Dev/MIssion is very thankful for the contribution from AppDyanmics as they have provided a grant for this summer. This grant supported 6 alumni during their three-month internship as GMT Incubation – Software Engineer Interns where they learned valuable technology skills to prepare them for an entry lever Jr software developer in the near future.
Want to hear about our interns read about their experience below:
My favorite part about working with AppDynamics is the fact that my coworkers and I all get along super well! It makes working from home easier and I feel more apart of a team, especially during quarantine.
I was in an internship before starting with AppDynamics and Dev/Mission gave me the opportunity to work at the internship as well, I am really grateful that I was able to do that internship.
Some advice I would give to students trying to enter the industry would be to work on your soft skills as much as you can! People in tech are very awkward from what I’ve learned and it’s very easy to hold an awkward conversation once you’ve practiced your soft skills.
One of my favorite parts of working with AppDynamics is having the opportunity to work with the amazing team to learn about the different types of technologies that schools do not generally teach.
Dev Mission is a program where they do not only offer technological training, they also teach students about the importance of soft skills when working in the industry. A majority of the time, people in the company have to communicate with their team, and being able to present their ideas effectively will make them stand out from the rest of the candidates. Dev/Mission has definitely prepared me for this internship opportunity at AppDynamics because not only was I able to apply the technical skills I learned in that program at my job, I was also able to communicate with people more effectively and efficiently than before graduating from this program.
Be passionate about the problem you want to solve and just reach out to people. You never know where life takes you just by reaching out.
My favorite part of working with AppDynamics is being able to work with other engineers and experience what it is like to collaborate and work with them as a team. I don’t really have a favorite though because this is my first internship experience and I loved everything about it. Being able to have meetings, stand ups, sprints, using a Kanban board to give us specific tasks, using the terminal more, and much much more. Especially with Github I was able to understand merging branches and pull requesting so that others can code review, you don’t usually get that experience when you work with your own projects.
Dev/Mission prepared you for this opportunity?
Dev/Mission definitely helped me with preparation. They helped me with my resume and taught me skills that would later be qualified to apply for these kind of roles.
An advice I would give to others is to focus a lot more with connections than with technical skills. I know that sounds weird at first but it is true. If it weren’t for Dev/Mission I would not have been able to know about this opportunity let alone not even know that Cisco App Dynamics is starting an internship curriculum. Yes technical skills are very important but connections can definitely help you get that opportunity that you have always wanted with little to no difficulty.
One of my favorite parts of working with AppDynamics is working with the people I work with. I think both the AppDynamics staff and interns are amazing and very helpful people. I love working with the people I do, everyone is very supportive and we all get along. I’ve gotten to learn a lot about careers in tech and work on different parts of our projects that I don’t normally do. I also like that I finally get to use all my skills and knowledge that I’ve learned from studying computer science.
I feel that Dev/mission has given me many opportunities that I have been able to take advantage of each getting more advanced as I take more opportunities. The most helpful thing was being a part of the Uber Fellowship earlier this year. This fellowship really helped me prepare for my work at AppDynamics. A lot of the tools and practices we did during the fellowship were things I used at some point during this internship so I felt more than prepared during this internship.
A piece of advice I would give to other students is that you don’t need to know everything. This is something that I personally struggled with myself. I felt like I had to know everything and this put a huge pressure on me and this can make getting started in tech very discouraging. So just take your time and find something you like in tech and go with it, try a bunch of different things because you won’t be expected to do everything by yourself, this is why we have teams.
My favorite part is working as a team and being able to contribute to a meaningful project
Dev/Mission has helped me with improving my coding skills and being able to work in a professional setting by helping me improve my networking skills!
Don’t be afraid! Take up the space you deserve! Keep improving on your skills. To my black and brown youth, YOU DESERVE TO BE IN TECH! We NEED YOU HERE! Tech cannot progress without YOU!
I really enjoy the culture and the collaboration with the team. Whenever we’re stuck with a problem, someone is always willing to sit down with us either individually or as a team and walk through the problem together so we all understand it. I also enjoy the presentations about the different professions so we could learn more about what we can do as a career.
Participating with Dev/Mission gave me more of a confidence boost and a more reassurance that I can do this line of work and taught me how to better articulate my ideas, by teaching others.
I would tell other students or anyone trying to enter the tech industry that it’s not just about what you know, but about who you know as well and when people see your passion and commitment, they will want to help.
