Demystifying Buzzwords: a Candid Glimpse into Life as a Co-op
Experiential learning has long been an integral part of the Northeastern experience. The school received a record 51,014 undergraduate applications in 2016, undoubtedly thanks in part to growing acclaim for the co-op program. As an alumnus, I can personally attest to its unique value: graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in addition to 18 months of relevant work experience is an incredible way to start your career.
That being said, the quest for a co-op can be both exciting and overwhelming. Not too long ago, I myself was a starry-eyed middler, frantically scrolling through dozens of job postings on COOL. My most “relevant” experience to date had been slinging meat in a butcher shop, so technical job descriptions were uncharted territory for me. Needless to say, I was immediately confused by some of the language:
“We are working with cutting edge tools and technologies”
“Unlike other large companies, you will be an actual developer”
“Students who accept a Co-op position are given the opportunity to dive deep into projects and responsibilities and gain valuable hands on work experience.”
Look — I get it. Employers truly value the work of co-ops, and they want to do their best to attract talented applicants. But students searching for opportunities to lay the foundation for their careers don’t have time for bullshit like buzzwords and cliches. Nearly every company boasts a “modern and fun work environment” using “industry leading technology,” but what does that actually mean?
Here at Runkeeper, we value directness and transparency. In the spirit of these values, I decided to survey our current and former co-ops to compile some candid commentary on Runkeeper’s co-op experience. I don’t believe that a facade of sanitized HR jargon is needed for our inspiring product, passionate team, and powerful technology to resonate with candidates. Below you’ll find first-hand accounts from various team members describing what specifically makes Runkeeper such a great place to work!
The Product
“When release time comes around for either iPhone or Android it’s always an exciting time. Whether it’s bug fixes or new features, I’m always intrigued to see how users will react, especially my friends who I immediately tell to install the update. While Runkeeper’s strength is running, you can also track many different kinds of activities, such as cycling, snowboarding, strength training, and nordic walking. I’m the kind of person that knows exercise is good for me, but can never convince myself to do it. However, using the Runkeeper app has fixed that! From getting encouraging emails, to seeing notifications when my friends exercise, and having the ability to create Running Groups with friends, the app is the perfect way to stay motivated. Being able to change the voice on audio cues, linking my Spotify account, and the shoe tracker feature that tells me when my shoes should be replaced just add to the already great experience. You don’t have to be a runner to work at Runkeeper, but once you start using the app you’ll probably want to be one.”
Priscilla Baquerizo, CS’17 | Software Engineer Co-op
“Runkeeper is a fun product to work on because it is directly consumer facing. This means that I use it, my friends use it, and strangers I meet in other areas of my life use and love it. It also means that when I work on a new feature, my friends and family can see and use it right away. It’s always fun that I get to directly improve the experience for people I know and care about who use the app regularly and who can understand what a difference my contributions make. I have gone from having a vague idea of what Runkeeper is to being one of its biggest advocates because I genuinely love using it and get excited with every fix and feature that we release.
Not only that, but Runkeeper as a company has a great reputation! Twice now, I have run into employees of other companies that have either worked with Runkeeper, or worked with former Runkeeper employees. As soon as I mentioned that I was on co-op here, their eyes lit up and they scrambled to give me their business cards, encouraging me to reach out to them for my next co-op or for future employment.”
Lisa Oakley, CS’18 | QA Engineer Co-op
The Team
“The team is one of the best parts of working at Runkeeper; everyone here is so passionate about the company goals and willing to help you learn the many things you will take on during your co-op. Being in a small company, I always valued the one-on-one time I got with mentors and teammates. I met so many amazing people that taught me how to get going from day one, and were there for me any time I expressed a new interest. You can turn to a member of your team and work out a problem that you can’t seem to understand, or go play darts and shuffleboard if you just need a break from your computer. As a co-op they are always there should you need them, but they treat you like a real member of the team, and you are given real responsibilities. They push you to achieve everything you are a capable of, and they are there building you up along the way. But it’s not all about work either; I’ve gone out for beers with coworkers and had girls’ nights and sleepovers with others. My absolute favorite team experience was a team outing to play bubble soccer celebrating the end of my co-op, but I honestly appreciate every day I get to spend time around such smart, cool people.”
Jess Moran, CS’17 |QA Engineer, Spring 2016 Co-op
“As cheesy as it may sound, the Runkeeper team is like family. From the moment you start working, everyone treats you like one of their own. Each and every person wants the co-ops to succeed and they do everything in their power to make sure they feel at home and are happy with what they are working on and are being challenged appropriately. My team lead continuously pushed me as an engineer by giving me harder and more involved tasks as I got further into the co-op so at no point did I feel stagnant and like I wasn’t learning. At the same point, it never felt like a firehose of new technology. I had never done iPhone development before working at Runkeeper but was interested in learning, so I was given small tasks until I started better understanding and was able to take on bigger projects. Aside from working, everyone who works at Runkeeper are friends. We all go on runs together, run races, go out for drinks, celebrate birthdays — -the list goes on. The best times are team outings where you spend quality time with your direct team of 8–10 people doing something fun and silly like going to a trampoline park or rock climbing.”
