A week in the life of Abdullah: developer intern at Blastic

Dear readers,

My name is Abdullah Temiz, I’m 23 years old and a programming student at the Erasmus University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Brussels. As part of my studies, I am completing an internship as a software developer at Blastic.

As an intern, I was not looking for a company where I could do my internship, but rather for a company where I could strengthen my competences and overcome my weaknesses. After a 3-month search, I was happy to hear that I was welcome at Blastic.

In this article, I would like to give you a glimpse behind the scenes of my experience as a software development intern. I’ll tell you all about my five favorite days. Let’s dive in!

Monday: 22/02

The first day of my internship! I was nervous, but thanks to my mentor Stef I got the necessary support. Together, we discussed my internship assignments in detail. We’ve also set the time for our daily stand-up meetings via Teams. During the day, I could always reach out to ask any questions.

I immediately had to work with a framework that had not yet been introduced in my courses. With Stef's support, I could start the necessary programs and carry out the correct configurations. It was the ideal preparation for my internship. I watched some tutorial videos and was able to build up my demo-application. At the end of the day, I updated Stef on my progress.

Thursday: 25/02

On Tuesday, I got to (virtually) meet Robby. He’s a front-end developer at Blastic. Together, we discussed my progress and planned my upcoming tasks. Afterwards, I continued to watch tutorials. During the lunch break, I participated in the Share Lunch meeting via Teams. Participants were able to demonstrate their projects and give a brief explanation, so that colleagues are aware of what’s going on. I also got the chance to introduce myself and explain my internship assignment.

I found this one of the most pleasant days because I got to know many new people. The meeting motivated me to continue with my demo-application afterwards. At the end of the day, I finished all my tutorials and I was able to begin with the first part of my internship assignment. Finally, I updated my mentor Stef via Teams about my work and accomplishments.

Monday: 01/03

Time flies when you’re having fun! From this day on, I was coding. However, I have come across many obstacles. For some reason, my entire program didn’t work, so I had to track down the error and find a solution. After several attempts, I examined the problem thoroughly during the stand-up meeting with Stef and Robby. This day I experienced how to solve a problem. My mentor led me towards a solution. This way, I was able to understand the problem and apply the best solution. The teamwork was wonderful!

Afterwards, I continued with my internship assignment and completed the most important parts: implementing and adjusting components of Blastic's websites. Today I’ve worked both individually and with colleagues. It was quite an unusual but rewarding experience. Just like the other days, I finished the day by updating Stef on my experiences.

Thursday: 08/04

This was an amazing day. I designed and finished two new components from scratch, the Maps and Carousel component. It was one of the days where I gained more self-confidence.

I worked completely individually on my assignments; creating new components, identifying problems, applying solutions, adding styling, making the components as user-friendly as possible, and so on. That was the moment where I, for the first time, felt like a real developer.

Friday: 09/04

The last day of my internship before a short break. I had to write a manual on the setup, functionality and use of the components. I wrote two documents: a read-me and a description file. I have never written any manual documentation of my code before, so I searched the internet for a few topics. Using my Visual Studio Code, I then created a read-me file with the necessary information and appropriate styling.

Together with Robby, I also checked and reviewed my assignment list. I was fully engaged in documenting my entire project. At the end of the day, I had a Teams meeting about my progress and completed tasks.

Recap of my experience

Doing a remote internship in a company is not always easy, especially when you have to use a new technology. But thanks to the guidance I receive, I'm able to complete my assignments successfully.

Due to the experience I'm gaining, I now understand every line of code I write. Doing an internship at Blastic is not only about strengthening your competences, but also about improving your perception, communication skills and self-development. I'm happy to continue the second part of my internship at Blastic.

I'm having a blast!

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