Fermata Discovery Inc.

Marketing Development Intern

January 2023 • New York City, NY

What I liked

I absolutely loved the team - that is their strongest asset! Everyone is so passionate about the product and the mission of the company and what they can do to drive the overall company's success. Everyone is so friendly and willing to meet and very supportive of any needs you have. This makes for a very friendly and collaborative culture and I immediately felt a part of the team.

What I wish was different

I only wish I could have spent more time in the office with the founding team. The position was remote but if you get the chance to work in person in the NYC office, I highly recommend it. Plus, there is an office dog, Alpha, who is an absolute sweetheart!

Advice

Try to spend some time with everyone on the team. They each have such unique backgrounds and you can learn a lot from each of them! They have a very open door policy too which makes it easy to meet with everyone and get an understanding of what makes them so passionate about the product and driving success at the company.

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Project Management Intern

December 2020 - January 2021 • New York City, NY

What I liked

Working at Fermata was a fantastic experience! The team was extremely friendly and welcoming. Thanks to the supportive environment, I was able to hit the ground running and gain great work experience. I faced tough but fun software problems, built new tools quickly, and networked with experts in the field of investigation. Not only was the team great, the work at Fermata was also very engaging. I learned exciting new automation techniques to build productivity tools, and I got the chance to demo Fermata's incredible investigation platform. Seeing the inner workings of a rising software company was incredibly inspiring, and I felt that I really grew as a programmer in the short time that I was there. One of my favorite things about Fermata was the strong ethical code that the company follows. I could really tell that Fermata is working to be a force for good, making the justice system more efficient and effective. The strong purpose that everyone at the company shared really impressed me.

What I wish was different

I wish I could have had the opportunity to work with the team in person. I made so many awesome connections in the virtual environment, and it would have been great to be able to share an office with the friends and mentors that I met while working at Fermata.

Advice

Talk about your interests! Fermata was very open to tailoring my internship to maximize my growth. I got to work on projects that I was really passionate about just by asking. One month flew by, but Fermata was happy to work with me to create an absolutely invaluable experience.

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Data Science Intern

January - February 2021 • New York City, NY

What I liked

I loved everything about my time at Fermata, it really became a place where I was excited to log on and do work every day! I was pushed outside my comfort zone with a couple projects, which allowed me to develop useful new skills at a rapid pace. It always felt that that the purpose of the internship was not only for me to assist the company, but also for me to grow my technical skillset and gain experience in a wide variety of fields. Also, Fermata is developing at such a fast pace that there is truly never any risk of boredom or idleness, there are always new projects to work on that are guaranteed to pique your curiosity. Most importantly, I felt valued as a part of the organization during my brief time working there and I know that I can always go back if I am ever itching to work on some interesting and challenging problems, while also helping out a truly phenomenal company.

What I wish was different

The only thing that I wish was different about my internship would be to be in person instead of virtual but that was not possible due to the restrictions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. That being said, I always felt as though I was part of the Fermata family and we got to experiment with a few methods to simulate a working environment, which was a lot of fun!

Advice

Don't be afraid to ask questions or ask for tasks that align with your interests. Any question I had was always answered in a thoughtful and comprehensive manner that would often lead to extremely interesting conversations I wasn't even expecting. Also, the work is so much more meaningful when you feel the desire to complete it, and with the multitude of tasks needing to be completed at any given moment, there is certainly something you can find to put your heart into. It will certainly require you to put in the work, but I promise you will come out the other side as a more well-rounded employee and have a better understanding of what kind of work excites you.

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Data Science Intern

January - February 2021 • New York City, NY

What I liked

I loved my time at Fermata. I loved the people and I loved what I did for them. Fermata's motto is based on open-mindedness, excellence, and kindness. This is a really good place to develop one's personal, professional, and managerial skills. I worked on a variety of projects, and collaborated with a variety of people. Throughout the entire journey I felt that teamwork was the name of the game, my voice was heard and I felt that I made true contribution. Overall, Fermata felt (and feels) like home to me, and this was a wonderful experience that I am grateful I had.

What I wish was different

I wish the internship was longer. Since the company is growing at a very fast pace, I am sure that internships will look different in the future, with a more organized structure to it--which I did not feel that was missing, but a more organized structure could have better optimized my time there.

Advice

Be yourself, express yourself, and be ready to work hard!

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Analyst Intern

June 2019 - September 2020 • New York City, NY

What I liked

Interning at Fermata was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. From the people, to the workplace culture, to the hands-on opportunities, each aspect made it an invaluable experience. I was lucky enough to not only watch Fermata grow over the past two years, since they are a start-up, but also contribute to that growth. Fermata allowed me to exercise my skills in graphic design and UI/UX interfaces that I had only ever learned about in a classroom. They gave me the platform to learn by doing, and welcomed curiosity, questions, and thinking outside of the box. Having the opportunity to sit in on development meetings and be encouraged to participate was an incredible experience, and Fermata truly fosters their interns’ creativity and drive to learn. The amount of time and effort they put into their interns is truly amazing—no matter how busy they are they always made time to answer our questions and help us with networking opportunities. The people I’ve met through Fermata are incredible resources, and I’ve truly seen how an amazing business is run.

What I wish was different

Interning over the summer is not long enough! There are so many aspects to Fermata’s business that I wish I had had more time to work on. Since the company is growing so rapidly, there are always abundant opportunities on all sides—tech, design, product management, etc. So the only thing I wish was different was more time.

Advice

Don’t be shy! You must be ready to work hard and adapt, and be in constant communication with the team. No idea is too out there, don’t be afraid to pitch ideas, rework them, and pitch them again. The ideal Fermata candidate is someone who is motivated, organized, willing to put in hard work, and truly excited about the company. If you have those qualities, you can expect an enriching and fascinating summer internship with a stellar company.

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Software Engineering Intern

January 2020 • New York City, NY

What I liked

I absolutely loved interning at Fermata. Everything from the people to the culture to the interesting problems to solve made it an incredible work experience. It was a really unique experience getting to see the inner workings of an early stage startup, and being integrated/having exposure to both the technology and the business development sides. I grew so much technically and as a software engineer—Fermata gave me room to actually exercise technical skills I had learned in the classroom, practice communicating/brainstorming technical ideas with a team, and space to prototype those ideas. I also was able to experience so many things that are difficult to come by in the university setting or in larger companies—It was an invaluable experience to be a part of many conversations involving the direction and strategies of the company, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to meet some amazing people in the intelligence industry. Fermata's team also genuinely cares for and is invested in helping their interns grow. I was blown away by how thoughtful and helpful everyone was particularly when I had questions. They made sure to explain the decisions, motivations, and vision behind the work we were doing and supported me when I encountered challenges. I was excited to go to work everyday and felt like the employees were genuinely appreciated. My strengths were acknowledged and I was encouraged to use them. Overall, Fermata has a super interesting product, an environment of constant learning, and really cool people.

What I wish was different

I was personally there for a month during my school’s January term, so I just wish the internship was longer. The company iterates quickly and there were so many interesting problems to solve, so I wish I had more time to ramp up and dive deeper in the codebase, and contribute more quality code.

Advice

Be agile and ready to learn new things. Expect to adapt quickly and constantly communicate. You may feel like there’s an endless number of things to work and improve on, but don’t be afraid to jump into things with eyes and ears wide open. The team is an incredible resource and really helpful, so don’t be afraid to ask questions.

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