Internships are often career launching pads, but not all are created equally.
Some interns find their expectations fail to meet reality as they end up doing menial tasks and are presented with fewer opportunities to demonstrate and grow their skills.
However, interns at three Boston companies won’t find themselves getting coffee for coworkers or making copies.
At EDB, SharkNinja and Kensho, internships center around developing the next generation of talent. Previous interns at these companies worked on a range of projects, from developing an Ansible automation role to helping launch a new product to creating functionality for an existing pipeline.
“Unlike other internships that offer summer projects which may have little impact past August, SharkNinja gives their co-ops the chance to work on real problems for products that end up on the shelves and in people’s homes,” SharkNinja’s Product Design Engineer Liv Parsons said while speaking about her co-op experience.
As early-career professionals search for the right internship to launch their careers, three previous interns shared what made their companies' programs special and provided an inside look at what future interns can expect.
EDB provides customers with PostgreSQL software to cut database spend.
Tell us a bit about the internship program you participated in. What made you decide EDB was the right place to do your internship?
The EDB internship program takes place in the summer and is a small cohort of young professionals who are either in the later stages of their education or looking for an opportunity to develop skills while starting a new career path. I had little previous professional experience and was looking for an opportunity where I could gain experience in the tech field. I knew this was the right place to do my internship because I could immediately feel they wanted to invest in me professionally, and I appreciated the opportunity to grow.
What was the coolest project you worked on in your role as an intern? What skills did that project help you develop?
When I was an intern, I had the opportunity to develop an Ansible automation role for an installation and configuration process. It taught me lessons in time management and challenged me to break down a process into very detailed tasks. This challenged me to be more solutions focused and look at problems from multiple perspectives and desired outcomes.
I knew this was the right place to do my internship because I could immediately feel they wanted to invest in me professionally”
How did your internship help you grow professionally, and how will you carry the lessons you’ve learned forward into your career?
With the position being remote, it challenged me to hold myself accountable and helped me build a greater sense of personal responsibility. My position has a lot of independence, and it has given me continued experience in developing better planning and time management skills that I continue to grow and improve daily. It also gave me an opportunity to present in front of an audience of my peers at the end of the internship, which taught me how to communicate technical outcomes efficiently. I continue to build upon these skills and use them as a strong foundation in my current permanent position with EDB!
Kensho creates AI and machine learning capabilities focused on fact-based, data-driven decision making.
Tell us a bit about the internship program you participated in. What made you decide Kensho was the right place to do your internship?
I joined Kensho’s summer internship program as a software engineer on the infrastructure team, responsible for building systems and frameworks used by teams across the organization. There were many projects available since building tools for engineering is an ever-growing task. My team introduced some that would be fun and challenging to work on, and as the summer went on, I was able to work with them to identify new projects as well as expand the scope of existing projects that piqued my interest. I really enjoyed the flexibility that this opportunity afforded me.
I was able to work with them to identify new projects as well as expand the scope of existing projects that piqued my interest.”
What was the coolest project you worked on in your role as an intern? What skills did that project help you develop?
At the time that I joined, Kensho already had a pipeline in place for running tests on any proposed changes to its codebase. The problem was that the list of things to check was always growing, and implementing them as individual policies would quickly grow out of control. My primary project dealt with creating functionality that would enable us to define policies in such a way as to make them easier to maintain and extend in the future. This functionality was integrated into the existing pipeline around the end of my internship. By that point, I had gained hands-on experience and learned a great deal about best practices for building software.
How did your internship help you grow professionally, and how will you carry the lessons you’ve learned forward into your career?
I met a lot of great people at Kensho, many of whom I still work with. The internship program really emphasized the importance of asking lots of questions while at the same time acknowledging that no one has all the answers. I was able to get a myriad of different perspectives since the open-ended nature of my project lent itself to plenty of discussion around the various decisions that had to be made and trade-offs that had to be considered during development. Seeing how much the qualities of curiosity and collaboration were valued here made a big impression on me.
SharkNinja creates home devices and appliances in several categories like vacuums, hair care, air purifiers, countertop appliances and kitchenware.
Tell us a bit about the internship program you participated in. What made you decide SharkNinja was the right place to do your internship?
As a junior in college, I was faced with the challenge of finding meaningful work experience amid a pandemic. When I learned about SharkNinja’s co-op program, I was immediately intrigued. While my peers were returning to hybrid classes, I saw an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in a professional setting.
What drew me to SharkNinja was the commitment to providing their co-ops with true responsibility. Unlike other internships that offer summer projects that may have little impact past August, SharkNinja gives their co-ops the chance to work on real problems for products that end up on shelves and in people’s homes. This appealed to my desire for meaningful work and real-world experience.
Overall, my time at SharkNinja was invaluable because I was able to apply the knowledge I gained in the classroom to real-world situations. Most importantly, though, I was able to contribute to projects in meaningful ways and build my confidence as an engineer.
What was the coolest project you worked on in your role as an intern? What skills did that project help you develop?
When I joined SharkNinja, the company was gearing up to launch its first-ever hair dryer, the Shark HyperAir. Being a part of the team that introduced a brand-new product category was undoubtedly the coolest thing I experienced during my co-op. It was an opportunity to bring something different to the shelves and the company, and I felt proud to be a part of that cohort.
Being a part of the team that introduced a brand-new product category was undoubtedly the coolest thing I experienced during my co-op.”
But the company culture at SharkNinja is not just about launching new products each calendar year. Every day, teams are expected and encouraged to try new things and take risks. It’s a creative and collaborative environment that challenges its employees to push boundaries and embrace failure. Being part of the team that launched a new product taught me to be flexible, comfortable with failing and self-motivated.
How did your internship help you grow professionally, and how will you carry the lessons you’ve learned forward into your career?
My co-op experience offered me valuable learning opportunities and increased my confidence in the engineering field. At SharkNinja, mistakes that I had been afraid to make in the classroom were celebrated and seen as an opportunity for growth. The emphasis on learning through failure helped me overcome my fear of making mistakes, turning me into a more effective problem solver and engineer. I can apply this growth mindset to any challenge I encounter in the future — whether it be in my career or not — and be confident I will overcome it.
After completing my co-op, I returned to school for a year and am thrilled to be back as a full-time employee. The company’s environment fosters rapid learning and growth, which aligns perfectly with my post-college aspirations. I’m excited to continue building a beauty empire with my inspiring, tireless and incredibly creative hair care team at SharkNinja.
