Enigma Placements: Bradley’s year as a Software Developer

Hi Bradley! So, tell us, what are you currently studying? 

Hi! I’m studying Computer Science at Newcastle University, and I’ll be returning to complete my final year of this soon.

Q. What attracted you to a career in web development?

A. Honestly, primarily curiosity. Technology is ever advancing, and incredibly complex systems continue to be integrated into our day-to-day lives, quickly becoming the new norm; I can’t help but be curious about the intricacies of these. I’ve always been obsessed with the idea of working on and  better understanding   the systems behind our day-to-day technology, and web development was always at the back of my mind as a result.

Working on web development projects at university highlighted to me that this was something I was sincerely interested in pursuing, and I found a web development placement opportunity – here at Enigma – around this time. I applied, following my curiosity, and it’s been one of the best decisions that I’ve made. Working here at Enigma has significantly furthered my interest in the field.

Q. What has been the coolest project you’ve worked on at Enigma?

A. That’s quite hard to say. Over the last year I’ve primarily been working with Enigma’s NGED programme team to refine, maintain, and develop evolutions for the National Grid Electricity Distribution portfolio of websites. I’ve completed a range of different projects in this time, and I’ve enjoyed working on all of them.

A lot of my work has involved developing application forms for National Grid’s Connections site – where customers can apply for connections to the NGED network. Much of this process is done offline with other providers – through physical forms – but the work that the team and I have done for NGED adapts these to the web, making it easier for customers to understand and complete these.

I’ve recently worked through developing an online form that allows National Grid Electricity Distribution customers to apply to connect a heat pump – a device that warms a building using heat from the surrounding area – to the network. I think this project does a good job of illustrating just some of the advantages of the online forms we’ve developed. Certain form fields can be hidden based on the customer’s previous answers – as they can become no longer applicable – and some fields can be automatically populated based on information we store on heat pumps known to NGED. I developed much of the front-end functionality of this form using AngularJS – using directives to show and hide form fields, and controller methods to send requests to our back end to query a devices table.

The heat pumps application form was one of the most recent projects I worked on, so I’d say it’s currently what I’m most proud of. I've grown a lot as a developer in my time here, which means the list of critiques I have of my previous work has grown too. The number of times I’ve winced at old code is probably the best indicator of how valuable this placement has been for my programming skills

Q. What has been the most valuable skill you have developed during your time at Enigma?

A. I’ve developed a better understanding of various technologies such as Java, JavaScript, AngularJS, CSS, SCSS, HTML, and MySQL in my time here, but I think that communication and confidence have been my most important areas of development.

I don’t think I’d have said I had any issues with public speaking prior to my placement here, but I initially found sharing ideas with and asking questions of the team incredibly daunting. Taking part in and hosting regular team meetings has increased my confidence in doing this though, and working through problems with the team has allowed me to better understand how to articulate myself, which has in turn increased my confidence in sharing ideas and asking questions.

Q. How have you found the culture here at Enigma?

A. The culture at Enigma is great. The guidance, support, and encouragement I’ve received from colleagues throughout the year has had a profound impact on my personal growth. Each team at Enigma has a daily team standup, which provides each employee with an opportunity to discuss their recent successes, and any issues that might be blocking further success. This has acted as a great springboard for technical discussion with myself and colleagues on multiple occasions. I’ve been able to air any issues I’ve had throughout the course of my placement, and have been given the opportunity to patch up any of my missing technical knowledge from the team’s collective knowledge. This is something every developer at Enigma benefits from, but it’s been particularly beneficial to me as a placement developer.

The staff at Enigma are a lovely bunch, and do a stellar job at building and upholding a friendly, welcoming, and professional environment.

Q. What lessons have you learnt over the past year?

A. This is maybe a weird one, but developing my confidence in asking questions and presenting ideas to the team has allowed me to think about soft skills in a different way. I sort of viewed soft skills and technical skills as diametrically opposed before starting my placement here, but over the last year I’ve seen how developing soft skills can promote development of technical skills.

I think a large part of this is that I’ve been developing these soft skills in a field that greatly interests me – that I’d like to pursue a career in. I’ve seen my skills as a developer significantly improve throughout this placement, and I’ve seen how the progression of my time management and communication skills – among other soft skills – has furthered this technical improvement. In particular, asking questions to better understand tasks and concepts has allowed me to deepen my technical knowledge, allowing me to develop higher quality solutions that suit the clients’ specific needs.

Q. How would you summarise your placement year at Enigma?

A. In short – invaluable. It’s provided me with a platform to apply my computer science knowledge in a commercial working environment and has served as a crucial extension of my university learning. It’s been great to work on real-world projects and experience all the challenges that come alongside this. 

I’ve developed both my technical skills and soft skills significantly and have been given the opportunity to work on a variety of interesting projects. A placement year is a no-brainer in my mind, especially with Enigma; it’s a fantastic way to further your personal and professional development.

Photo of Bradley McCarthy 

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