What it’s really like to intern at Orca Scan 👀

We are delighted to chat with Josh, who has recently completed a three-month internship at Orca Scan with the engineering department. We were so pleased with his work on the free barcode decoder tools (have you checked them out yet? 👀) that we asked him to come back part-time while he finishes his degree 🎓

Find out what Josh thought about intern life at Orca…

A little bit of context: Meet Josh 💛

Name: Josh Milroy

Age: 20

Degree and Master: BSci Computer Science at University of Nottingham

Current role: Software Engineer

Hobbies: Coding, football ⚽ , gaming 👾, and hanging out with mates

Congratulations on joining Orca! We’re so excited to have you on the team 💛

Thank you so much! I’m really looking forward to working with the team! 😃

What are you studying at university?

I’m currently in my 3rd and final year of studying Computer Science at the University of Nottingham.

How long was your internship at Orca Scan?

My internship was 3 months long, lasting the summer break. Now, however, I’m working part-time through my final year with hopes to continue full-time after my degree (yay! 🥳)

How do you start your day; are you a coffee or tea person?

I wake up pretty normally, brushing my teeth and showering. I like playing the LinkedIn daily games to get my brain going, whilst eating some overnight oats with fruit and kefir yoghurt. I never liked coffee, I was always a tea guy, but then my parents introduced me to this amazing hazelnut coffee and my life changed!

What did a typical day look like as an intern at Orca Scan? What tasks were you given during your time?

I biked into the office, which I’ve found is a great way to enjoy time to myself and my thoughts, getting me prepped for work. Once in the office, me and whoever else is in would grab a coffee before our team standup. In these meetings, we’d make sure everyone knows what work they are doing, and provide help to those that need it. After that, I would be getting on with my tasks, with the occasional chess break (an office favourite!)♟️ Through my internship, I was given the task of creating the free barcode decoder tools, which are now live on the website. I also worked on a few new barcode standard parsers.

Have you enjoyed your time with Orca so far? If so, what have you enjoyed the most?

My time here has been amazing, I have loved it so much. The team is obviously amazing, I can’t state that enough. I also love being so involved in a really cool, practical project. It’s nice to be able to put my Computer Science skills towards something that will be released and used to help others, as opposed to work that’s solely produced for a grade.

Is there anything you’ve found challenging?

The one thing I found a challenge was initially trying to get my work up to a deliverable standard. There was a lot of new things I had to learn about software engineering processes, but everyone was so supportive with that and I am constantly learning and bettering myself thanks to that.

What were your expectations for this internship? Was there anything you wanted to learn and achieve specifically?

I really wanted to learn about work culture within the tech industry. That’s the one aspect of life after education that University can’t really prepare you for; you’re expected to go and find that experience for yourself. It’s not just the coding, which I did expect to improve on whilst here, but also the social aspect of it like interacting with other colleagues and maintaining a positive work environment.

By the end of the internship, I wanted to achieve a better idea of what work life is like for a software engineer, and see how the standard code is held up in a workplace. I can confidently say that I have achieved these, and now have a greater understanding of life as a software engineer!😀

Has this experience helped your studies so far?

It’s definitely helped me consolidate knowledge, especially around software engineering methodologies. I learnt about the agile methodology in my first year at University, but there wasn’t any practical examples I could use to understand it, which meant I struggled to apply it in group work scenarios. However, since seeing how it’s implemented at Orca, I’ve been able to approach other group work tasks with a more structured agile approach.

Now you’re working at Orca, what does a working day look like for you?

Since I’m working part-time alongside my studies, I can’t pinpoint a single day as they’re all so different. Waking up as normal, and then I log in and say hi to the team. When I have lectures or labs, I do them before coming back to the office and finishing work. I really like this because it means that I can move my mind into multiple things in one day. It means that if I’m stuck on work, or my brain just isn’t working, I can move onto something uni-related, and this lets my brain refresh on the work task. Or vice-versa!

Do you enjoy working remotely/ with remote colleagues?

Yeah, I really love it. It means that I can stay in touch with everyone in the team wherever I am, whilst also having access to all of the resources I have at home. It also means that when I go on breaks I can do some chores or uni tasks, rather than endlessly scrolling on my phone!

In a few words, can you describe your time as an intern at Orca Scan?

It’s been nothing short of one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I’ve loved it here and I have learnt so much in such a short time, I can’t wait to learn so much more.

What would you say to others looking for similar experience in this industry?

To others, I would like to say: keep pushing yourself! This industry is a tough one to get into, so you’ve got to make sure you stick out among everyone else. Don’t just focus on your coding ability, whilst that’s definitely a plus, a focus on social skills can go a long way in ANY industry.

We’ve loved learning about Josh’s story from an Orca intern to Orca employee, and we’re delighted to be able to offer these opportunities. If this has sparked your interest in coding, or in Orca Scan’s remote-working culture, please contact us or check out our job opportunities, and let’s talk! 🚀