Build Apps with WillowTree

  Having completed my second internship, with the most recent one being at a tech firm, I have come to recognize the immense value of asking questions when navigating the challenges of working with a new team and project. This realization has led me to unequivocally recommend this practice to all future interns, regardless of the company they are interning with. The significance of seeking clarifications and guidance through questioning becomes particularly evident during the initial stages of an internship. This is the time when interns are acclimating to their new surroundings, trying to comprehend the existing technical infrastructure, and familiarizing themselves with team communication and processes like git flow. Unfortunately, it is all too easy to succumb to the fallacy that asking questions is a display of weakness, especially when combined with feelings of low self-confidence. I personally experienced this struggle during my previous internship, where my reluctance to ask...

Throughout my various experiences, I have encountered different styles of leadership, each offering unique concepts and values that contribute to successful leadership. As a Teaching Associate at my campus job, I observed the balance between autonomy and guidance in leadership. The lead at my job managed schedules and conducted team meetings, providing direction while allowing team members to work independently. In contrast, the direct class lead TA took a hands-on approach, delegating tasks and leading frequent discussions. I found the hands-on approach to be more effective in leadership. Transitioning to my internship at Willow, I noticed a distinctive trust-based leadership style. Our team manager adopts a hands-off approach, allowing team members to take charge of their tasks and technical management as individual team leads. This approach enables our manager to focus on the big picture and client relations. Similarly, the team leads provide mentorship and support rather than stric...

One of the most notable transformations has been in how I perceive myself and my abilities in the tech space. Initially, I struggled with imposter syndrome, feeling overwhelmed by the vast amount of knowledge and skills required in job descriptions. I feared that my academic learning lacked real-world applications and that I would fall short in a professional setting. Joining my team, I encountered new technologies and frameworks, such as Typescript and APIs, which were unfamiliar to me. This triggered a wave of imposter syndrome, further intensifying my doubts. However, as I started setting up my development environment and delving into our codebase, I realized that despite the challenges, I had a solid foundation in programming principles that transcended specific languages or frameworks. While I might not have comprehended the entire structure or framework-level code initially, I recognized that the basics of coding languages were shared across different technologies. Instead of try...

In reflecting on my performance during my internship, one area that I feel I can improve is task scoping. In academia, the projects I worked on were either solo or with a small team, and we had a clear understanding of the big picture and how all the components fit together. However, in industry projects, the scale is much larger, and tasks are broken down into sub-features before being assigned to different developers. This makes it challenging to see how my task aligns with the overall project. I struggled with this challenge during my internship, particularly with one ticket I was assigned. Initially, I underestimated the scope of the task and implemented unnecessary changes before having a review with my mentor. They guided me in thinking broader and implementing the feature as a brand-new component instead of modifying existing components. However, in my attempt to do so, I ended up over-scoping the task and added too many moving parts, which made the development process inefficie...

  In the first week of my internship, I encountered an issue with the mouse on my desk, which was hindering my efficiency. Despite searching the various office locations for a solution, I couldn't find a mouse pad. Realizing that there must be a designated process for obtaining new hardware or supplies, I reached out to my mentor for guidance. She directed me to the IT department, as per the documentation provided during orientation. Taking immediate action, I submitted a ticket requesting a mouse pad. To my surprise, the next morning, I found a mouse pad waiting for me on my desk. This experience highlighted the importance of following the prescribed protocols and utilizing the designated channels for problem resolution, rather than relying solely on my own efforts. Another significant problem arose during my third week when my badge stopped working, leaving me unable to unlock doors throughout the office. This became a major inconvenience, as I had to rely on others to let me int...

Throughout my internship, I have found myself constantly teaching myself new skills in order to advance my work. The learning experiences I have had have been transformative, both in terms of soft skills and technical knowledge. In terms of soft skills, one of the biggest lessons I learned was the importance of seeking help and asking questions. Initially, I had a tendency to try and figure things out on my own, thinking that I needed to prove my independence. However, on my very first task, I quickly realized that seeking guidance from more experienced engineers was essential. My approach to the problem was flawed, and with just a simple nudge in the right direction from my mentor, I was able to correct my course. This taught me the value of mentorship and how it can help me adopt industry-standard processes and thinking. I now understand the delicate balance between being a self-starter and knowing when to seek assistance. On the technical side, I have learned an incredible amount du...

During my internship, one of my top goals was to understand the workflow and system design practices required to build large-scale applications with millions of users. In an academic setting, we learn the foundational and theoretical aspects of software development practices, but I wanted to delve deeper and learn how these concepts are applied in real-world scenarios. Within a month of starting my internship, I had the opportunity to work on large-scale applications with thousands of users. This gave me a firsthand experience of how engineers make these applications work. One of the most exciting moments for me was when I gained access to the whole codebase that powered our app. It was like looking under the hood of a well-oiled machine. From the very beginning, I started digging into how the front-end and back-end of our application interacted. I wanted to understand everything, from the authentication process to data retrieval. I was amazed to see the reliance on libraries and frame...

  Throughout my experience at WillowTree, I have had several assumptions and conceptions about the industry and my own abilities that have been both confirmed and contradicted. One of the most significant assumptions that I held was regarding the pace at which things move in the industry. Coming from a computer science program at Berea College, which operates on a relatively fast-paced project setting, I expected the same level of intensity at WillowTree and within the industry as a whole. However, I quickly realized that the pace at WillowTree was different from what I had anticipated. In academia, there is a rapid cycle of learning and applying new technologies, often resulting in unfinished aspects of projects and applications that lack long-term stability and scalability. In contrast, at WillowTree, I have found the process to be more measured and deliberate. As I became more comfortable with the codebase and workflow, I began handling some tickets independently, with only an i...

  During my mid-term performance review at WillowTree, I had the opportunity to reflect on my performance and receive feedback from my mentor. The review focused on how well I aligned myself with the company values and provided a general performance reflection. Personally, I have never had difficulties with self-evaluations as it is simply discussing my own achievements. However, when it came to considering how I had embodied the company values in my work, I found myself stumped. This directed self-reflection forced me to think deeply about the effort I had put forth at WillowTree. Through this process, I realized that while it was challenging to write about, I could easily provide concrete examples of situations where I had displayed the company values. The mentor evaluations differed slightly, as I was ranked as exceeding, meeting, or not meeting expectations for each company value. Alongside the rankings, my mentor provided a paragraph of explanations to support their assessment...