Year 10 computer science student recently joined our work experience programme for a two week period, we talked to him about his experience…
What attracted you to doing work experience at Potato?
I’ve always been interested in the work of web development companies. Computing has always interested me as a student, especially coding to create different websites. This experience taught me a bit about the work environment as a developer. I’d also recently worked with two university students to create a website which is what made me want to explore the work of a developer at Potato.
What have you been up to over the last 2 weeks?
In the past two weeks I’ve been working on making and styling a music blog. I’ve used HTML, CSS and Python mainly to create the website. The beginning was slow but once I’d managed to learn the basics from the help of other developers and online resources I was able to become confident in what I’d coded so far. My biggest online resource was freecodecamp.
What has surprised you about working at a product development studio?
The amount of teamwork — chemistry between other developers is extremely important because every project requires a team. The hours of work are relaxed as long as it doesn’t affect the ability of the other members of the team.
What is your biggest learning from your work experience here?
The most important thing I have learnt is how effective teamwork is. There is always something new to learn, no matter how experienced you are in coding. There were times where I’d struggle or not know how to code a specific HTML or CSS but with the help of other developers I was able to fix the code and learn something new. Researching online is still very effective but sometimes you may have questions the Internet can’t answer.
What’s your best tip for future work experience students coming to Potato?
In every project as a developer, you’re in a team, so don’t hesitate to ask people at all. Your buddies are always there to help. Watch other developers code so you begin to understand the regular daily routine of a developer. If you look around the studio, everyone’s working and talking with each other. During the work experience, you’re also a developer so there’s no reason to feel out of place at all.
