After much deliberation and debate with my Dad I was finally sitting on the 243 bus on the way to the Skinkers office with a feeling of anticipation. I wasn’t sure what to expect from work experience as I had never done any ‘experience’ as such before but once I arrived at the office it certainly blew apart any expectations I had previously.

I had always imagined an office to be a highly formal place where everyone was required to dress up in suits and sit at their desks working solidly until they had finished their hours. However Skinkers turned out just the opposite. Walking into the office for the first time there was music playing, people were dressed in casual clothes and everyone was very friendly, this was not the welcome I was expecting for a 16 year old who didn’t really know anything about work and had none of the skills required to work in a place like Skinkers.

Rob Noble, the COO, introduced me to the team and gave me and Nicolas (A French student on an internship at the time) a briefing of what to expect from the next ten days. I was thrown straight in at the deep end and given some of their latest applications to carry out tests on. I was certainly not expecting to have my hands on some of their cutting edge technology on the first day.

As the week went on I was given lots of things to do which were actually related to helping Skinkers with their business, not the typical work experience which many of my friends have had where you walk around and fetch coffee and cakes for all the employees. At Skinkers I felt I was part of the team, and even though what I did was very minor they made it seem like I was doing something for them.

Sitting here now at the end of the week all I can say is thank you to Skinkers for giving me this experience I have learnt a lot and had fun at the same time.