Impact, Community, & Summer Fun: The WW / WeightWatchers Internship Experience

…And that’s a wrap! We closed out yet another incredible summer internship program at WW / WeightWatchers with our amazing group of 27 interns across Technology, Product, Marketing, Inclusion & Diversity, Science, Finance, Operations, and Corporate Communications. Our interns represented 8 locations across the US & Canada and more than 20 colleges & universities! This summer, many of our interns visited and worked from our collaborative office spaces in NYC and Canada, all while having the option to work remotely.

Our robust summer internship program included a Speaker Series, Learning Series, and Community-Building opportunities, just to name a few. Through our Speaker Series, the intern class had the opportunity to become immersed in all areas of our business, by hearing directly and learning from leaders across our Tech, Product, Science, Finance, Inclusion & Diversity, Social Impact teams and more.

Interns were also encouraged to attend Workshops to better understand the member experience and why we are so passionate about the work we do here at WeightWatchers.

Another highlight of this year’s program was dedicated internal community-building time, also known as “Zoom Pods.” Hosted 3x per week, Zoom Pods allowed our interns to come together, get to know each other personally, collaborate, and most importantly, have fun! Activities included a variety of icebreaker discussions, riddles and puzzles, and games such as Quick, Draw!

To celebrate National Intern Day on July 28th, our interns attended a Fireside Chat at our NYC HQ with our CEO, Sima Sistani, ate a delicious lunch together, and closed out the day with a special painting party.

Throughout the summer, our interns also participated in countless learning and development opportunities, such as a hands-on resume / LinkedIn workshop, interviewing 101 session, and a Myers-Briggs personality assessment. The program culminated with Intern Project Presentation week, where interns had a chance to showcase their impactful work to their team, key stakeholders, leadership, and peers.

To say the program was a success is an understatement! Thank you again to our incredible class of 2022 for your contributions and the tremendous impact you made across WW / WeightWatchers! We hope to see many of you back upon graduation 🙌🌟🎓

👀 Looking to become a WeightWatchers intern? Check out our careers page for upcoming opportunities!

In the meantime, get to know our interns and learn more about their experiences. First up, meet our Mobile Engineering Intern, Vineet! 👋

Stay tuned for our mini-series where you’ll hear from interns in our Engineering and Product teams for the next couple of weeks — check back in to read about their journeys!

“This summer I worked on a meaningful accessibility project within the Innovation and Architecture team as a Mobile (iOS) Engineering intern. I had the opportunity to develop an assistive feature for the barcode scanner to accommodate blind and low vision members. The barcode scanner allows for viewing the PersonalPoints value for WW-verified food products and easily tracking the item by scanning its barcode label. This works extremely efficiently only if the barcode location is known.

To ensure the scanner is more inclusive for all members, a machine learning (ML) object detection algorithm was developed to predict partial barcodes and use those details to inform the member, using sound, where the barcode is located so the barcode can be moved into the center of the camera view.

My overall internship experience has been very fulfilling. Working with the iOS team provided practical experience of being in an agile scrum environment and even being able to tackle tickets that were merged into the production app. Sufficient challenges were provided with abundant resources from my manager, mentor, and team members to alleviate blockers and propel me in the right direction. Networking was encouraged a great deal which genuinely helped me become more comfortable with the larger organization and understand how key processes operate. The ability to gain experience with cutting-edge technologies, innovate scalable solutions, and advance professional behavioral skills are truly an invaluable reward of this internship.”

- Vineet Malhotra, Mobile Engineering Intern

📖 Don’t forget to check out part II & part III of our mini-series!

✍️ Jinny Lee - Sr. Analyst, People Operations & Programs