This morning I am about to go on the week long Solaris 10 Internals course at Sun. This is a course that I’ve been looking forward to for some time as it goes into detail about the implementation of the Solaris 10 Kernel - including things such as memory management, file systems, multi-tasking support etc. This started me thinking how great working for Sun really is…

• Everyone at Sun is really friendly and always willing to help and tell you about (and ask for feedback regarding) their own little (or sometimes rather larger) projects.
• The training provided is excellent - so far in a year I’ve been on four courses starting with a mid-range Serengeti course, then the Solaris Intermediate and Solaris Advanced course, and then the high-range Starcat course. I’ve got another two courses to go, the first one being the Solaris Internels and the other one I’ve got to decide on still!
• Sitting where I sit I get prime access to some of the highest level support engineers in Sun - and some of the conversations are immense - but the really great thing is the engineers are always willing to accept suggestions and comments - even from me and my peers - lowly interns.
• Working mostly in the Lab we get access to all of the latest Sun equipment usually before it has been released, and quite often beta versions during the development cycle before the products have even been announced.
• There are always opportunities available - if you want to have a little go at something else for a while you’re encouraged to do so - take for example my recent DTrace work thanks to Paul Humphreys (my manager) and Jon Haslam (one of the DTrace engineers) - it’s not my job, but they’re both being really supportive and offering help and advice - not many jobs you get that sort of support and encouragement…
• You get to travel. Recently I went to our Paris lab in France. Matt has been to Sweeden. Fraser is about to go to Germany and Robin and David are both scheduled to go abroad at some point during the rest of the year - not bad for an internship.
• You really are considered to be a part of the team - not just ‘the students’…. well, we are referred to as ‘the students’ some times, but it doesn’t hold any prejudice… We’re often asked our opinions and suggestions on subjects concerning the lab (and indeed the future of the lab when we’ll have left) and we’re left to (for the most part) manage our workload ourselves - we’re not micro-managed

Thinking about it, I should really have posted this some time ago whilst we were looking for new interns for next year. Unfortunately (or should that be fortunately?) we’ve now filled the three positions for next year - surprisingly all from Aber, so I’m a little bit late… However, I’m sure next years students are going to have a great time in the lab (just like we have).

If you’re interested in working for Sun (as an intern) there are still opportunities available in other departments. I’m not sure of a specific page but if you need/want more info leave a comment and I’ll get you the info… Otherwise, if you’re after a job more permanently then you should visit http://uk.sun.com/aboutsun/employment/

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