WW: The Virtual Summer Internship Experience

WW closed out yet another incredible virtual summer internship experience. This summer, we welcomed 34 interns working across the technology, brand, product, science, and communications teams with students working in 13 different cities across the U.S. and attending 30 different colleges and universities. For the second year in a row, our program was conducted remotely — however, this summer, with the launch of WW’s Work from Wherever (WfW) policy, interns in the New York tri state area and the San Francisco Bay area had the option to visit and work out of our New York City and San Francisco offices.

Throughout the 11-week program, we hosted daily Zoom pod sessions with our interns. This was an opportunity for our interns to come together to collaborate and support one another. Through these Zoom pods, our interns heard from former WW interns via our Ask Me Anything sessions, engaged in a midweek reset and meditation session with WW Digital 360 Coach Tess, and participated in break-out rooms to solve riddles and compete in friendly GIF battles. They spent time with our executive committee and other WW leaders through our intern speaker series sessions, expanded their personal and professional networks via Slack’s Donut app, completed the Myers-Briggs self-assessment, and participated in mock-interview training, and résumé and LinkedIn workshops.

Each intern was assigned meaningful project work, which they presented toward the end of the program. Our interns gained hands-on business experience by exhibiting their abilities to think critically, analyze data, and propose solutions to the challenging business objectives at WW. Through their project work and day-to-day responsibilities, our interns’ contributions played a significant role in helping drive our business forward.

The summer internship program was a huge success, and we are thankful to each and every one of our interns for their dedication and impactful contributions to WW!

— Jinny Lee, WW analyst, people operations and programs

Meet WW’s latest interns!

From June to August, I interned as a front-end software engineer on WW’s e-commerce shop team. My experience as an intern at WW has been valuable because the work I did impacts not only how users interact with the WW website but also reflects the work of other engineers on my team. Something uncommon was that, as an intern, I was exposed to the business side of WW, which gave me an understanding of how exactly the work we do in engineering sectors contributes to WW’s vision of wellness.

Working on a team was a very engaging and great learning experience. My team made me feel welcome from the moment I began my internship. I could communicate openly and thoroughly with my team and other WW employees. I had the space to give my opinion and could show my interest in a project that was being done and then help develop it.

I love the diversity at WW — I had the privilege to work with individuals from different walks of life, especially among the tech teams. What I appreciate most about my internship is that I was constantly learning and growing, particularly by engaging with the executive committee and learning their surprising and inspiring pathways to success. What I love most about interning at WW is its inclusive and diverse culture, as well as the learning and growth opportunities that WW has to offer, both professionally and personally.

— Rabia Khan, WW software engineering intern

This summer, I worked on a Scala back-end project for WW’s food innovation team. Through this project, I experienced all stages of the software-development life cycle. Starting with just an empty directory, I studied WW’s existing codebase and iteratively added features, eventually deploying my project to AWS. I gained exposure to a tech stack that includes Docker, sbt, Scala, Akka Streams, REST APIs, and the Google Sheets API, and I refined my understanding of GitHub and Agile methodologies.

None of these accomplishments would have been possible without the amazing mentorship provided by WW’s internship program. My internship was balanced so that I gained practical experience not only by learning new technologies through online tutorials on my own but also by having the freedom to ask for help. Despite the virtual nature of the internship, I felt supported and valued as part of WW. Each day, I met with my mentor to receive direction or feedback, providing me with ample opportunity to discuss the technical details of my work. Every person I interacted with thanked me for my work on the project and attested to the conveniences it would provide upon completion.

I appreciate how WW promotes collaboration over competition: Interns are encouraged to network among one another, help one another with projects, and practice presentations together. These interactions created a sense of community within the program. Thanks to this experience, I am finishing my summer of 2021 with friends, career references, and confidence in my engineering skills.

— Lena Sigel, WW software engineering intern

This past summer, I worked as an accessibility quality engineering intern at WW. My goal was to find accessibility barriers before website changes went into production, thereby ensuring a positive user experience for users with disabilities. An accessibility barrier is any barrier that prevents a user with a disability from fully interacting with web content. My focus was on barriers specified by Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA criteria. These guidelines are a global standard defined by W3C.

To find accessibility barriers, I implemented both automated and manual testing. Of course, just identifying barriers wasn’t enough. After finding the barriers, I collaborated with a global network of different WW teams to solve them. Everyone I worked with was excited to fix those barriers, and together we found creative solutions. Resolving these barriers was about more than just solving a bug — it was about creating a positive experience for WW members and users.

Through my internship, I gained a better understanding of accessibility and quality engineering as a whole. In addition to becoming a better-quality engineer, I created a tangible impact on WW’s testing suite, manual-testing standards, and the debugging process. Now, at the end of my internship, it’s extraordinary to look back and see the difference I made.

— Carter Sargent, WW accessibility quality engineering intern

Interested in joining the WW team? Check out the Careers page to view technology job listings as well as open positions on other teams.