Hi I’m Thomas and recently I completed a work experience placement at borwell over a period of 2 weeks. During this time, I gained valuable knowledge of what it’s like to work in a software house such as borwell.
Before starting work experience at borwell, I wasn’t sure what to expect at first and what tasks I was going to be involved with. I began by completing a software challenge on the borwell website, to help give me an idea on what tasks I may be participating in or technologies I may be using.
On the day I arrived I was introduced to the team at Borwell. I was then given a small task which was improving and maintaining an existing application. It was written in C# which I knew, but maintaining an application I was not familiar with, this was helpful to understand and allowed me to learn a new skill. I was given a list of tasks such as error catching and commenting; also making my own additions as necessary.
During the week I completed a number of software challenges. Some of these challenges involved coding languages which I was unfamiliar with, like Java, with the NetBeans IDE. I found this interesting and informative as it allowed me to explore a new coding language.
As I began to practice with the technology and become more confident I then created a working application. I felt a few more additions could have been made, although I was surprised how much I got working considering how little I had used asp.net.
With guidance I also did various unit testing and source control, I have not been involved with this in the past and felt this was a key skill to develop and over the course of the two weeks something I improved on. I could then begin to carry out unit tests on some of the applications I have been working on during my work experience at borwell.
I now have a good insight to what it’s like to work as a software engineer and some of the processes that go behind it. It was an interesting and useful experience, and all staff at Borwell were very helpful. The experience helped me develop myself further with my skills and confidence in the work environment.
