Apr 23, 2024
We are excited to share that 3 Software Engineering interns have joined our Celo team as part of the Microsoft Student Accelerator Programme (MSA).
MSA aims to develop and train students to prepare them for work placement with some of Auckland's leading IT companies. This is an opportunity for students to get a step ahead of their peers, build connections with the industry, and also show their capability by working on real innovative projects. In turn, companies benefit from the MSA Programme by bringing fresh mindsets and new ways of solving problems from these students. We believe that these talented individuals will bring a unique and valuable perspective to our team. Let's take a moment to get to know a little bit about who they are.
(left to right: Celo CEO & Founder Steve Vlok, Intern Shawn Tang, Intern Jacky Zhu, Intern Frank Situ, Software Engineer Rodger Gu, Head of Engineering Wei Pan.)
Jacky Zhu, Software Engineer Intern
"When I applied for the internship, I was a second year Computer Science and Information Technology Management student. I didn't have prior work experience in software development but had some light programming experience outside of university, working on some projects at programming clubs.
By doing an internship with Celo I'm hoping to improve my software development skills through code reviews from working in a professional environment. While working in this agile environment, I can gain insights into how software is actually made in the real world when compared to programming at university.
Talking to members of the Celo team to understand what sort of tasks their role entails and how they got to where they are today has been really interesting.
I particularly like writing code for the frontend, which has been going smoothly due to the nature of the project being quite new. Writing code for the backend is challenging since it already has lots of existing code that I need to understand.
I'm enjoying learning a lot from working at Celo."
Shawn Tang, Software Engineer Intern
"I recently finished my studies last year with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Honours).
The opportunity to work at Celo alongside an experienced and friendly team has been a blessing, as Celo proudly supports the Microsoft Student Accelerator Programme.
So far, I've found interning at Celo to be an awesome experience. The team is friendly, and the company has a flat structure. Everyone is willing to support us and teach us new things. The tech stack is also very modern.
So far, I've had the opportunity to learn a range of frontend and backend tasks. It's great being able to see a project from start to finish and work on a new feature that will be used by thousands of people. We've had many opportunities to exercise our software engineering skills to create scalable solutions, and learn best practice.
In the next half of my internship, I'm looking forward to gaining more exposure to backend web development."
Frank Situ, Software Engineer Intern
"I am a 2nd-year Software Engineering Student at UOA.
At Celo, I'm constantly learning new things every day and what it is like to be a professional Software Developer. Throughout my internship, everyone has continued to be easily approachable and friendly. So far, there are many challenging new concepts I'm learning; however, I was supported throughout, and assistance was there whenever I was stuck.
Through this internship, I hope to gain some real-world work experience and learn what it is like to work in a professional environment. Whereas in university, we are often taught technical skills, working at Celo has helped me learn about the soft skills of Software Development."
The Celo team works hard to continuously deliver a world-class secure messaging solution to healthcare teams around the globe. Jacky, Shawn and Frank bring a unique set of skills that will be invaluable for us as we continue our product development.
Steve Vlok on the new interns:
"Our team at Celo has a diverse set of skills and a range of experience. By taking on interns into our engineering team, we bring on a new way of thinking, fresh ideas, and novel approaches to the way we solve problems. We find that it is often our younger team members that challenge the status quo and keep our team innovating and learning. We’re super excited to have Shawn, Jacky, and Frank join us at Celo and are looking forward to working with them."