Software Engineering Intern Review

As a software engineering intern, I complete an individual project with supervision from a full-time mentor on my team. I typically attend my teams stand-ups, team meetings, sprint plannings and retros, as well as some other departmental meetings where they would provide insight into the workings of the company. I also attend intern-specific talks, some technical and some on professional development, perhaps once a week. The rest of my time is spent on my project.

My specific project was very separate from the work my team do. Therefore I had no responsibility over the tasks in their sprint, or over functionality in their codebase. However, I had sole responsibility over the completion and functionality of my own project.

I have developed my Python, and learnt some other technologies. I have also received training on proprietary languages, and developed my soft skills relating to working within a team of engineers. By networking with interns and full-timers outside of engineering, I have learnt more about the world of financial institutions and how the software we build is used.

I had a dedicated mentor to support me in my project, but due to unlucky circumstance he was not as involved in my day-to-day as is the norm on the intern program here. I did regularly have to follow up myself to ensure that our one-to-one meetings happened, but when available, my mentor was very willing to meet me and discuss the current state of the project.

Before I arrived at Bloomberg, I didn't really have any understanding of what 'company culture' meant, and how this could differ between companies. Now, I would consider the company culture the driving factor for me to return- the office culture is very communicative, everyone is friendly and willing to take time out of their day to meet you. There are full-timers who put huge amounts of energy into organising activities away from their full-time jobs and I have made genuine friends among the interns here.

This summer has been a really valuable experience for me- I have really enjoyed being a part of the office life here, making friends with other interns, and learning about Bloomberg's workflows. I have struggled a little with a lack of direction in my project, and as a result have achieved less than I would have liked to, but I have successfully completed what I needed to despite that.

Yes