What company were you an intern at and how did you find out about it?
I was an intern at White Hat Media who are a web design and search engine optimisation company based in Brighton. I found out about the internship via the Wired Sussex website.
What were the reasons you went for an internship?
The reasons why I went for an internship were for practical experience and to learn new things with a view to either getting a job at the end and having a stronger c.v. for future job applications. Most job adverts for digital media positions ask for some experience so I thought an internship would improve my chances of getting a job in the future.
What were your duties and what experience did you take away with you?
My duties were varied, at times to help develop existing applications, write documentation and/or carry out research. The experience I took away was rewarding and positive because the internship combined invaluable practical experience with scope for new learning and understanding.
One application that I assisted in the development of was an in-house support utility residing on the whitehatmedia intranet. The support application combined an XHTML, CSS and Javascript front end with .asp classic and MySQL forming the dynamic data-driven backbone. I was assigned to assess the usability of the application and get feedback from those who use it, based on this I was able to create an excel spreadsheet to record and prioritize a changelog. With this information I could revisit the existing application’s files and make changes to optimize the code.
What did the internship lead on to afterwards?
After the internship I was offered some freelance development work with whitehatmedia which was a positive result!! I must admit it would have been the icing on the cake to walk straight into a job where you already knew and liked the team.
But, as I was looking for a permanent role I began searching the job market and I'm sure that without this experience I definitely would not have gotten a job so quickly.
Currently I am working for Kapow! in central London.
Would you recommend an internship to others?
I would defintely recommend the BIP, the experience was really positive and career building.
On the BIP scheme there was a lot to offer, it felt like a lot more than your bog standard internship. I really enjoyed the workshops (that featured AGILE methodologies, and presentation advice).
At the end there was a nice award ceremony with certificate plus I still keep in contact with a few other interns by email.
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