Software Engineering Summer Placement Review

Working both individually and in a team to research new technologies for use in weapons systems. Learning from people in the software department and other departments about the technologies used in the business and information about the graduate scheme.

I worked with one other placement on our own research project - which allowed us to take ownership of what we were doing and significant impact on this technology's future. However it was only a proof of concept, so there weren't any large negative consequences if we went wrong, it felt like a good level of responsibility shielded from the dangers.

There's a significant independent coding which has improved my C and C++ skills, as well as linux and Python. More generally, I've developed my problem solving skills, communication skills as part of working in a team, and analytical report writing to write up the research project.

It felt as if the leaders were too busy to really devote a lot of time to guiding us, but when they did it was very high quality. At a time we ran out of work to do and after a few days our manager came back with more which was very engaging, but irritating to have wasted many days waiting. The technical advice we were given was very strong and quite regular, but again required a lot of patience waiting for people to get back.

Very welcoming and friendly, even people you'd never met would say hi and were happy to have a chat. My manager tried hard to introduce me to other people in the business which was great and they were more than happy to talk about their experiences.

I really enjoyed the work we did and the environment of the business, but it was a little slow/inefficient and did feel like the summer placement was not well managed. Often there was little to do and lots of waiting, but when there was something to do it was engaging and just the right amount of challenge.

Yes