Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship. The work was challenging and interesting, though I never felt out of my depth. The work environment is supportive and seemingly remarkably free of office politics. The social scene with the other interns was also a very enjoyable part of the internship; lots of pub trips were involved!

I was working on something very different to the rest of my team, so my colleagues didn't value the (non-existent) contributions I made to their work. However, in a more general sense, I got the feeling that they valued my presence in the team and in the company as a whole.

My manager was excellent. They were quite busy and most of the time I was left to work autonomously; however, whenever I needed a word of advice or an instruction on how to proceed, they were always available to give five, ten, fifteen minutes of their time and usually had very helpful advice that saved me hours of work/confusion.

I would be working continually from 9am until about 5:30 or 6pm, but there was plenty of time for tea breaks and lunch. It wasn't so much that work was coming in or being assigned to me on a constant basis, but that there was a rough timetable of implemented features that I worked at in a constant stream.

As I said above, I was mostly left to work autonomously. I was responsible for designing a new tool (high- and low-level) and then writing it and testing it myself. Hence I was (almost) solely responsible for the implementation of this tool which (hopefully) will be used for years into the future. This is because the company has its interns do real projects rather than idle exercises to gauge your ability (or tea-making), which is very rewarding.

I learned to code in a new language (Python) and have more experience now at developing cross-platform. In addition, I have created and delivered three presentations over the course of the internship, so I feel that my presenting skills have been greatly improved. This is unlikely to help me in my degree (pure Mathematics) but will be of great help in the world of work.

The atmosphere was in general very relaxed and friendly. There are frequent morale trips to the pub and cake afternoons on a Friday where you can relax and chat with your colleagues. My colleagues were never afraid to consult one another over anything, whether it was a feature of the work or their opinion on Tube stations.

The internship was very well-organised. Lots of information was sent out by email before the placement started (for example, what I would be working on and who my manager would be) and they had clearly prepared for my arrival (PC set up). They can also arrange company accommodation for you, which is very helpful, as it removes a lot of the stress of working in a new place. When you arrive, you already have a training and development plan in place.

The company spends a lot of effort training and developing its people. For example, during the internship, the company runs a Presentation session (with feedback from senior HR figures) to develop your presentation skills. In addition, they accept interns even if you don't already know how to code if they think you have the right mind for it, and then teach you themselves.

Very appealing; what I've seen of the company in my two internships has caused me to apply for a full-time graduate position here (once I've finished my studies).

The interns have collective social media chats for exchanging information and (sometimes) more light-hearted material. We also all meet up in the canteen for lunch every day. In addition, there are copious opportunities for socialising outside work - the company houses saw a fair few drinking games over this summer.

The company heavily subsidizes its company houses such that the rent is stupendously cheap (for London).

Nightlife isn't really my thing, but popping into London on the train gets you to a large number of nightclubs and bars.

Yes. There are many sports and social clubs that span everything from football to video gaming.