Q&A with a rideOS Intern: Hari Kothapalli
Q: What do you do at rideOS?
A: I’m a software engineering intern. Day to day, I mostly write code; but, as is common in an engineering role, I frequently also discuss technical details on a whiteboard or via GitHub pull request reviews. I report to Michael Meisel and, although much of my work is independent, I often work with Mike Montalbo and Rohan Paranjpe.
Q: What inspired you to get into your role?
A: My first significant exposure to CS came in the form of AP Computer Science my senior year of high school. Quickly, I began to appreciate the power of code and this newfound ability to create any piece of software I could imagine. For my “independent senior project” that spring, I was afforded the opportunity to intern at EverTrue — a software company in Boston — where I also ended up spending the summer. There, I had the chance to perform full-stack development, culminating in a project in which I wrote a RESTful API to sync users’ calendar data with any one of the major calendar providers. After that experience, I decided to consider computer science seriously as I was picking classes for my first year of college, where the amount of talent and growth in the CS department further piqued my interest.
Q: What did you do before rideOS?
A: I am still a full-time student at Harvard College, where I’ll be starting my junior year this fall. I’ve also worked at a few startups in the Boston area as a software engineering intern for the past few summers.
Q: What was your dream job as a kid and why?
A: It was either truck driver, pilot, or race car driver — I think it transitioned from the former into the latter two. I still remember climbing around the cockpits of planes and various trucks when I was four or five and marveling at their rich complexity. For me as a small child, there was an incredible allure in the size and strength of these marvels of engineering and, more consequentially, the fact that I myself could one day operate one of them. Moreover, as I got older, I began to appreciate the idea of speed, a fixation which has not left me since. Truly, I consider myself an avid car enthusiast today and keep up to date with what’s happening in the space, especially with the latest in supercar technology.
Q: What excites you most about working at rideOS?
A: First and foremost is the team. Everyone has a great deal of experience either in software engineering, the actual AV and routing space, or both. Along the same lines, they all take an extremely considered approach to their work, which translates to a polished final product. The culture is super vibrant, open, and friendly too which makes it a fun place to come to every day.
Secondly, I think efficient autonomous ride-sharing services will be a largely beneficial replacement for existing transportation networks, particularly in cities. rideOS is facilitating the conversion of this vision into reality, and it’s been pretty awesome to be able to work across the array of products being written here.
Q: What’s been your favorite challenge so far?
A: Working on one of our new iOS apps was definitely an interesting challenge. I had never really worked with Swift before, let alone the reactive frameworks we use in our mobile apps, so producing production quality code in an entirely unfamiliar codebase took some careful thought. It was really satisfying, however, when I finally got the code to work, since mobile work is inherently visual and actually seeing the progress can be very motivating.
Q: What were you most surprised by during the first week on the job?
A: Work related, I was surprised by the maturity of the codebase. Namely, despite the youth of the company, each layer of the stack has extensive tests, and the production pipeline uses Docker and Kubernetes for efficient deployments. Office related, I was surprised by the service (Forkable) we use for lunch; three days a week, we get to pick personalized lunches from different restaurants and cafes across SF, which, more or less, always show up on time at the office!
Q: What do you like to do outside of work?
A: I like to keep active, whether that means going for hikes or playing Spikeball with friends. Whenever I get the chance, I also enjoy watching sports, particularly soccer or hockey (I’m a huge Bruins fan). At home, I try to take my Labradoodle for walks as often as possible and go snowboarding and skating. At school, I sing in the Glee Club and keep busy with various other clubs and activities outside of class.
Q: What advice do you have for future interns or people interested in pursuing similar work?
A: Tech is a huge industry, don’t feel beholden to any particular subsection of it. Try to work in different cities — at startups and big companies alike. Internships are a great opportunity to learn, but also to discover what really interests you.
