Can you brief us about your scope of work during this internship?
My work included development of a concept Mobile App for showcasing the capabilities of text recognition in a mobile format. In addition, I also worked on the ANB Systems home page and developed a new feature to demo nameplate text recognition. Lastly, I worked on planning and development of a new Mobile App for clients using the features demonstrated by the concept Mobile App.
What were your key roles & responsibilities and how did you work towards achieving them?
My key role was frontend development for the Mobile Apps and the ANB Systems home page. I worked towards achieving them by studying the documentation and quickly becoming familiar with the tech stack and the codebase. Also, by asking questions where applicable. For the EEPM Mobile App, my role was to thoroughly plan out the architecture and details of the mobile app and develop the frontend of the application. I worked towards achieving this by studying Vue.js and NativeScript Vue, and by referring to the mock-up and planning documents.
Among your many tasks, what is the one that you liked working on the most?
The task I liked working on the most was the mobile application. This is because I felt I had a high level of ownership and responsibility over the project. I also had discretion over planning and implementation details.
What was the biggest challenge you came across and how did you overcome it?
The biggest challenge I came across was when I migrated the mobile application framework to a new version, which caused several features in the app to fail. I overcame this by troubleshooting, reading solutions by developers who also ran into similar issues, and by contacting maintainers of the framework.
What new skillsets and/or knowledge did you gain during your time with ANB?
I gained a comprehensive knowledge on JavaScript and frontend frameworks such as Vue.js and Nuxt.js and how to use them to plug into backend services. Also, with cross-platform mobile development frameworks like Vue Native and NativeScript Vue, I also became fluent with test-driven development and testing frameworks and libraries such as Jest and Vue Test Utils.
What do you feel are the highlights of working at a ‘smaller’ tech company?
One of the highlights of working at a ‘smaller’ tech company is direct communication with all employees, including upper management. It was interesting to work and discuss implementation with lead engineers with huge amounts of experience and familiarity with the codebase.
What are the key takeaways from your exposure to the energy efficiency industry?
A takeaway from exposure to the energy efficiency industry is that energy efficiency applies to many different fields as opposed to just optimizing fuel efficiency, for example. This includes making workflows and organization more efficient regarding documents data about a company or streamlining activities with the aid of mobile applications.
How did you find our company culture and the support you received from your colleagues?
Strong guidance was available from other developers when needed. Discussion about architecture and implementation details was very enlightening and helped me learn more about software engineering concepts. However, it was also encouraged to troubleshoot and problem-solve on your own through various resources.
How easy/challenging was it to collaborate remotely with COVID-19 restrictions in place?
Collaborating remotely due to COVID-19 restrictions went smoothly overall. Daily meetings allowed us to sync activities and requirements with other developers and management and asking follow-up questions was useful when identifying software requirements.
How much did the internship match your expectations?
The internship exceeded my expectations in the amount of knowledge gained and the responsibility given to me. I was given a large amount of ownership over my project regarding accountability and discretion toward implementation details.
How much do you feel your internship will help you in your career going forward?
The skills and credentials gained during this internship will absolutely be invaluable in my career going forward.
