During my university years, I had completed numerous coding assignments without much thought, other than to hit all the outlined requirements. Hundreds of loops, functions, and objects later, I was still struggling to find passion for my degree. Unlike a carpenter or painter, a software developer is usually writing code for a section of their project and can rarely personally connect with their work. It was my internship at Aurora Wireless Networks that finally taught me how to love my code.
Three years into my electrical/software engineering dual degree at the University of Calgary, I was hired as a software developer intern at AWN. It was there where I saw first-hand the tangible consequences my code had on its users – I felt personally responsible for the harm my faulty code would bring on its users. As my design skills got better, I strived for perfection and started to take pride in my work; I aimed for simple and elegant solutions and was proud to claim my code as my own. I realized that to love your work, you must set high standards and meet them; to have high standards, you must have passion for your work; to have passion for your work, you must see tangible impacts of your work.
This newfound passion drove me to create a more positive impact within my company. As AWN rewards initiative, I was given the opportunity to incorporate a unit testing framework into the company repository which reduced unit testing time by four-fold and mentor interns on the importance of software design and testing principles.
I am incredibly lucky to have been provided this learning opportunity by AWN to freely explore and implement my ideas. If you are looking for a challenging and meaningful internship, check out AWN. A self-learner with initiative will thrive here, and create work that they can be proud to call their own.