Andrew was one of five interns who joined us for 8 weeks over the summer. They were a great bunch and we are sorry to say goodbye, but hopefully their experiences here will inspire other top graduates to apply next year, whilst shaping their own careers as well.
What attracted you to Ghyston?
After a research internship the past summer I was looking for something different. So I hit up the internship fair and came across Ghyston. The employees at the stall were very enthusiastic and gave off a good feeling about the company. After speaking to them and finding out more about Ghyston I decided to apply.
The application process turned out to be a breeze, at least in terms of filling out the application forms, the interviews themselves were quite challenging. However, the challenge did not make the interviews unpleasant, quite the opposite, it was the best interview experience I have had. I was quite surprised that I could walk out of a series of interviews feeling like I have learnt something.
What sort of work did you do?
We spent the first two weeks training to get up to speed with the technologies we’d be using. This was done through a series of talks and programming challenges. Within two weeks we learnt the basics of languages like JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, CSS and C# as well as how to use React to create interactive user interfaces.
After the first two weeks interns usually go on to do a two week group project, however my internship went slightly differently. I was taken on to join another full-time developer in creating two single-page web apps for a real Ghyston customer. I spent the remaining 6 weeks of my internship working on those apps. However, those 6 weeks weren't spent purely on development. I also spent some time learning new technologies such as Redux for global state management and Jenkins for continuous deployment to a test environment.
Is there anything you particularly liked?
Apart from the interesting work I did day to day my favourite thing was the sense of community that I got from the company. It really felt like people weren’t just co-workers but also good friends. There were frequent social events funded by the company called morale events (which as the name suggests are meant to raise morale). These included a trip to laser quest, board game evenings, a BBQ and the annual Ghyston party.
Another thing which really impressed me was the level of expertise within the company and the willingness of these people to help and push you forward. The work setting was relaxed yet at the same time very professional with everyone clearly caring about producing high quality software and improving their own and other’s skills.
Overall I am very pleased I came to Ghyston for the summer. It was a very enjoyable time and I have learnt a lot. I wish I could do it all over again!
