First steps in my future field of work
Hello! My name is Solomon and I would like to welcome you to my first ever blog post where I will recount my experience here at Yellow Cherry Digital as a web development intern.
Who am I?
First, some background information about myself. I am just about to start my second year of my degree in Software Engineering at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh. So far, my course has mostly focused on writing code from scratch and through this I have become skilled in the programming language Java. Some of the other modules that I have taken include basic app design, logic & proof and web design & databases. Through my own interest in game design, I have begun learning to use the Unity Engine and writing scripts in C# to implement behaviour for my projects.
My goal for the summer was to get my foot in the door of a business in the computer industry and gain some valuable experience. I started researching companies in Inverness and Yellow Cherry Digital caught my eye. Being a software engineer, my web design skills were limited. The only web design experience I had, had come from one of my University modules where I wrote HTML, CSS and JavaScript code from scratch. I was quite nervous due to my lack of experience but I decided anyway to give it a shot! I contacted Sarah, the Managing Director at Yellow Cherry Digital, directly and she soon got back to me.
My expectations
Before starting at Yellow Cherry Digital, I was unsure of what to expect. I knew that the internship would give me an opportunity to show off the skills and knowledge I had learnt at university, but I didn’t know what kind of tasks I would be set. Endless visions of tea and coffee making and mundane cleaning jobs filled my mind as I wondered if I had made the right decision. As it turned out, it couldn’t have been more different!
My experience so far
When I arrived at 10am on my first day I was greeted by an office full of smiles and light-hearted jokes which set the tone for my time here. After my tour of the office, Rachael, the lead Digital Developer here at Yellow Cherry Digital, took me under her wing and showed me the ropes. Over the next couple months, I completed a wide variety of tasks relating to the overall development of web pages, from moving elderly and outdated sites over to brand new systems, to designing the structure and layout of new web pages, to researching and installing custom plugins for specific customer needs. I have also transported content from old to new sites, formatted images, chosen font and colour schemes, helped with the set-up of an e-commerce site and have had the freedom to add my own personal touch to the sites that I have worked on.
All of this has been a great learning experience and I have enjoyed the challenge every step of the way. I feel I have gained useful experience in developing my web design skills and in learning how web building is done in the real world. I have learnt to make use of online libraries, plugins and scripts which saves time for us, the designers. I have also learnt to use new software such as WordPress and Photoshop and now have experience using an online diary program to plan my day, a practice which I imagine is widely used in this field of work. All of these skills learnt will be transferrable to other companies I work with in the future along with my experience gained from the workflow required for this job.
Would I recommend an internship at Yellow Cherry Digital to other students?
Definitely. My time here at Yellow Cherry Digital has been both valuable and enjoyable. Everyone in team is welcoming, kind and helpful. This was my first real experience related to my future career and I now feel I have the confidence to handle whatever is passed my way. This experience will be incredibly useful for me going into the future.
Don’t be afraid to get out there and see if businesses would like your help – the worst they can say is no! 🙂