Your Team Mates

This was my second summer working as a vacation student at Data Connection. I originally applied with almost no idea of what to expect, I just knew that Data Connection was one of the few companies who would employ first year students. Although last summer was fun (I wouldn't have come back if it hadn't been) this summer was better.

I started last summer knowing almost nothing about computers or programming. After I'd spent the first couple of weeks learning to program in C and then in Perl I had a couple of short projects to work on. The result was that I spent most of the time learning things (which is fun) but felt rather lost. However I was never left to struggle by myself as I had a mentor who answered my many questions.

By building on the things that I had learnt last summer I was able to work more independently this year. For the first 6 weeks I was working on unit testing for one project. By the end I had a good understanding of what I was doing, I was even able to suggest and implement a change to the test system. Proof that here people are willing to listen to ideas, even from someone with as little experience as me! Finishing such a big chunk of work was also very rewarding.

Outside the office this summer was just as fun as last. The main difference was that we got some sunshine this year! The weather was perfect for playing Frisbee in the park. Every Tuesday lunchtime a big group of Data Connection employees meet and play a game of Ultimate, last summer I'd never played before but everyone was very helpful. New players are always made to feel welcome. This year some of the vacation students even took to throwing a disc about on other lunchtimes or in the evening. Whenever it was just too sunny to sit inside! If Frisbee's not your thing then you can try volleyball, football, touch rugby, tennis and other sports.

Another perk of working at Data Connection is the cheap company accommodation. Not more than 10 minutes walk from the offices it really is so much easier than trying to find somewhere to stay in London. The houses can get quite full (well what do you expect for £9 a night?) but they have everything you need. Kitchen, shower, washing machine and iron etc.

In all, I'm glad I ended up working for Data Connection last summer and I'm glad I came back this year. I'd recommend Data Connection to anyone who thinks they might be interested in software engineering. A summer spent finding out if it's the right thing for you won't be wasted.