From intern to colleague

I'm Noah Gillard, 21 years old and since August 2 I've been employed by Codana as a junior backend developer. I joined Codana as an intern for my final year of Multimedia and creative technology at Karel de Grote Hogeschool. I was specifically looking for a company where learning and especially the well-being of employees/colleagues is central. This in combination with the feeling that you can do what you like and also excel in it. After 12 instructive weeks of training and a period full of fun, I could not help but want to start in this great team.

So since August 2, I am officially a member of the great Codana team!

A new challenge

August 2 was a very exciting day for me with a lot of stress especially for my first real work experience. It was soon clear that they (nonetheless COVID-19) are all about my well-being and that I feel good in the place I end up. I received an extensive digital welcome from the colleagues, they introduced me to their learning paths and projects they are working on. Thus, a very warm welcome that I definitely look back on positively.

Together we map out an assignment that fits my profile

The first few days were filled with conversations with the team members of the projects I was working on. Together with them, I was able to work out the most efficient way to get familiar with the projects that had been running for a while. They also explained the structure of Codana so that everything would be clear and concise. Thanks to this efficient approach, I was able to set up all projects locally within a week and to get straight to work with the tickets.

At the end of my induction period, Codana started looking for projects where they were looking for extra help. This not only because they needed extra manpower, but also projects that specifically fit my profile. Soon I rolled into a project that has been in development for a long time. A project where I could unleash my passion for algorithmic thinking and problem solving. A project that required a lot of brainpower and where large amounts of data had to be processed.

But it didn't stop there, sitting on one project would just be a monotonous task. Therefore they give you multiple projects with different types of workload in order to keep an extensive variation in the work you do. I wanted to go deeper with Javascript in the future, even though it's not quite my thing, I wanted to be able to do it and include it in my portfolio.

For this I was put on the project of the new Codana website with Statamic Here I was allowed to complement a WYSYWYG called Bard with its own extension so that it could be used according to Codana's needs.

Growing is facing the unknown, over and over again

You need to be able to grow on a personal level and in terms of knowledge. As mentioned in the beginning of this article, I am someone who cares about the opportunity for growth. Despite this being my first work experience, I do know what I want, a company that can guide me and make me feel like I can generate effective value for the company. I quickly came to the conclusion that within Codana you are not just another number, you are a person with your own specialization. A person who can do something and is also appreciated for it.

People minded, if I may call it that. Also the various follow-up conversations I've had where they repeatedly asked for my opinion and what I would like to see changed. This made me feel very safe. There is always someone there for me if I need help, colleagues take you at ease when interesting explanations come up. And above all, you get the feeling that you count in a beautiful whole.

Do you want a technical internship that really helps you? Then at Codana you are at the right place.