My Generate Experience
Through the Perspective of Our Values
by Elena Silva
As I sat in the Makerspace in the basement of Hayden for the first time, I noticed a few familiar faces scattered around the room, amongst many other new faces. Against a backdrop of workbenches, people enthusiastically chatted with each other as the Generate Fall 2019 orientation got underway. During my first semester as a member of Generate, I was a fourth year; I had applied over the summer with the hope that working on a project outside of classes would help me build my technical knowledge before I began applying for a third co-op. As the Management Team introduced themselves and the semester’s projects and initiatives, I eagerly looked forward to meeting the team and project I would be working with over the next few months.
At the time, I expected to gain some project experience and a few new friends out of my time in Generate, but looking back now, a little over a year later, I have grown more than I ever expected, as an engineer, teammate, and leader.
From the start, I was introduced to Generate’s commitment to individual growth and the value we hold as an organization to help our members grow in the areas they hope to. During my first semester, I was a Build Studio Engineer on the SmartyPill team. SmartyPill was a project to develop a pill dispensing device integrated with a patient and physician portal. I was assigned to work on an API for the smart pill dispenser’s user and physician portal, but I was also interested in the authentication of the API. After expressing my interest, I was pleasantly surprised with the support and encouragement that I received, and was given the opportunity to work on implementing OAuth for the last few weeks of the semester. While I wasn’t able to complete the implementation of the auth schema, the fact that I was encouraged to try, and fail, is one of the most valuable parts of my Generate experience.
My second semester, I filled the role of Build Studio Engineer again, this time on a project called Butter. This was my first time ever working on an app and I was hoping to be able to apply my existing web development skills to the project. During this semester I was able to work on both the frontend and backend of the project. I had more expertise in backend and so was able to help get us off to a good start with the API, and then switch over to trying something new in app development. Our designers for this project put together beautiful wireframes that were very fun to implement. One of my favorite parts of this project was the collaboration across the different teams that allowed for the app to come together.
As the Butter project came to an end, I considered applying to be a technical lead on a project for Fall 2020. I felt that from my three co-ops and two Generate projects, I had gained the technical skills required to lead engineers myself. Unexpectedly, I received an email from Nick Kaffine, the new Executive Director, encouraging me to apply to the Software Director position. While I didn’t know much about the position, I didn’t think I would be qualified to direct the entire Software Build Studio. However, I audaciously decided to apply anyways and now here I am!
Throughout my time as Software Director, I’ve started to learn what it takes to be a good manager. I have found that trust is one of the most important traits for me to have. The Software Build Studio is filled with talented Project Leads and Chiefs, who have great ideas and have implemented creative new approaches to the way we run projects.
I’ve found that, while it might not always be easy — because giving up control rarely is — taking a step back and trusting the people that I chose to fill these positions has led to very successful upgrades to the way our projects function.
In my year in Generate, I have constantly been encouraged to experiment with new and unknown (to me) technologies, even if it meant failing. From collaborating with designers who enabled me to implement a beautiful app, to sharing my expertise in API development with my team members, Generate has exposed me to a variety of disciplines. Ultimately, I was given the opportunity to take on a leadership position, one that I didn’t initially see myself in, and experience the role of a formal manager for the first time. Curious, collaborative, and bold. These are Generate’s values and we are an organization that walks the walk when it comes to living out these values every day. As someone who has benefited from the semesters I spent as a Build Studio Engineer and experienced our values before we had actually written them down on paper, I am all the more passionate about making sure our current members have a similar opportunity, as I did, to grow from their Generate experience.
