.

There was always something to be doing which meant I never got bored, there was also a good variety of things to be doing which meant although I was kept busy I wasn't doing the same things over and over again. Also the work was delivered in chunks so I didn't feel overloaded from the start or at any point.

Initially not so much - the work I was doing was just internally based and other employees was going to be using what I was doing, which was not a problem and fair enough for only a new intern. Then the responsibility then grew after a few weeks (about 4/5) to the point where I was contacting customers regarding their systems so which I thought was quite brave of the company to entrust interns with this responsibility but I was glad they did as it again served as a new experience.

Not quite sure yet as I am yet to start uni however I definitely think that the grounding Metaswitch has given means that I know what I want to take a closer look at so I can go into university having a bit of knowledge surrounding my degree which can hopefully not make things so new and surprising when I go to university.

Very positive. As a team we all worked well together and there was never any negative atmosphere. At the time when I did my internship the team I was with was actually very busy (as they are every summer) which meant on occasion there was a bit of stress but even through this the atmosphere was still positive.

Very well organised. As soon as I entered from the first day I was given a brief introduction to Metaswitch noting the key facilities. Then once that was done my manager welcomed me to everyone that I'd be getting to know and my desk and computer and all other things I may or may not need was pointed out to me so I knew where to go.

There was no personal training required as the internship was only 8 weeks long and the job at hand I was able to learn by just doing it. In terms of development there was occasional meetings that (not specific to me) were put in place to develop employees at Metaswitch that I was invited to attend which meant I could develop things such as time management and handling workload which not only constitutes to my work at Metaswitch but is something I can also apply to other aspects of my working career.

I think quite strong. There is a lot of places that people can work in the business and there is also a lot of opportunity for movement. It is definitely very very competitive however as they have quite a rigorous initial testing process to ensure that candidates can meet the requirements to do the job at hand which is fair enough.

Socialising with the other interns was reasonable. I personally didn't fit in but most of the other interns got on really well. We would regularly meet for lunch in the canteen which was good. Colleagues were a pleasure to work with. On lunch breaks there would be occasions to go out the town and get lunch just to get out the work place and have a good break so that people could see each other as friends as well as just colleagues.

Cost of living was reasonable. Buying food and other essentials were reasonably priced and there are many local places to buy these sorts of things such as a Tesco Express right next to the company. Didn't indulge in the night life so can't really comment but there are a good few pubs around so socialising aspect was strong.

Didn't take part - don't know any clubs or anything around the area but just know a few good pubs where I guess you could drink the night away. Think some of the eating places there are open quite late at night too so once you realise you're starving at 1/2am you can pick up a kebab or something.

There is few opportunities, there is quite a lot going on in the local town so there's always things to be doing. There's a couple gym's and there's a Virgin active gym where there's a pool. There's library a 2 minute walk away. There's a massive park which quite a few people visit to go for a jog or go with friends to just chill and look at the scenery from a cafe. There's an amazing number of ducks that walk around as there's a stream (this is again in the park) which was nice to see.