Posted by Jens De Craecker
An internship as a web developer might seem like a strange choice for a student working towards his degree in ‘Graphical and Digital Media', but I’m glad I jumped into the deep end and went for it anyway.
Even though development was only a minor in my studies ‘Graphical and Digital Media’, I got bitten by the proverbial code-bug. I became passionate about coding and really wanted to improve my skills during my internship. Starting as a web development intern at icapps wasn’t straightforward for someone in my position, but I was extremely motivated and I managed to persuade both the company and my tutors. I had heard about the company earlier on in my education. During my first year, I spoke with an icapps representative by telephone, as part of an assignment where we had to contact someone in the professional world. Ever since that conversation, icapps has been top of mind for me.
Doing away with legacy
During my internship, I had to complete one major assignment together with another more experienced intern. We had to completely overhaul an existing web application for internal use: Albatros, an application which allows the company to track R&D spending. The legacy application was written in old Oracle technology and only one person in the entire company remembered how it worked under the hood.
We had to redevelop a new application from scratch, with similar functionality, but this time around based on technology that is prevalent in the organization today. Furthermore, the new application had to remain backwards compatible with earlier input data so an archive could be maintained.
From the start it seemed obvious I would help out as a front end web-developer, since I couldn’t bring any experience in coding for Android or iOS to the table. However, I did get the chance to do some work on back-end-projects as well, which taught me a lot of new skills.
Feedback
I have a strong background in marketing and design, and while I think many of my skills could come in handy in the near future, I did feel that I had a gap to bridge when it came to coding experience. Luckily, someone from icapps was always available to help me out with constructive feedback. I was encouraged to work independently, but every line of code I wrote got evaluated by senior staff so I could learn from my mistakes. Their enormous technical background combined with the time I spent teaching myself new skills, made it possible for me to drastically improve my technical knowledge fast.
I really had a blast during my time with icapps, all the while learning new valuable skills. My co-workers were young and strongly motivated people, which inspired me. From the start, everyone treated me as part of the team rather than an outsider. I would advise an internship at icapps to anyone. I couldn’t have asked for better support and I left the company with a massive amount of extra know-how - and a contract for my first job, as a web developer, in my pocket! I really look forward to joining the icapps team again soon!
