Internship Experience & Challenges

By: Noah Baldwin Monday December 10, 2018 comments Tags: intern, team members

Surely college has given me the experience I need in order to land my dream job, right?

After all, a Computer Science student should be well equipped for a software developer position. Halfway through my junior year, I realized I was far behind in terms of real world work experience in the software field. After taking a few programming courses, I had enough knowledge to create small programs, but I wanted more. I wanted to grow and develop my skills to become a software developer capable of working with many different technology stacks.

As I began to research and develop my skills, I discovered I had a passion for Web Development. I began creating front-end websites for practice. I enrolled myself in a few courses outside of college and spent a lot of time practicing on my own. While I became accustomed to creating front-end websites, I wanted to learn more technologies including back-end web development.

Although I had been practicing web development on my own outside of school, how could I land a job without real world experience? Employers generally require a minimum amount of work experience in that particular field to be considered for a job. How could I get hired without experience? Alternatively, how could I get hired without experience? I felt like I was stuck in a loop. I needed an opportunity to work in the software field. Since I had a passion for web development, I decided to pursue an internship in that field.

When I applied for an internship with AllProWebTools, I wasn't sure what to expect. Although the job description appeared to include everything I wanted from an internship, I was skeptical. After my interview, I was sure that I wanted to work for AllProWebTools. When I accepted the internship position, I was concerned about my schedule. As a full-time student with another part-time job, I did not have a lot of free time. AllProWebTools was very flexible with my hours and worked around my schedule. This gave me the opportunity to gain experience in my field while pursuing my degree. Without this opportunity, I would not be adequately prepared for my career.

The amount of features behind this seemingly simple software was appealing. I learn new features every day, a month into my internship! As an intern at AllProWebTools, I began with tasks which I was comfortable completing - building website layouts. After having the opportunity to work with the back-end side, I realized that I really enjoyed programming. AllProWebTools has allowed me to work with both sides of web development. I have had the opportunity to both design and develop websites.

In my first week with AllProWebTools, I was building websites for clients. I was able to see the fruits of my labor almost instantly. While I enjoyed this, it came with a few challenges. I had to learn a new system for developing websites, communicate with clients, and complete my tasks on time. In the past, I had no schedule - I was on my own time. The pressure of deadlines helped me become a faster developer. Inevitably, I did come across features and issues that I was not sure how to implement or fix. AllProWebTools has so much support and documentation that I was able to find almost every answer myself. When I came across something that I could not find, I was offered assistance and support.

Throughout my internship, I have gained so much knowledge. Working with other developers gave me practical experience in working with a team. Sticking to deadlines gave me a sense of urgency for projects and helped me manage my time. Developing new features with many different programming languages gave me the experience I needed to be a proficient developer.

My experience has been amazing. I have had so many opportunities to learn and develop my skills. Without this internship, I would not be prepared for a career after college. It has solidified my understanding in the importance of self-learning and progressing in both my strengths and weaknesses.