All posts by ingridh

Office Life, Programming, The Intern Diaries

The Intern Diaries: Ingrid

This is the third installment of our Intern Diaries series, wherein each week our lovely interns try to give you the inside scoop on what being a programming intern at a high-tech startup is really like. [For Part 1 and Part 2] This week Ingrid tackles what makes for great code. See what she’s discovered below.

I’ve been considering what defines well-designed code this summer both via literature and my own experiences. It’s a big question so I’ve been taking my time, and slowly amassing a list of the characteristics of awesome code. However, this past week, the list has become longer and clearer in my mind because of the introduction of three-person code reviews. At this point, I’ve decided that the seven characteristics of stellar code are:

  1. Simplicity: the code takes the least convoluted and shortest way to resolve the issue.
  2. Readability: the code is formatted so it isn’t a pain to read. For example, I can assert with confidence that the C# ? operator can be easily replaced with an if/else statement just for the readability factor.
  3. Flexibility: if a piece of code is repeated frequently, can it be made into a method? Continue reading The Intern Diaries: Ingrid →

The Intern Diaries

The Intern Diaries: Ingrid

2 Comments

This is the second installment of our Intern Diaries series, wherein each week our lovely interns try to give you the inside scoop on what being a programming intern at a high-tech startup is really like. Click here to read Part 1. 

Hello everyone! I’ve been interning at SoftArtisans for seven weeks now both in technical services and now in development. Here is what I have to say (in brief) thus far:

If you’ve read anything in this blog, you’ll correctly ascertain that SoftArtisans is a tight-knit community of very smart and friendly people. They have many interests and are all really good at what they do. The company still retains a startup atmosphere with weekly company lunches, soccer games (which I haven’t really participated in… I’m pretty terrible at soccer), and an overall casual atmosphere.

But I think it would be more interesting to talk about the things you wouldn’t know unless you worked here. Firstly, there is a very strong emphasis on learning especially as an intern. You are encouraged to ask questions and to truly understand the product and technology that you are working with, which is absolutely fantastic. Secondly, interning at SoftArtisans means that you are a contributing member of a team. Your practical knowledge is developed and valued in the group. Thirdly, working is very self-directed. This means that if there is a point where you don’t have something to do, you are encouraged to choose a task and tackle it! Finally, you get to listen to music as you work and can have lunch on the Charles River. Yay!

This whole internship has been a learning experience so it is very hard to think of the single coolest thing I have learned in the last seven weeks. So I guess I will tell you the top three coolest things:

Continue reading The Intern Diaries: Ingrid →