Experience shared by Software Engineer co-op, Jet Ravi
The 2020–2021 academic year is in full swing, which means we’re kicking off our search for the next group of co-ops to join our ranks in January! We understand that choosing the right co-op placement can be tough, so we’re giving you an opportunity to hear firsthand about what the Flipp program has to offer.
One of our Software Engineer co-ops, Jet Ravi, who recently wrapped up a four month co-op shares her experience and gives you an inside look at what it’s like to work at Flipp.
If I had to summarize my experience in a few words, it would be that I seized every moment, or as the Spanish so spiritedly say “carpe diem.”
As I started my first day of my remote internship at Flipp, my heart was racing and I felt as if my sensory systems were being hijacked by nervousness. It’s one thing to start a new role, it’s another to start virtually from home. Fortunately for me, Flippers were enthusiastically waiting to receive their newest member of the Flipp familia and my feelings of nervousness quickly melted away. My day began with a cultural on-boarding, which gave me a taste of the diverse and inclusive culture that Flipp has to offer. Soon after, the IT team assisted me in setting up my laptop and mobile device — I was ready to go! Next, I was introduced to each of my new team members. Everyone made me feel welcome and all I could think about was how excited I was. Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a smoother or better coordinated virtual on-boarding to mark day one of my four month journey!
In the first few days, each co-op was assigned a mentor to enhance their chance for success. My mentor didn’t treat me like a co-op student, I was given the same opportunities for coaching and mentoring as a full-time employee. We met regularly to discuss my progress, but they were always available and ready to assist me with solutions and strategies anytime I needed it. In addition to my mentor, I was assigned two work buddies to provide me with advice as I navigated through the Flipp world.
In the later days of my internship, Flippers encouraged me to challenge my limits instead of limiting my challenges. My team empowered me to wear multiple hats by providing me with several opportunities to be a sprint concierge and sprint captain, to conduct sprint demo sessions, knowledge shares, quarterly planning meetings, and much, much more! Conducting effective and engaging presentations has taught me that “you can’t sell if you can’t tell.”
What I loved about my Flipp co-op experience was that the learning wasn’t limited to my work. Lunch and learns, knowledge shares, guild meetings, Flipp University, and a virtual hackathon were other great ways to acquire a ton of knowledge on a wide range of technical and non-technical topics in a short period of time. Additionally, Flipp is an organization powered by passion, which means that engineering team members get to allocate 15% of every alternate sprint to a passion project. This gave me a chance to work on challenging and exciting projects that help increase the breadth of Flipp software from various perspectives such as usability, testability, performance, scalability, and supportability. For my term passion project, I worked on creating and enhancing a common knowledge share platform for the teams.
That said, the company doesn’t throw work-life balance off-kilter. In fact, it ensures that work and life are on an even keel by hosting virtual team events and paid lunches, despite the pandemic. In addition, as an aspiring female developer in the ‘brogrammer’ business, I was thrilled to be a part of the Women in STEM group, as part of the D&I committee, which aims to inspire female engineers, designers, and developers to be dreamers and go-getters.
Through this experience, I have witnessed how innovative ideas transform into elegant solutions, and have learned several life lessons in the process. In addition, I discovered within me the ability to speak eloquently during testing times and to instill a positive team culture. Exploring different technological tools, working on several software development projects, and being part of functional virtual teams have developed my collaborative ability, confidence, decision-making, and team management skills.
To summarize, if I was a harmony, Flipp was my melody. At Flipp, I observed my passion turn into purpose and profession. I’ve also seen Flippers persistently try to unlock each others’ potential, which I whole-heartedly admired. Thank you, my fabulous Flipp family, for being such a great support system and letting me be my ‘wonderfully weird’ self! If anyone is thinking about completing a co-op term with Flipp, my advice to you is SAY YES and don’t look back, you won’t regret it. I know I don’t.
If you’re interested in gaining a valuable experience like Jet, we hope that you will join our team for our upcoming Winter 2021 term. For more information on our co-op program, please visit corp.flipp.com/internships and keep an eye out for available positions on your University’s job portal.
