One of the occasions that LEARN Academy Graduates can look forward to working as an intern at a software development company after completing their Bootcamp. LEARN Academy partners with a number of wonderful organizations, including us in Planet ArgonThere we help give aspiring software developers a glimpse into their new career.
About us: We are a Ruby on Rails agency that helps organizations with existing Ruby on Rails applications to make them better and more maintainable. We offer various services that an app owner will need throughout the life of his project, starting from Partial development services To Sunset services in the app.
One distinction in our organization is that we offer services, not products. One of the significant differences is that for a product company, interns and employees get a chance to dive deep into the product they are working on and become more experts on the subject. There’s also a specific language and technology stack for developers to work on, so the work is rigorous and focused. For agencies or service-based organizations like us, the skill sets/knowledge of the interns and employees are usually broader and less in-depth because they can work on different types of applications in different sectors and maybe even other technology stacks. Also, we never start working with completely new applications – we inherit already existing Ruby on Rails applications.
about the specialization
The beautiful thing about internships is that they foster a positive learning environment while providing real-life work experience to interns. They teach us how to be better instructors, teachers and teammates.
For the graduates who work with us at Planet Argon, we take it one step further only Working on development projects. Our engineering manager allocates a block of time for interns to work with me, Stav Morgan, Marketing Coordinator.
Why would a software development intern need to spend time working with a marketing coordinator?
We’re glad you asked!
Interns help me create social media content, and they write blog posts related to their experience working with us. Learning about marketing offers interns a more holistic perspective of an organization, encourages them to share their stories, and spend time thinking about what they might like to do in their future careers. They further develop essential soft skills and become well-rounded professionals who can contribute to their future success and the success of the organization beyond technical expertise.
Here are some more benefits of Collaboration between marketing and interns.
Cross-functional collaboration
After the intern has had a few days to set up his projects on his computers, I send him a quick Slack message to set up an introductory call so we can get to know each other a little better and go over the types of tasks we’ll be working on together.
The presentation of the interns’ marketing skills allows them to work effectively with people from different departments, while fostering teamwork, communication and cooperation in various organizational roles.
We feel that today’s workplace should be interconnected and purposeful. Each person does not have to “stay in his department”. Let’s leave those boundaries, initiate conversations, build more skills and connect as many team members as possible.
Communication and presentation of ideas
During our conversation, I share a blog outline I’ve written with each intern that I later edit to include custom points or topics to share in the post. We explore additional ideas they may have, and then towards the end of their third week with us, they start writing their intern experience. I am available for any question or direction. Once their draft is ready for review, I edit it, add relevant links, and set it up for publication. In their last week here, they have now completed their first development project and Their first blog post. Hooray!
Marketing exposure, especially in the form of writing a blog post, improves interns’ ability to communicate their ideas effectively. It helps them develop skills in creating their stories, presenting information and completing another project, giving them a sense of pride and achievement. This experience may help them when presenting their work and ideas in the future.
Branding and professional image
by advertising Blog post For their experience with Planet Argon, the interns now have an article that lives on the Internet forever, documenting their journey. It’s something they can share, revisit and reminisce over several years into their new and thriving careers. It also shows future employers that they are not afraid to work outside their comfort zones and collaborate with other departments and teams.
Aside from their blog post, interns also help me create social media content. I will periodically ask them what they are working on, learning, challenges they are facing or anything related to different tools or programs they may be using.
We tag their LinkedIn profiles in these posts, giving them exposure and showing potential recruiters where to look!
As part of their exit meetings, ours Engineering Manager, Ben Perisot, Offers interns practical advice on creating winning resumes and updating their LinkedIn profiles to attract the best opportunities.
These tasks help interns understand the importance of personal branding and professional image. They learn how to effectively represent themselves and build their online presence.
Maximizing intern potential
We’ve heard stories from intern candidates about how they interned at another company before joining our team. They share stories of not being able to work on client work or being given random assignments without much guidance. What’s the point of bringing in an intern if we don’t make it a valuable experience for everyone?
This seems like a colossal waste of energy and potential! We believe that while an intern is with us, we should provide them with opportunities to feel what it’s like at work. A real life experience! When they are hired at their new company in the future, they will have the confidence and expertise to perform a variety of tasks and projects, making for a much more positive experience—now and later.
We encourage you to maximize the interns’ potential marketing initiatives and leverage their unique skill sets and fresh perspectives. They may even discover another part of the job that they enjoy!
Best practices
If you’re looking to help your interns become more versatile professionals, the best advice I can offer is: Think about what you wish you knew when you started your career path.
- What skills or experience would help you? (If specific technology-related skills are not relevant, consider soft skills.)
- What do you think are the most important skills an intern should know before entering the workforce today?
- What are your organization’s strengths, and how can you impart this with an intern’s experience?
- How can you offer more collaboration and exposure to other departments in your organization?
- What marketing skills will the interns benefit from after they complete their time with you?
Also, tasks and projects must be sorted out before they come on board. We like to have a marketing section in the intern onboarding material.
success stories
By providing marketing exposure to interns, they develop a well-rounded skill set beyond their technical abilities to benefit them in their career journey. Additionally, it shows other organizations that you care about mentoring and community collaboration.
We have a lot Stories of an intern On our blog if you want to learn more about our intern graduates.
You can also read about our internship opportunities Here.
About the author:
Stav is the marketing coordinator at Planet Argon and an artist. When she’s not working on creative projects, you’ll find her rollerblading by the beach or rescuing cats.
