Internship

As a student, having a good internship is a valuable stepping stone for the real world. It helps the individual experience the real world application of everything they learn in school. Landing the company that offers the knowledge and experience of the industry they want to be in is somewhat dime a dozen.

Some companies tend to take advantage for their gains. Making coffee, do data entry jobs or anything unrelated to the student’s program are somewhat the usual expectation of most interns. Without proper training and somewhat a laid back environment during their internship, it would be a tragic internship one could have.

Fullspeed Technologies Inc. offered something more than just the real world application of our student program. It also gave us a glimpse of the industry we want to be in. As an aspiring Software Engineer, I could honestly say that I’m fortunate to have my internship in Fullspeed. This blog is about the experience as an intern of Fullspeed Technologies Inc.

Interview

My journey as an intern started way before we were hired. Starting out by sending application letter and resume to companies, for hopes of getting hired. As the on-the-job training job hunting was on the way, I could say that most of the interviewer were from the HR department with their usual “Tell me about yourself” kind of questions.

Fullspeed Technologies did the interview differently, the interviewer were the mentors of the program. Starting off with the usual interview questions, it escalated quickly to a programming exam. The mentors were seasoned Software Engineers which gave an intimidating vibe to the whole interview experience. During the exam they would give advice on how to complete the exam, which for me marked the beginning of the mentorship program.

Environment

I was amazed of the office when I visited it for the interview. It was very spacious and different from most offices I went to for interviews. The office gave a Japanese aesthetic vibe of space, everything was so organized it hints a “I want to work here” feeling. When we got hired, thank you Fullspeed, we were given our very own laptops for the whole internship program. Overall it is a good environment to learn, work and socialize. All of the employees were very social and approachable making it easy for us to adopt to the office.

Program

How it Works

The internship program was to teach and apply the basic skillsets needed to be a Software Engineer. For each mentor they are assigned to specific topic or subject.

For each subject, the mentors would discuss the basics and immerse the interns by giving them activities. After each subject cycle the interns would give a presentation to the panel of mentors and department managers.

Every individual intern would present to the panel the subject and everything they learn. On top of that the panel will give a series of questions to validate the intern’s learning and perception of the subject.

Though the presentation was very intimidating for us, it helped us to be better in giving presentations. I honestly would say that the presentation process helped us cement our understanding of each subject as the mentors would give precious advises of the subject on hand.

Project

The end goal of the internship was to create a software application for the HR Department. HRMS is a software application to handle Fullspeed employee’s applications to the HR. The software is not just an application, it is a collaborative effort by the interns in applying the subjects we learned throughout the internship.

Roadmap

1. Main Subjects
   
   • GIT - Understand the importance of Version Control System.
   • RDBMS - An understanding of Relational Database Management System improves the interns in Database Management and manipulating data.
   • PHP - The base programming language used for the project.
   • OOP - The basic OO components to create a better, manageable and scalable project.
2. Other Resources
   
   • The Art of Readable Code - A book about coding patterns and the standard usage of syntax to make it more readable and concise.
   • Design Patterns - A solution for commonly occurring problem in software design.
   • Laravel - The framework used for the project.
   • Agile Methodology - A development practice to create efficient applications rapidly.
   • Monthly Tech Sharing - The interns were also part of the company’s Monthly Engineering Sharing. Each month a Software Engineer from Fullspeed will discuss to their fellow engineers some of the technologies in the industry. We also participated in this ceremony by sharing to them the project we made.

Overall, the internship at Fullspeed Technologies was a great experience for us interns. It helped us to be better equipped of what’s to come in our career. Learning was not the only thing we gained at Fullspeed, we also made new friends along the way which makes the whole experience memorable. Kudos to our mentors for being very patient despite their time constraints, also to the Fullspeed family for being nice to us. I would 100% recommend all aspiring interns to Fullspeed Technologies Inc.