The coolest thing about software development is being able to create a product and have it impact tons of people.
That ability is what motivated me to start learning how to code back in late 2016 at 14.
Little did I know that I’d intern at Hootsuite, one of the biggest tech companies in Vancouver, just a few years later.
I had a ton of fun; these 2 months were without a doubt, some of the most challenging, fun, and exciting months of my life.
I learnt a new programming language, worked with some very smart people, and even launched an app! There was never a day where I didn’t feel like I was making an impact.
In my time here, I found Hootsuite’s culture and workplace experience to be second to none. There always seemed to be something going on. From the random office-wide clapping, to the spontaneous treat alerts. Everything about the experience left me wanting more.
On top of that, everyone I met was super supportive and willing to help. Because of this supportive culture, I got out of my comfort zone and learnt new things and met new people.
In these past 2 months, I’ve:
- Learnt Go, React, Redux and tons of other technologies that I’d never heard of before.
- Built from scratch an app in the Hootsuite App Directory that’s been downloaded more than 1000 times!
- Supported other 3rd party Hootsuite developers with using Hootsuite’s APIs.
- Worked on the Adobe Campaign Standard integration with Hootsuite.
The 3 biggest things I learned are:
- You aren’t the code you write.
At first, getting feedback on my code felt like I had done something wrong/failed. The more code I wrote, the more I realized how wrong that was. Feedback on my code didn’t mean I failed or did something wrong. It meant there was a chance to learn something new; a chance to improve my code and do even better next time.
2. Asking for help is a good thing.
Nobody knows everything. Asking for help instead of trying to solve it alone meant I’d learn much faster and be more productive.
3. Big, difficult problems are just several smaller, solvable problems.
Instead of being stressed about how to solve 1 big problem, I’d break it down into several smaller, solvable problems. Then, I ‘d solve all the smaller problems one by one, and before I realized it, I had already solved the big problem!
As for the specifics of working as a high schooler, was pretty simple: I got treated like any other employee. This meant that I went through the same onboarding and orientation as everyone else did.
During the day, I didn’t fetch coffee for people, and I didn’t just sit in the sidelines. I got a chance to solve interesting and challenging problems for customers that used Hootsuite.
Additionally, I participated in the same meetings and events as my team did. This includes our team’s biweekly meetings, daily standups, and biweekly sprint grooming/planning. These gave me a sense of how it was like to develop software with a team, and not just by myself.
In my time at Hootsuite, I genuinely enjoyed the work I was doing. I often worked outside of the usual 9–5, not out of necessity, but because I enjoyed the problems that I got to solve. After this experience, I’m confident I want to pursue a career in technology.
If you’re also a high schooler looking to apply to the Hootsuite high school program, you 100% should. It’s an amazing experience to do something that you might not be able to until you are much older. It’s also an excellent chance to see if software development is for you.
Hopefully this post gave you a better idea of my experience at Hootsuite as a high school student. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn or email; I love meeting new people and would love to chat about anything.
Of course, I wouldn’t have had such an amazing experience without the wonderful people at Hootsuite! A huge thank you to:
Laura, Ugo, Cail, Dimeji, Elisha, and Jonathan for working with me on the Ecosystem team and giving amazing feedback on my apps. #ecosystemup!
Kyle, Lucas, Rodney and Rod for working with me on the Apps & Apis team, helping me learn Go and React, and for taking the time to review my code. I won’t forget the stuff that I learned! :)
And of course, to Imtiaz for being an amazing manager!
