Software Developer Review

Consists of a daily standup in which we report the work we did the previous day, and then what is planned for today. Working to investigate customer issues, fix bugs as well as investigate, refine tickets for new project features. I also worked with colleagues to review code, suggest changes and completed development work for new features.
Throughout the day there'd be a number of meetings, usually on refining story tickets or to update on any important customer issues.

I was given responsibility fairly early on in the placement, as I got to work with another placement student on our own project that would help cut some of the running costs of the product.
This meant that we got to do our own investigations into how to go about solving the problem, from the logical issues down to which technology that should be used to implement the solution. This was a good way to help teach us the practices that the business used before we were fully integrated into the team.

I've learnt how to properly investigate customer issues, as well as how to develop software from remote machines. New programming languages I didn't previously know as well.
I have developed existing skills in debugging software, programming principles, writing/refining story tickets, and working in an agile environment.
At university you're only really taught the principles of agile development, so it was really good to see how it's done in practice. I also learnt that the principles also vary depending on how the team chooses to operate so there is no right or wrong way to program. You should follow whatever standards the business follows.

Throughout the placement I had regular meetings with my manager to discuss how things were going and whether or not I was still getting enough support. The team I worked for were very accomodating and I could approach anybody with any questions and they'd get back to me with detailed explanations of any questions that I had.
I had colleagues approach me offering to show how certain things were done when I was doing new activities for the project such as writing code for a new feature.

The company culture was asbolutely superb, I felt very accepted in my team as well as the company as a whole. They have a very progressive outlook, and do lots of great activities to help spread awareness for issues such as charity drives and events to help teach people in the business about how you can be a positive impact on the atmosphere and culture of the business.
Their pride month was very good, with regular briefings on issues as well as acheivements throughout the month.
There's also a diversity forum that takes place once every quarter which is an opportunity to discuss any issues, or suggestions that could be implemented to make people feel more comfortable.

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement, even though it started just as the pandemic and lockdowns began I still was able to be integrated with the company and the team remotely. It was a very smooth setup, and even though I haven't phsyically been with the team I still got to learn a lot remotely.
I learnt so much about how software development works in business, and feel like it's a great advantage for going back to university.

Yes