This summer I had the opportunity to do a four-month internship at Anonyome Labs and worked as a Development Intern on the Android team. Throughout my time at Anonyome Labs, I experienced many different aspects of a tech company. As I reflect on my internship, I wanted to share some of the key things I learned:
Ask Questions
At first, I was a little nervous to ask questions because I didn’t want to bother my teammates or admit that I didn’t know something. I quickly got over those fears because everyone on my team was so willing to answer any questions I had. I realized that no one knew everything and that I could learn so much more by asking questions. As I became more comfortable with asking questions, I realized how important it is to also ask the right questions. I wanted to work independently but also didn’t want to be stuck on something for days without asking for help. I learned to ask questions that would guide me in the right direction and give me enough information to work on my own. Asking the right questions provides more room to discover and learn things for yourself.
Keep Learning
The technology industry is always growing and changing, and it can be difficult and overwhelming to try and keep up. At the start of the summer I knew that I would learn a lot during my time at Anonyome. One of the things I was able to learn was RxJava. It was a pretty steep learning curve and so at the beginning of my internship I spent quite a bit of time trying to understand even just the basics. I read through tons of articles and tutorials and had multiple coworkers try to explain different parts of RxJava to me. As things began to click and I became more comfortable with RxJava, I realized I was spending less time learning. I learned as I worked in different parts of the code, but I felt like it would benefit me if I dug deeper. I read more articles and tutorials and asked more questions, all of which helped me to learn even more. Although I’m still not a pro when it comes to RxJava, I’ve come a long way since the beginning of the summer, all thanks to wanting to hone my skills and learn more.
Privacy is Important
At Anonyome Labs, the goal of the product is to make your life better by allowing you to have anonymity online. Before working at Anonyome, I was fairly naive to the aspect of privacy online. I would occasionally become more aware of privacy when people I knew had their identities stolen or when data breaches were in the news, but in my mind the convenience and ease of technology had always outweighed those negative possibilities. Within the first few weeks of working at Anonyome that view began to shift as I learned more about the concept of a Sudo profile. A Sudo profile is a customizable online profile you can use for shopping, communicating, selling, dating – anything that requires you to provide personal information to use a service. It can include a phone number, email address and much more. What’s great is it allows you to enjoy the convenience of the online world without sharing your personal cell phone number or email address you’ve had forever, keeping it safe from breaches and hackers.
Throughout the summer I have come to realize just how important privacy is, especially because you don’t always know who has access to your data and how they are using it. As I have become more aware of this, I have started to make changes to protect my privacy. It can be a daunting task as you may have to make lifestyle changes, but I hope to continue making my privacy a priority.
One Team, One Dream
During my internship it was clear that everyone was willing to help each other whenever and do whatever was needed of them. I saw the members of my team come together to meet deadlines and provide help to other teammates. Everyone contributed to my internship experience and my learning of RxJava, Kotlin, what it means to be a good team member and even a few new ping pong techniques! My co-workers were instrumental in making me feel like a valued member of their team.
Beyond being part of a team, I was also been part of a larger company. With fun company activities and catered lunches, I had a lot of time to interact and connect with people throughout the organization. As I participated in various activities, I formed friendships with others and began to feel like I was a part of the Anonyome family. Another thing that has helped me feel like a part of the company has been the intern meetings. We met together as interns each week and even had speakers from inside the company come and talk to us about their career, followed by a Q&A. This allowed us to meet more people, learn about various aspects of the company, and ask questions about how to further our own careers from senior level employees.
I have loved working at Anonyome Labs this summer and am truly grateful for all the people I met and the things that I learned.
