Aisle Rocket Studios

Front End Developer Intern

June - August 2019 • Chicago, IL

What I liked

There are many things I enjoyed about my internship - the experience/knowledge I've gained, the work-life balance environment, my manager and team members, and even the group of individuals I would hang out with on my lunch breaks. But, if I had to put it on one thing, what I like most is ultimately the fact that this opportunity really opened the door into my career. The most amazing thing about this internship experience is that it really bridged the gap between learning things in school and actually applying some of this school knowledge into a reality, and getting paid for it! The fact that I had an internship related to what I study in school makes me study harder and makes me want to figure out how I can apply more of what I’m learning in school at my internship. It’s funny because the things I’ve learned in school help me now at work (of course), but I've also found it applicable the other way around as well.

What I wish was different

As is custom to internships, I was fortunate enough to be able to work on real, significant projects. Although I did also have a typical intern capstone project, something that gets thought up just for the summer, and then dropped once the internship ends. I preferred the real experience but nonetheless in both cases, I was able to push an internal release of my project, allowing other employees to test and use my work. I liked being able to see my project come full circle, and I also got the experience of making bug fixes and addressing feature requests.

Advice

In only 7 months I've learned how incredibly important communication is! I am willing to bet there are many engineering managers who would rather take the individual who can effectively express his/her ideas, stand up for themselves, and work very effectively on a team even if they have little technical knowledge over the completely introverted guy/girl who has poor communication skills and is bad at working on a team even if they have A+ programming skills. Why? Requirements are always changing, if you don’t communicate, you may likely be working on something that no longer has a purpose. Or, you may not be in sync with the design discussed by your team and now your building something different and not applicable to what your other team members are working on. Ultimately lack of communication is very inefficient and can cause large amounts of wasted time/resources. As long as you put in the effort and communicate continuously with your team, you'll be in a good place.

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Account Intern

May - August 2018 • St. Joseph, MI

What I liked

Aisle Rocket Studios truly made me feel like a real team member. They gave me roles with deadlines and often let me work independently. The best part about ARS was the work culture, it was a very relaxed place where you could bring your dogs into work every day and there was always food!

What I wish was different

I wish I would have had more to do. Often times I would finish the project faster than they anticipated and they wouldn't have anything else for me to do. When this happened, I would just sit in on extra meetings and tag along with other teams to see how the company ran as a whole.

Advice

If I could give any advice it would be to always build relationships and network, even outside of your team! It's comforting to know people's names and always be a smiling face because you never know when you'll run into them again.

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