Mike Ravert, CS’16 |Software Engineer, Fall 2014 Co-op
“Co-oping at Runkeeper is definitely the best job experience I’ve ever had. From my first week here, I was treated like an equal member of the team with the same rights and responsibilities. I have never once woken up in the morning and felt irritated or unmotivated to have to go into work. Everyone here seems to really care about the app and is interested in improving it and making it the best it can be for users, but also understands that working yourself into the ground isn’t productive or useful. If you ever need a break, you can find people to go grab coffee, take a stretch break, or just chat with for a bit. We have team lunch on Tuesday where everyone gets together and connects. Besides that, there are various groups going out and picking up lunch, then eating together in our big kitchen every day. More than anywhere I have worked, people eat together and hang out with each other whenever they have a chance, including playing darts or going out to a bar after work. We also have team outings where people just decompress and hang out with each other. Birthdays, life milestones, and achievements get celebrated. People respect each other. When things go wrong, it’s us against the problems, never us against each other. I’m super sad that I’m not going to be able to hang out with these people every day anymore in just a few months.”
Lisa Oakley, CS’18 |QA Engineer Co-op
The Technology
“One of the amazing things about co-oping at Runkeeper is you get access to every part of the stack. That means if you want to get your hands dirty in the Android code writing Java, or switch it up with some Swift in the iOS codebase, or maybe dive into some JSP on the web side of things you’ve got the opportunity! And it’s not just limited to the front end code — you’re also encouraged to take a look at our back end using Stripes, or dive into some of the database code — we use both SQL and NoSQL solutions for different sections of our data, so whatever it is that you want to explore you have the opportunity to do that here at Runkeeper. Having access to such a diverse stack and being encouraged to explore that stack also means that Runkeeper is a really fantastic place to help you grow as an engineer, both in terms of fleshing out your abilities as a software engineer and just helping to demystify the whole process of creating an app!”
Alex Sullivan, CS’14 | Senior Software Engineer, Fall 2013 Co-op
“Working for one of the leading fitness apps means you are constantly working on the newest and most innovative technology. In order to keep up with competition, Runkeeper must always be ahead of the curve. Co-ops and full time engineers alike contribute to leading this charge. We are always ready on day one of the newest Apple or Android release, ready to update our app to support the latest wearable technology and frameworks. Along with working with Apple and Android’s technology, we are always integrating third party SDKs such as Spotify and Garmin into the app. Working with new libraries and third party systems pose a really interesting challenge to developers as it forces you to learn someone else’s code and figure out how you can use it to further improve the app. Getting into this mindset that your code isn’t just for you and other people may be using it is a powerful way to focus on outputting the highest quality code.”
Mike Ravert, CS’16 | Software Engineer, Fall 2014 Co-op
The Experience
“Runkeeper is my third co-op and so far, it’s my favorite! I came here because I wanted to learn about Android and iOS development and I’ve gotten the experience I wanted, and more. Since we are constantly working on both platforms, I’ve been able to alternate working on both as I please. Everyone on the team has been really nice about letting me pick the stories I want to work on, so that I can learn what I want to learn. I’ve even had the chance to work on the server side of things a bit. While I enjoy the UI a lot more, it’s nice to be able to understand the different pieces that go into the application I’m working on. I’m all about getting a holistic view of the process and at Runkeeper I’ve been able to get this. At team meetings and sprint reviews, I’ve heard about what the Marketing and Media teams have been working on. I’ve seen preliminary UI designs and listened in on user interviews. I’ve had the chance to work with the support team, designers, and engineers across all parts of the company. In summary, I’ve had an amazing experience and have learned a lot more than I thought I would at Runkeeper!”
Priscilla Baquerizo, CS’17 | Software Engineer Co-op
“I came to Runkeeper in hopes of getting into the world of mobile development and it was more than anything I could’ve hoped for. I had a small amount of Android experience coming in but it was miniscule to what I learned on co-op. Along with learning a great deal of Android, I learned just as much, if not more, about iPhone development. Runkeeper hires engineers to work on all parts of their app and if you’ve found a part that really interests you they allow you to hone those skills to become an expert in that area. Even as a co-op you may be leading a project or new feature and people will come to you for help. It was an incredible six months of work that I enjoyed so much, I decided to come back for full time after graduating!”
Mike Ravert, CS’16 | Software Engineer, Fall 2014 Co-op
“Runkeeper was my third and final co-op, and also my favorite experience. I learned so much more than I ever imagined about all of the different aspects of the company. Working here was more than just resume building, although that was a bonus, it was also about getting to tackle problems that I found interesting and learning from a great group of people. By the end of my co-op, I was one of the leads on a project that made it into the app and was really loved by the entire company. It was a great feeling seeing something that you have a hand in go live to millions of people after putting a lot of work in, and the enthusiasm from our users and our entire company made it so much sweeter. The community we have here is something that I never expected and has been something that truly drove me to put in my best work every day, and made me love what I was doing. I had such an amazing six months that I actually asked to come back on part time for the remainder of school until graduation, and I’ve been enjoying that for the last few months.”
Jess Moran, CS’17 | QA Engineer, Spring 2016 Co-op
And there you have it! I can echo the sentiments of my fellow Huskies; the opportunities Runkeeper provides for its co-ops are truly unrivaled. I’m very grateful for the guidance and support I was offered here as a co-op and can’t imagine a better place to have started my career.
Since we’ve had such positive experiences with co-ops in the past, we’re excited to be expanding our program this year! You can find the postings on NUCareers. Lastly, check out our careers page to learn more about our team, and feel free to contact our recruiter Melissa Reed directly at melissa.reed@runkeeper.com.
