Ask HN: Questions from a self-taught (UK) intern

Hi,

I'm currently an intern developer for Coca-Cola European Partners and I'm in a slightly unusual position for an intern because I'm completely self-taught (as opposed to being a university student).

My responsibilities are mostly frontend stuff in HTML + CSS and some work with Saleforce, but I'm the only programmer on my current team so I'm doing bits and pieces all over the place. I've also got free reign to teach myself anything reasonably relevant when I'm not directly working on a project, which has enabled me to solidify my understanding of Javascript and start learning Haskell.

Currently I'm a month in (with an expected duration of three months, but the possibility that it'll be extended to six months). My eventual goal is to get into backend web development and move to London.

General advice from people who've been in a similar position would be great, but I also have a few specific questions:

- How much value is there (if any) in having worked for a relatively 'prestigious' company like Coca-Cola for development roles? - I often read about how getting your first job as a self-taught programmer is the hardest part of the process. To what extent does having previously interned somewhere help with this? - Is it reasonable for me to be looking/applying to jobs now with the expectation that I've got two months left, or should I wait until closer to when I finish to start applying? - I'm planning to apply to both Junior dev positions and other internships (if the latter is closer to what I want to be doing in role), but I'm under the impression I was pretty lucky to get my current role as a non-student - how true is that?