It has been a great 2 months working for Nobee and the journey is coming to an end. This makes a great time to look back and reflect on what I contributed and achieved with my internship.
My goals at the beginning were to learn real programming skills, build projects, and get hands on experience with the software development cycle. At Nobee, I built an actual Ruby on Rails project and adding/modifying various functionalities to an existing one. From that, I believe I got quite good hands-on technical experience with Ruby on Rails. Furthermore, by joining in with the discussion and brainstorm, I was exposed to the internal operations and the communication process of a fast-paced startup. Overall, I would say my defined learning goals were met.
This internship has given me a glimpse into the life of a software engineer. There were some stressful times around deliverable deadline but, in all generality, the job is really interesting and has a decent work balance (this source says most work 40 hours work week but sometimes software engineers have to work evenings and weekends to solve problems). I have been enjoying learning a new programming language and solving problems. Therefore, this internship has definitely confirmed my interest and career choice as a software engineer. Also, this year and the current pandemic situation also provided a prospect of a remote software engineer job. It is by no means perfect and definitely an adjustment than working on-site. However, it is shown that working remotely as a software engineer could totally be viable.
All in all, I enjoyed my experience working for Nobee. The team comprises of smart and energetic young people and communication is dynamic and comfortable. My supervisor was super helpful, really devoted to help me solve my problems. My advice for future interns at Nobee as well as interns in general relates to communication. If you are running into a difficult problem or unclear instructions, the best thing to do is to discuss with your supervisor. The process of talking and explaining the problem to the supervisor is already the first step to tackle the problem. On top of that, sometimes a simple hint from the supervisor can connect that final dot in your thought process. My advice is not to hesitate to contact your supervisor/project manager and further discuss the problem while of course, making sure that they are available and happy to help.