Liberty IT’s Anastasia Ridge discusses her experiences as an intern and her advice for others.
Anastasia Ridge is a third-year software engineering student at Queen’s University Belfast and on placement as a software engineer intern at Liberty IT. Outside of her studies she enjoys aerial silks, beekeeping and crocheting. Needless to say she is the kind of person who looks for opportunities to grow and develop her skills, which is one of the reasons she chose Liberty IT for her internship.
“From the social media channels, you could see how Liberty IT encourages its employees to progress as individuals, with many opportunities, whether its training courses or networking and learning from those across the company,” she told SiliconRepublic.com.
What expectations did you have before you began your internship?
To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect, since it contrasts so heavily with any jobs I had whilst studying. I was curious to find out how each day would run, what type of work I’d be doing and what was expected of me in a team context.
Can you describe a typical day in your role? How does it compare to your expectations?
A typical day starts with checking updates from the team and my inbox. If I don’t already have a ticket to continue, I pick one from the sprint board and get to work. A ticket is a tracked work item, a short description of a task, bug, or feature with details and acceptance criteria that helps the team know what needs doing and who’s responsible for it.
When questions come up, I message the team and get fast, helpful guidance. Everyone takes time to explain things properly even while managing their own workloads, which makes settling in much easier. We also have a daily stand-up after lunch to share what we’re working on and flag any blockers. I appreciate having the confidence and autonomy to own tasks.
Did the scope of your work change as the internship progressed?
The scope of my work has progressed from when I started. After initial training I spent time learning what my team does and how they do it. My buddy would then walk me through a ticket, talking me through each step and letting me figure things out where he could so that I would remember it in future and have the confidence to do it again.
More recently I’ve been responsible for completing my own tickets, managing them in a timely way with the team’s guidance when needed. I’ve also shadowed colleagues in different roles, for example I’ll be on support soon, which means monitoring auto-alerts and double-checking systems are running correctly. I’m excited to see what additional responsibilities I’ll take on as the internship continues.
What key things have you learned during this internship?
I’ve learnt to be more confident with asking for help and asking questions, everyone is so willing to help and teach others what they know, it’s been a very welcoming environment. Another key thing that I’m still learning is to be more confident with my work, being able to trust your own ability is a learning process for everyone, and slowly but surely I’m getting there with the help of my team and other interns.
Has this internship made you feel as though you’re on the right career path, or will you pursue a different career?
The internship has confirmed that I am on the right career path. It’s given me the opportunity to see what it’s like in this industry and how the knowledge I gain from doing my degree can be applied in an actual working environment. Talking to other interns too about their departments and the teams they’re in has shown that despite us doing similar courses, there is such an array of areas you can go into in tech, the opportunities are endless.
How has your internship made you feel more prepared for working life?
It’s helped me learn a wide variety of material. Although I learned Python, SQL etc at university, I’m seeing how they’re used in industry and the more advanced ways they’re applied. Another area is communication: even though I’m comfortable talking to new people, the internship has introduced me to colleagues at all levels, and speaking with them and learning about what they do has given me real insight.
What are the things about this company that you would recommend to others looking for an internship?
The standout for me is the culture, the company wants you to be inspired by others and to share your knowledge, to challenge yourself and support your team as they do the same and collaborate to drive excellence all the while being your whole self.
Also, the workload is catered to you. The wider team and manager know you’re at the beginning of your journey in industry and aren’t expecting you to be at a super high level and you have a goals and growth plan which is developed throughout the programme.
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