Software Developer Review

I implement and test software solutions within the risk, finance and treasury division at Barclays execution. This involves researching programming paradigms and collaborating with clients and customers to provide bespoke software solutions. We also provide rigorous testing suites to ensure a great product and update existing products when client requirements change.

My day job has offered me opportunities to learn research methods when reviewing how to approach software tasks. This in turn has boosted my knowledge of existing, and new, languages and technologies while also developing my interpersonal skills when discussing ideas, approaches and workloads with other members of the team.

The projects are interesting and varied, offering an excellent variety of work which is good. They do not leave a huge amount of time for other interests with a full-time job and course to balance, but the breaks between university blocks offer some respite from a steady work flow.

The overall structure is good, but often the organisation seems lacking with last minute events and work to university schedules. It can feel very hectic with multiple overlapping deadlines and a mandatory university module that runs outside of the standard teaching schedule. Overall I feel this could be better done.

My employer has been very flexible with my studies by working with me to allocate the appropriate time to complete lectures, labs and coursework. When I have required any support within my working role, they have been very kind and given me multiple avenues of support if they could not offer it directly there and then.

The university has given us all the support they can, and been accommodating of multiple course deadlines stacking together. They appreciate our schedules can mean we require extra time with coursework, and have worked with students to give everyone the help they require.

The theoretical knowledge of university is important to have in my job as it allows me to look at why a solution or approach is better or more appropriate than another. It has also opened my eyes to other areas of software development which may shape my career path going forward.

Barclays offers a huge range of extra activates and groups. There are constant charity drives with a wide range of activates.

No

While Barclays has many benefits, I feel its size creates many small daily problems that stack up leading to a slow and frustrating work pace. However its scale also offers many doors and avenues that other workplaces cannot, so both sides need to be weighed for your career path.

Be yourself. It is an incredibly diverse workplace that looks at passion and drive beyond raw talent and it is keen to have new ways of thinking brought in to make improvements that everyone, internally and externally, can be proud of. Every idea is valuable and the more the better.