Company & Culture

AppDirect Engineering Interns: Shaping the Future of the Digital Economy

By Gretchen Dukowitz / February 22, 2019

Interesting software engineering challenges are the foundation of a strong engineering team—and a technology company as a whole. They give engineers the opportunity to approach issues creatively, learn new skills, and solve business-critical problems that deliver real value to companies and customers alike.

That's why AppDirect is committed to building a thriving engineering team. As part of this effort, we offer an internship program for individuals in the Montreal area who are interested in careers in technology and software engineering. In this post, one of our interns, Justin Brulotte, details what he learned at AppDirect, and why he decided to come back to complete another internship.

So Justin, why did you decide to do an internship at AppDirect?

AppDirect was an option on the list of internships available through my school, the University of Sherbrooke. As computer engineering students, there are many offers to choose from, 400 for 100 people, so a company really needs to stand out.

AppDirect was attractive for two main reasons. The first is that the interview process was difficult, which was actually a good thing because it meant that the environment would be challenging. The second was the company culture. There were a lot of opportunities to not only learn a lot, but also have fun. There were yoga classes, team building activities, a foosball table—it matched everything I wanted. 

"There were a lot of opportunities to not only learn a lot, but also have fun."

What type of work did you do during your first internship?

My first internship was with AppDirect’s AppHelp division. I was officially a front end developer, but my team pushed me to learn different technologies. I did need front end skills for some projects—like a BitDefender 2019 migration—but I also learned Scala for some backend tasks and I was able to work on new project technologies, such as Electron and React, that I’ve always wanted to learn.

Why did you decide to do another internship with AppDirect?

I like to be around smart people that understand what goes into doing great work, and I like to be challenged. I was offered the chance to join the joint platform team at AppDirect and work on cutting-edge open source technologies. It means that I’ll be working on an important part of our core platform, which is an incredible opportunity for my career.

Speaking of your career, how are your AppDirect internships helping you prepare for the future?

AppDirect is allowing me work with the best developers to learn the technologies that are going to be the future of the industry. Not only that, but my internships are helping me build my communication skills, particularly learning English (French is my primary language), as well as how to manage a team—and ultimately a business.

What's the best thing about interning for AppDirect?

The people! People care about each other, and there are always new interns to make friends with. Interns are also valued as real team members, and we are empowered to make a difference at the company.

"People care about each other, and there are always new interns to make friends with."

What do you like to do when you're not at work?

I like to code and I‘m involved in a lot of groups at school. I also work out a lot, and in fact, I‘m training for the Canadian lifeguard championships for three hours a day six days a week. During my last internship at AppDirect, I was doing my workout from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. before our first stand up meeting. The flexible work hours made it possible for me to train, and I felt unbelievable during the day.

Gretchen Dukowitz is the Senior Content Editor at AppDirect.

Interested in exploring engineering careers at AppDirect? Visit our Careers website to learn more.

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