Fintech at Agoda: How we set our interns up for success
It’s an unfortunate fact: When it comes to internship season, many companies fail to invest properly in their hires. They believe interns aren’t around long enough to create a real impact, so they are afraid to waste time and resources on training. This is understandable: it typically takes a full-time engineer at least 1–2 months to onboard an intern, and once they’re ready to work, they only have about one month left at the company. That doesn’t sound like a compelling investment.
However, at Agoda, we’ve cracked the code. Our investment in interns has proven successful, positively impacting productivity and performance. This approach allows them to make the most of their internships and leads to outstanding results for us. Here are our secrets to success, straight from our Fintech team.
iScrum
iScrum is a scrum of interns working as engineers and developers working as product owners and managers. We use Agile methodology; each sprint is two weeks long, and each intern will become a scrum master by rota. Every day, we kick things off with a 15-minute standup meeting. Each intern shares what they did the previous day, any challenges they are facing, and what they will work on. At the end of each sprint, we have a sprint review session for them to present their work to the Fintech team and a retrospective session within iScrum to reflect on what has gone well and what can be improved.
What are the benefits?
Interns get to deliver end-to-end projects and experience system design, development, testing, and deployment. Moreover, they can form their scrums and gain valuable experience as scrum masters. Many of our interns go on to join us as full-time employees, so their learnings are a win for us too.
Developers can work on their leadership and mentorship skills by acting as product owners and managers. They can also run the scrum team and ensure project delivery. Developers are also involved in the hiring process by managing headcounts and interviews.
How do we deal with onboarding time?
As previously mentioned, our interns typically stay with us for 3–4 months, and half of their time is spent on onboarding. Here’s how we make it work: we form a scrum of interns and always hire them throughout the year so they can help onboard each other and benefit from internal knowledge transfer. We then use Confluence to document knowledge and utilize Agoda’s unlimited Udemy account to support everyone’s learning.
We also offer part-time positions for our interns to continue working with us after their internship has ended. By implementing these things, we can solve the problem of long onboarding periods and get better results.
How do we pick projects for interns?
Since full-time engineers always need to prioritize business-centric projects, we often see areas for improvement but cannot spend time on them. Each quarter, the Agoda Fintech team holds a meeting for engineers to brainstorm ideas for projects that our interns can work on. These projects can range from addressing technical debts to creating new proof-of-concept products and revamping existing ones. Of course, the level of criticality will also be considered during the selection process.
Sample projects we have done with iScrum.
Backoffice Revamp Project
Project Scope: Revamp Backoffice V1 to V2 by improving Code Structure, Performance, Onboarding time, User Interface, and User experience.
OLD UI
New UI
OLD Architecture
New Architecture
We have almost 40 financial tools onboarded onto the new Finance Backoffice V2 after 1.5 years of development.
Interactive Slack bots
Project Scope: Reduce manual reprocessing tasks, improve high-risk control points for Fintech, and improve velocity.
Background: We reconcile invoice files given by suppliers before making a payment. Sometimes, suppliers have technical issues and miss the automated flow on their end and may want to submit the files to us manually.
The iScrum team has introduced a new way of reprocessing files from suppliers:
- Suppliers/Team owners submit “download requests” in the back office.
- Team owners receive notifications on the team channel.
- By clicking Approve, it will authenticate the users that click whether they have permission, and then it will automatically perform the reprocessing tasks.
- By clicking Reject, it will update the Slack post to reject.
- Once the tasks are completed, the result is commented into the request post to inform the requesters.
What opportunities do we offer after internships?
We offer part-time positions for interns who want to continue working during their studies. These come with great benefits and further opportunities to grow. Most importantly, we also offer fast-tracked full-time hiring to those who perform exceptionally well during their internships. In 2022, we successfully converted five interns into full-time engineers in the Fintech department.
Feedback from iScrum alumni
Name: Saranya Fungtammasan
Internship period: Dec 2021 — May 2022
Experience from the internship program: Agoda’s internship program was an exceptional opportunity that I could not find anywhere else. It gave me a chance to gain first-hand experience in the real working world at a big tech company with rewarding benefits. I had the opportunity to work on meaningful projects that were beneficial to both the company and my professional growth.
With this program, I advanced my technical skills and got to know all the lovely Agodans I have met. People at Agoda are very fun and talented, and they made my six months at Agoda both challenging and enjoyable.
Name: Hasathon Saviphan (Guy)
Current role: Associate Software Engineer at Agoda
Internship Period: Jan 2022 — July 2022
Experience from the internship program: I was super excited to start my tech cooperative internship as a Software Engineer in the Fintech team. The intern team was small when I joined, but every colleague was friendly and really took the time to mentor me. My manager was also fantastic. He was always kind and supportive of all the interns, taking the time to compliment each of us after seeing our bi-weekly presentations.
We had the chance to work on meaningful projects with real-world impacts, such as fixing bugs raised by finance users. Some of these tasks were undoubtedly very challenging, but these were the ones that made me stronger. Of course, I had to deal with many challenges, but whenever I encountered any blockers, the team was there to help me out. Even though my 7-month internship was remote, I developed and improved many skills that will benefit my future career.
Name: Nattaporn Toyingsirikul (May)
Internship period: May 2022 — Aug 2022
Experience from the internship program: Interning at Agoda allowed me to gain hands-on experience and make my career goals a reality. It allowed me to test myself and apply the knowledge I learned in classrooms to the real world. Additionally, I gained other industry-specific experiences and skills that could only be acquired in a workplace like this.
I met experienced mentors who regularly provided me with feedback and guidance, leading to significant developments in my technical and soft skills. All the people I came across were approachable, supportive, and knowledgeable, especially my colleagues. The four months I spent at Agoda were one of the most remarkable experiences I have ever had, and I will always cherish my time here.
Name: Nonthapat Kaewamporn
Internship period: Dec 2021 — July 2022
Experience from the internship program: Interning at Agoda was one of the best choices I’ve ever made. I have grown so much, both personally and professionally. At Agoda, everyone is friendly and very helpful toward others. Even though everyone knew I wouldn’t be there for long, I never felt like an outsider.
Agoda has some of the best enterprise software I’ve ever seen, and it was a pleasure getting to work with talented engineers from all around the world. Moreover, the company has an amazing community with many internal and public events to participate in, making it a joy to come to every day. Agoda has greatly impacted my career path and has certainly changed my life for the better. I can confidently recommend everyone to join Agoda. For me, it wasn’t just about work — it was a life-changing experience.
Name: Sopon Kongnithigarn
Current role: Backend developer
Internship period: Dec 2021 — July 2022
Experience from the internship program: I worked on a real-world case project during my internship at Agoda. This included front-end and back-end tasks, as well as the CI/CD pipeline and server infrastructure. Furthermore, working in the Scum methodology cycle allowed me to do sprint planning, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. I can now apply this valuable experience to a variety of working environments in the future. I have gained soft and hard skills that I could not have obtained in the classroom. It was the best internship experience that I have ever had.
