Denison Edge’s internship options are a great place to begin your employment search, and Adonte Mays used his time last summer to prepare himself perfectly for future opportunities. As an employee at the Knowlton office, Adonte knows the importance of being prepared for the professional world after college. With that in mind, he took his experience as a software development consulting intern through Denison Edge to gain perspective into a few different organizations and built his professional coding skills in the process. As a Computer Science major, he put a lot of emphasis on learning real-world coding through employment and got what he was looking for during the summer.
Upon arriving at Denison Edge, Adonte and his coworkers (from Denison and other Columbus area colleges) were assigned roles and companies with which Edge had already established partnerships. A large portion of Adonte’s work was with the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, where he helped improve the company by developing a mobile platform, both through an app and the company website, which he presented at the end of the program. This process required the use of Python, ModelDB, Tailwind CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. For him, one major adjustment from the classroom to a professional setting was the pacing. Adonte recalled getting some assignments along with deadlines, just for those deadlines to be cut in half or more, just days after getting a first look at the task. As much as he would have liked to be able to space the work out evenly, there were simply going to be days where he was significantly busier with unexpected projects. The stakes were higher, too. The consequences were going to be more than a low grade if Adonte couldn’t keep up with the work, so it was more of a “figure out how to succeed” mentality, rather than just “try your hardest.”
Adonte found that his experience as a Denison student helped him succeed in his internship, both with the work itself, and when it came to getting the most value possible out of the program. Having been around the Knowlton Center a lot in the past few years, he knew how to start networking upon arrival at his internship and built lots of connections that could help as he continues his employment search. His time in the classroom at Denison helped him thrive during the creative phases of his work, like building project timelines and determining what the mobile platforms he worked on would look like. Adonte also noted that Denison students are great at considering the implications of their work and incorporating those goals into the intermediate phases of projects, keeping sight of the significance of the task at hand.
If you want to hear more about Adonte’s internship through Denison Edge, or have questions about getting started with internships, you can reach out at mays_a1@denison.edu. In general, he recommends building connections before applying and making sure to apply to organizations/positions you’re genuinely interested in. It’ll make the application process more enjoyable, and if you get the job, you’ll be more engaged with the work once you start. You’re also welcome to look into Denison Edge if you think you’d be interested in the opportunities they offer. Whatever professional development you think you could benefit from, it’s a great place to start.
