Undergraduate Software Engineer Review

As a undergraduate software engineer, you have the chance to develop real software which will go in the cars. An average day starts with a standup meeting with the team followed by independently working on your ticket or pairing up with a senior developer to work through problems together. Some teams are much more flexible, and you are more free to take on the tasks you really want to work on.

You take responsibility for as much work as you decide to take on, if you want to make the most out of your placement then you have to be proactive and ask for more challenging work.

I have learnt a wide range of skills from technical skills such as writing clean code, version control, writing innovative and cutting edge software. As well as soft skills, still very much needed in software engineering, such as teamwork, planning, time management and people skills as communication goes a long way when developing software

When joining a team, you first start off with shadowing and learning off a more senior developer to get your head around the codebase and the project as a whole, however within a couple of weeks you may be given your own task to work on, pairing up with another developer. As you settle in, you are given independent tasks to work on but the team will always be there in case you get stuck.

The company culture definitely prioritises flexibility and work-life balance, especially in the Manchester office. Although the office isnt massive, going into the office is always great as theres always friendly faces around and quite often small events during lunch which you can get involved in. Many people choose to come into the office 1-2 times a week but it is not mandatory.

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement as I was able to explore a number of different teams throughout my time here. Everyone i met was always supportive and i made some good friends. Would 100% recommend doing your placement year here!

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