Interview Elwyn: intern at Tailr

Hi Elwyn, You joined Tailr as an intern in February. Meanwhile, your internship is almost over, the perfect time to evaluate your experience at Tailr!

Where does your passion for IT and more specifically development come from? As a child, I was very curious about how websites were put together and I was involved with technology from an early age. At the age of 14, I then started programming myself. Through YouTube videos and website documentation, I taught myself the tricks of the trade.

So you knew from a young age that you wanted to do something with development? True. I am currently studying at AP College and doing a graduate degree in programming. A very practical course. But during the course, I did notice that I already know a lot of things, because I taught myself. But now I will have a degree to prove that I can actually code.

How did you end up at Tailr for your internship? Tailr was present at AP college's internship fair. I got talking to someone there and I liked that first conversation. I then submitted my CV shortly after and that's how I ended up with them.

And why did you choose Tailr? There are a lot of companies at a fair like this, so why Tailr? The working atmosphere appealed to me. Of course, you only experience that when you actually work there, but during the first interview I already felt a much better click than with other companies. It was also immediately made clear at Tailr that they give everyone the opportunity to learn and grow. There are internships where they immediately want someone who can already do everything. Whereas at Tailr, they really want to give you the chance to learn new things and develop yourself further, and that appealed to me. I had a mentor, this person I could go to with all my questions. So you know you're not alone. Plus there is a teambuilding every three months and that also appealed to me!

What internship assignment did you carry out? During my internship, I worked on Faradoo. That is an application for managing projects and tracking and building a CV of employees. When I started the project, the application was very outdated. I then started rebuilding the front-end, while a colleague took on the back-end. Normally I was going to take on the full-stack picture, but I'm glad I was able to delve more into the front-end.

What things did you learn during your internship? Working with Next.js in an advanced way. And how to work as part of a team to bring an application to a successful conclusion. But above all, how to write clean code and do code reviews.

What challenges did you encounter? Well not working completely full-stack gave some issues, because the front- and back-end were in separate projects. Occasionally, the back-end would lag behind and I would have to work with dummy data for the front-end, which meant I couldn't test thoroughly. We solved that through good communication with the back-end team and then things did run much more smoothly.

On the other hand, it was also a challenge to convert an analysis into code. I often had to think about how to handle certain tickets to make them functional. Although I have noticed that I am getting better at it, there are still tickets that require a lot of thinking.

Which moment during your internship will always stay with you? The teambuilding in March. We went indoor skiing then. I really enjoyed getting to know the team in a different way, not just while working.

Looking back at the past weeks, what would you do differently now and why? I would have asked a lot more questions if I could go back. The internship itself went fine, but too often I tried to solve things myself. Now I know that sometimes it is better to consult others more quickly, because sometimes they have new ideas or a different approach. Something you also learn a lot from.

What new insights did you gain during this internship? That you are never alone in an IT company. If you don't know something you can always turn to someone. How you work in a SCRUM team also gave me a lot of new insights. Learning about it or experiencing it effectively is very different.

What are your plans after the internship? I would really like to start working at Tailr after my internship (wink wink). There is still a lot to learn and I would love to do that in this team.

Do you have any tips for future interns? In itself, it is not difficult to secure an internship at Tailr. If you show that you are keen to learn things, and if you grasp things and dare to go to others with questions, it will work out fine. Commitment and the will to learn are the most important things.

Thanks Elwyn!

(PS: What Elwyn did not yet know during this interview, but has since learned: Elwyn will soon be joining the Tailr team! We were so pleased with his knowledge, skills and especially enthusiasm that we are happy to welcome him back in September, but as a permanent member of the team!)