My first UWaterloo Co-op term Experience

I was excited about the prospect of working with a startup and it turned out exactly as I thought it would be; a dynamic environment combined with the opportunity to work with a motivated group of people. The position of ‘Business Developer’ involved various tasks, ranging from market research to finance and developing sales leads to data management. There was no such thing as a monotonous day at EyeCheck, every day possessed new challenges and opportunities to develop a new set of skills. And this is what I enjoyed the most about working at EyeCheck.

As an Economics & Business student at the University of Waterloo, I learned countless business terms and concepts in class. Yet, I did not fully see how they were applicable to real life. But now after working at EyeCheck, I have developed a new way of thinking and understand how applicable the concepts I learned in class can be to real life business situations.

Another great benefit of working at EyeCheck was that there were numerous other companies working under the same roof, so I was also able to interact with other teams from companies such as Palette and Medella Health. Palette is making controllers for faster photo editing, while Medella Health is developing bio sensors to monitor health. It has been impressive to see such innovative solutions from everyone in the Velocity and Communitech space. These solutions counter problems facing businesses, governments, and even developing countries and it may sound cheesy but ideas really do start here.

EyeCheck aims to make eye care accessible to all, especially to people in the developing countries, and it was worthwhile being a part it firsthand. I’m grateful for this experience and would like to thank all three founders Rachel, Ashu, and Daxal for giving me this opportunity to learn and evolve professionally in these past four months.

-Tijil Dewan, Business Developer Co-op