INTERN AT INSTACLUSTR!
My name is Hannah Vu, I am a final-year student of Bachelor of Software Engineering at the University of Canberra. During my last semester, before I graduate, I was concerned that I really needed to prepare to jumpstart my career. During that time, I read about the Knowledge Exchange Placement program advertised by UC. The program provides students with a great opportunity to get university course credits by working full-time for a whole semester in a real-world environment as an Intern. I applied for the same and got selected for a 12-week Internship at Instaclustr.
BEGINNING THE JOURNEY
I remember the first day at work, I felt like “a fish out of water”. I had thousands of emotions and thoughts about the internship and it took a little bit of time to get used to the workplace environment. However, I settled in, thanks to my supervisor, Paul who had a nice plan for my internship development. He set up the timeline for me to get through the learning curve, complete applicable assignments and then move to the project. Furthermore, he recommended having conversations with co-workers, and if needed ask for help. That’s the great way to get to know the team, and the way they work at Instaclustr. It helped me settle down comfortably.
LEADING TECHNOLOGY
At Instaclustr, I had a chance to work with the state-of-the-art technologies. There were also talks organised by the company for training. The daily meetings helped us remain updated on progress / any changes. Exciting conversation on Slack, kept me posted on news and happening both inside and outside the workplace. I am really excited that I could be part of the great team that helped me broaden my horizon in the IT field, especially in software engineering. I can say that it has been really nice to see all the Instaclustr team members working as a team to develop the managed platform for open-source technologies. The fact, that in spite of challenging work, the office is always full of laughter and happiness from the supportive buddies, which makes it a very comfortable but professional environment.
AGILE DEVELOPMENT
Instaclustr applies the Agile methodology to their project management and software development. At the beginning of each day, I attended daily stand-up organised for each individual to be able to go through their progress. I also observed the way people updated their progress to the whole team, provide feedback to each other and resolve all triggered issues together by sharing ideas and opinions while maintaining high standards. For me, this helped me gain an understanding about the company’s operation and product. I really appreciate that whenever I asked for help, every team member was always willing to support me by giving comments, suggesting solutions or even providing appropriate instructions. As a result, I was not only able to complete assigned tasks but also built my knowledge base.
LESSONS LEARNT!
As mentioned above, I was set up with a timeline plan, and the essential tasks to complete the main task which is the ICBilling Overhaul Project. I worked alongside my teammate on “Monitoring API Metrics Test”, a big assignment for us to practise on. During my journey at Instaclustr, I was always aware that I have to commit to continuous learning to boost my self-development and contribute to the company. Besides that, one of the significant lessons I learnt from my supervisor is that everything we did and developed should be for the company’s long-term operation, which makes sense. I also gained a proper understanding of how an organisation runs, in term of their set mission and vision.
THANK YOU, INSTACLUSTR!
The 12 weeks of learning and working at Instaclustr was fun, working in a comfortable yet professional environment. I really enjoyed every second of my internship placement. I am happy that I was able to contribute to the company’s development and also to have this gorgeous team that is now my second family. Thank you Instaclustr for giving me such a great experience!