At AscentCore, we run the AC Incubator, an initiative where we test new product ideas. As part of that initiative, we have an internship program where we look to attract and nurture high-potential talent. The interns benefit from real-world experience, the opportunity to sharpen their skills in building software in a commercial environment, improve their communication skills and teamwork, and the opportunity to land a full-time job. We benefit from the fresh perspectives brought by new talent, creating a pipeline for new hires, and offering our current employees mentorship and leadership opportunities.
Short, Intense & Fun
These three words perfectly define AscentCore’s internship program. The program runs two or three times a year and each session is between one and two months. It’s designed to be intensive and fun at the same time. One of the main goals is to convert interns into full-time employees, so interns may be able to parlay the program into a job offer.
Careful Selection
Before starting an internship session, we diligently review all the resumes we receive and come up with a shortlist of candidates. From there, we schedule interviews to select the interns for the next session.
Since interns often lack professional experience we tend to focus on their traits and potential instead of technical skills. We measure their diligence, work ethic, drive, motivation, problem-solving skills, passion, goals, and personality.
When we interview candidates, we’re looking for qualities such as self-motivation, organization, level of preparedness for the interview, ambition, culture fit, communication skills, and an openness to learning.
Real World Assignments
During the program, interns work with AscentCore employees on real work assignments where they get exposed to the commercial software development environment, which can be quite different from programming courses in school. The problems are complex and blurry and requirements change, so interns learn to gather and analyze the requirements and implement flexible solutions. They also learn that work needs to be estimated in both time and cost, features and budget are negotiated, and communication with the stakeholders must be efficient.
Another essential aspect is learning the tools of the trade that they might not be familiar with. During the program, interns get a good command of the tools for source control, bugs and feature tracking, CI/CD, project management, and more.
Dedicated Technical Manager
We assign a dedicated technical manager for the internship program to provide mentoring and leadership. The technical manager also makes sure the program runs smoothly and is focused on results.
Through weekly one-on-one sessions, the technical manager helps interns organize their workload better. We also aim to help all interns become managers of one, who can organize themselves and don’t need heavy direction or daily check-ins. The technical manager also makes sure the interns receive regular feedback so they can adjust and improve.
In-house Training with our Domain Experts
During the program, interns participate in several training and Q&A sessions held by AscentCore’s domain experts. These meetings are an excellent opportunity for interns to learn directly from senior engineers while our employees get the opportunity to mentor and lead others.
The internship is Fun!
We make sure the internship is not all work and no fun. We involve interns in all the company events, including lunches, dinners, team building, coffee dates, and more. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic hasn’t allowed us to do these off-site events that often, but we still managed to have a fantastic team-building event.
Looking for an internship?
Are you interested in joining our internship program? Want to hear more details? Get in touch with us at contact@ascentcore.com or follow our LinkedIn account to receive updates on the next internship session!
Horațiu Cristea
Technical Manager
