WW: My Summer Internship Experience
WW has a rich internship program, and this summer we hosted 34 interns in our New York City and San Francisco offices. In addition to the work they did with their teams, these students participated in Lunch and Learns with members of our leadership team and attended sessions to help them build their professional brand, such as resume review workshops and mock whiteboard training. But it wasn’t all work! Throughout the summer, WW’s interns also had the chance to get to know members of our team through offsite outings and socials. Read on for just some of the highlights of the internship program — in their own words.
Leah TenyEyck, Accessibility Specialist Intern, New York, NY
I had the honor of working on the proposal for the WW Accessible Innovations Lab. This was my first time creating a proposal, but my manager provided invaluable mentorship and guidance throughout the process. My goal was to create a lab that can produce a tangible, positive change at WW and create a system that makes it easy to integrate accessibility into the production flow.
The Accessibility Team is working to create a space where teams from Tech and Product can test their designs and theories using accessibility devices. Our goal is to create a space that encourages collaboration and exploration by providing the resources that teams need to integrate accessible protocols into their work.
We approached this problem in the same way that PMs do. After speaking to numerous experts within WW, I was able to use the RICE prioritization model, create a viable product roadmap, classify our project’s MVPs, KPIs, and use them to plan for future iterations. It’s been exciting to have a chance to work on both accessibility protocols as well as project management! This project has shown me a new way to approach problems and create solutions.
Throughout my research for this Lab, I had the chance to meet and discuss accessibility with specialists from companies like IBM, Verizon, AT&T, and Facebook. It’s been truly surreal to have the opportunity to work directly with some of my heroes in the industry.
Srineetha Maddineni, Product Management Intern, New York, NY
I’m a Product Manager Intern on the Studio Tech team. Our goal is to revamp the current app by building a user-friendly iOS app that reduces time spent in transactional activities, improves omnichannel customer experience, and offers more personalized in-person and online communication with members. Over the course of my internship, I focused on building three features that can enable these goals. I had an amazing learning experience with a steep learning curve where I learned about everything from requirements gathering and UI/UX design to engineering and QA in an agile environment. My manager was extremely supportive and gave me the freedom to lead the process, which I’m grateful for as I’m a strong believer in learning by doing. One highlight of my internship was deciphering the B2B side of the studio business (which is extremely convoluted) by talking to stakeholders from across the world.
Ashten Bartz, UX Researcher Intern, San Francisco, CA
This summer, I worked with the Experience Research team to conduct qualitative research by interviewing WW members. It’s been really rewarding to hear how WW has changed the lives of so many individuals. Learning more about members’ needs through these interviews helps the Product and Tech teams design tools for wellness that really work. One of the highlights of my summer was attending studio workshops in the Bay Area. Although I arrived with the intention of simply recruiting members for research opportunities, I left feeling inspired by the community, the coaches, and the experience of seeing WW’s mission in action.
Songren Zhao, AI Full Stack Software Engineering Intern, New York, NY
I worked on the backend team of Studio Tech as a software engineer intern. Studio Tech is responsible for the systems that customers interact with and employees use to create meaningful, personalized experiences in our WW Studios across the globe. One thing that separates WW from other companies is that we have a chance to contribute to the codebase of the company. Interns are not treated differently. Instead,we work closely with full-time employees. Also, WW focuses on cutting-edge technology. I enjoyed our weekly developer discussions, where we discussed the tech stacks and coding practices that we follow.
Swetha Geetheswaran, Android Engineer, New York, NY
My internship at WW as an Android Engineer was a great learning experience and helped me grow both professionally and personally. Being curious and staying positive helped me learn new concepts everyday. I even had the opportunity to learn a new language called Kotlin during my very first task! My team was very supportive, which allowed me to make important contributions. Through Lunch and Learn sessions, I had the opportunity to interact with our CEO, CTO, and CPO, and learned about WW’s impact on a much broader level. The Mock Interview session and the Resume review workshop helped me further improve my interviewing skills. As a young female engineer in tech, I’ve found WW to be an inspiring work environment to be in. I’m very thankful for all the opportunities I had during my internship experience and I’m confident that the skills and experience I’ve gained will help me find success after graduation.
Jeffrey Hao-Chan Huang, Software Engineering Intern, New York, NY
I worked as a software engineering intern on the eCommerce team over the course of this summer. In addition to gaining first-hand experience on how to implement and extend services supporting the eCommerce platform, I’ve also gained a unique understanding of how technology fits into the context of promoting wellness and health. The patient guidance of my team members as well as their willingness to let me take on greater responsibilities enabled me to continue learning and contributing throughout the internship. One highlight of this summer was the Lunch and Learn sessions in which the interns are given the opportunity to have in-depth discussions with executives on their experience and unique perspectives.
Interested in joining the WW team? Check out the careers page to view technology job listings as well as open positions on other teams.
