Autogrow believes in supporting new generations of students to get them enthusiastic about our industry. Over the past few years we have had a variety of interns through the office and here is the story of one intern, Jordan Sim-Smith who is in his second year of a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) degree specializing in Software Engineering at the University of Auckland.
In Jordan’s own words -
Getting this position can be somewhat accredited to a chance meeting. Following the start of the internship recruitment season, I attended a speed interviewing night. Such events involve job-seeking students and industry professionals. Students approach professionals for a 10-minute mock interview and feedback session. During that night, I was lucky enough to sit down with Autogrow. Stating that the interview was unfinished after 10 minutes, he invited me for a tour of their office in Mairangi Bay. One interview and tour later, I was sitting at my desk at 9am apprehensive of what was to come.
The main reason that I chose to work at Autogrow was that it was a relatively small company and I was hesitant about working for larger companies where I was worried that I would be spoon-fed or forced to work on a baby project instead of adding real value to the company. A small company, I figured, would much more likely have me working on production code right out of the gate. Another great thing about Autogrow is that they contribute to an emerging field — indoor horticulture. There is something special about walking down the less trodden path, being one of the first to encounter and solve obstacles.
Despite my excitement, my nerves were not fully quelled approaching my first day. I was aware of the skill gap between a professional engineer with years of experience and a university student part way through their degree. I was worried that my lack of experience would disappoint my new co-workers.
However, I found everyone to be amicable and that I had little to worry about after my first day in the office. Approaching every task with honesty about my skills and a ready-to-learn attitude, I was able to work through everything presented to me with occasional help from my co-workers.
My highlight so far is how much I have been able to learn. As I expected, I was ‘thrown in the deep end’ and expected to learn new technical languages and skills while at the same time adapting to a professional environment. I loved it. Often with assigned tasks, I would first have to research the technology required (e.g., a new language, platform, library, technology, etc.) before attempting the task. In the end, I learned a phenomenal amount over a short three weeks and gained a multitude of skills that I can now apply to my academic and personal projects.
Autogrow embodies the full meaning of full stack development. Development includes hardware, back end, front end, cloud and everything in between. It was of utmost satisfaction seeing results of my efforts propagate from one side of the platform to the other. This also means that there is a huge variety of projects currently in development so that every developer can work on something that they are interested in.
Overall, I had a fantastic time working over the break at Autogrow, and I can’t wait to return there over the summer to complete my internship. I would like to thank the Autogrow team for being so friendly and welcoming. I look forward to all the new skills that I will undoubtedly learn over the summer.
