Software Intern Review
at Arm
Internship (1 Month+)
Computer Systems Engineering
Manchester
Review Submitted: August 2025
Overall Rating
5 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
5/5
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Overview of Role
5/5
-
Skills Development
5/5
-
Support and Guidance
5/5
-
Company Culture
5/5
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Overall Experience
5/5
-
Future Career Prospects
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis.
I joined Arm’s GPU software team as a software-engineering intern. Each day I’d join a short stand-up, spend most of the time coding and testing small features in the driver stack, run automated builds, and check in with my mentor for feedback. I also wrote simple scripts to speed up internal test runs and documented what I learned for the next intake of interns.
Were you given much responsibility during your placement / internship?
I owned a clearly defined mini-project that shipped into the team’s main code branch, so the work felt real. At the same time, every change went through code review and I had a buddy/mentor to unblock me, so the responsibility was meaningful but never overwhelming.
Please rate how meaningful the work you were doing was
5/5
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills, or developed your existing skills?
Yes — a focused mix of technical and soft skills:
• Technically: I got hands-on practice with modern C/C++, basic kernel debugging, and setting up automated build/test pipelines.
• Tooling: became comfortable using Git in a large codebase, GitLab CI, and standard issue-tracking tools.
• Soft skills: improved code-review communication, daily stand-up reporting, and giving short demo sessions to the team.
All of these built on what I’d done at university but in a real-world, production environment.
• Technically: I got hands-on practice with modern C/C++, basic kernel debugging, and setting up automated build/test pipelines.
• Tooling: became comfortable using Git in a large codebase, GitLab CI, and standard issue-tracking tools.
• Soft skills: improved code-review communication, daily stand-up reporting, and giving short demo sessions to the team.
All of these built on what I’d done at university but in a real-world, production environment.
How would you rate the training provided during your experience?
5/5
How would you rate your development of industry-specific skills during the experience?
5/5
How would you rate your development of personal / soft skills during the experience?
5/5
Please rate how these skills have helped you in your career development
5/5
Support and Guidance
How much support and guidance did you receive during your placement / internship?
I felt well-supported throughout the placement. I had:
• Clear points of contact – a buddy for day-to-day questions and a mentor/line manager who met me weekly.
• Structured onboarding – short tutorials and a written guide that got me productive within the first week.
• Regular feedback – every merge request went through constructive code review, so I always knew where to improve.
• Peer help on demand – team chat channels and informal “coffee chats” meant I was never stuck for long.
Overall, the balance was “guided autonomy”: enough support to stay unblocked, but room to make decisions and own my work.
• Clear points of contact – a buddy for day-to-day questions and a mentor/line manager who met me weekly.
• Structured onboarding – short tutorials and a written guide that got me productive within the first week.
• Regular feedback – every merge request went through constructive code review, so I always knew where to improve.
• Peer help on demand – team chat channels and informal “coffee chats” meant I was never stuck for long.
Overall, the balance was “guided autonomy”: enough support to stay unblocked, but room to make decisions and own my work.
How would you rate the support and guidance from your line manager?
5/5
How would you rate the support and guidance from the wider team?
5/5
Company Culture
What was the company culture and general atmosphere like?
Friendly and collaborative. People were open to questions, code reviews felt constructive, and managers encouraged a healthy work-life balance. Social chats and occasional team events kept things relaxed, but everyone stayed focused on shipping good code.
How would you rate the inclusiveness of the culture?
5/5
How would you rate the social opportunities?
5/5
How would you rate the diversity initiatives?
5/5
How would you rate the charity, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives?
5/5
Overall Experience
To what extent did you enjoy your placement / internship?
I genuinely enjoyed the internship. The work was interesting, I could see my code make it into real builds, and the team was welcoming. There were the usual learning curves and a few busy days before demo deadlines, but overall the experience was fun, motivating, and confirmed that this is the kind of work I want to do after graduation.
Please rate your level of enjoyment on your placement / internship
5/5
Please rate how your experience met your expectations
5/5
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend Arm to a friend?
Yes
What advice would you give to others applying to Arm
• Brush up on fundamentals – solid C/C++ basics and a clear understanding of how version-control and CI pipelines work will help you hit the ground running.
• Show tangible side projects – demo code, GitHub repos, or uni coursework that proves you can take an idea all the way to a working prototype.
• Prepare to talk problem-solving – interviewers like step-by-step reasoning more than “magic answers.” Walk through how you’d debug an issue or choose between two designs.
• Ask questions early – the culture values curiosity; proactive questions signal engagement rather than weakness.
• Highlight teamwork – give examples of past collaboration (group projects, hackathons). Arm’s environment is collaborative, and interviewers look for that fit.
TL;DR: come in with strong fundamentals, showcase real projects, and be ready to discuss how you solve problems and work with others.
• Show tangible side projects – demo code, GitHub repos, or uni coursework that proves you can take an idea all the way to a working prototype.
• Prepare to talk problem-solving – interviewers like step-by-step reasoning more than “magic answers.” Walk through how you’d debug an issue or choose between two designs.
• Ask questions early – the culture values curiosity; proactive questions signal engagement rather than weakness.
• Highlight teamwork – give examples of past collaboration (group projects, hackathons). Arm’s environment is collaborative, and interviewers look for that fit.
TL;DR: come in with strong fundamentals, showcase real projects, and be ready to discuss how you solve problems and work with others.
Future Career Prospects
Please rate the future employment prospects at Arm
5/5
Did you receive an offer to return as a graduate?
Waiting to hear
