Written by David Garcia, Graduate on placement, Caseware UK
"My first 6 months at my position at Caseware have really flown by, though I still remember my first day like it was just yesterday.
Since I started my internship, I have been working solely from home. This was a new experience as I had never had a job where all the work was remote. This however didn’t seem to have any effect on my start at Caseware, with all the necessary support and help right at my fingertips.
After the first few days being spent setting up my laptop with all the necessary accounts and software, I was ready to begin work developing some tax forms. With the help and support of my colleagues I was able to have my first form ready to be sent to AQA to be tested and be pushed to production all within the first week of starting. I remember the excitement of having my first ever piece of code being ready to be used in a commercial environment, as opposed to an assignment set in university.
Since then, I have worked on a large variety of tax forms, whether building them from scratch, updating certain pages or just fixing bugs. This has allowed me to improve my Javascript skills greatly, whilst also gaining experience working with other technologies such as Git and working within a larger team.
More recently I have been working on “SpecBuilder”, which is an Angular based project with the intent to streamline the form building process. Once completed it could significantly decrease the time needed to build new forms. It is exciting to be part of a project that could impact the company in such a beneficial way.
Throughout the year I have had code demos and quarterly reviews to help keep me on track and to highlight any areas which could be improved. These reviews have helped me become a more proficient developer, as I have been able to improve in areas such as coding standards and efficiency which were highlighted in these meetings.
Overall, my time at Caseware has exceeded my expectations of what a year in industry could provide. The work has been challenging yet rewarding, with a passionate team around me to help whenever needed. I am looking forward to completing the last 6 months of my placement before going back to university next year with a variety of new skills and experience I can implement into my degree. If you are interested in a software development placement year, I strongly suggest checking out Caseware, I’m sure you will be just as happy with your choice as I have been."