Digging in with UDig’s IT Innovation & Data Interns

Digging In is a regular series of blog posts profiling UDig employees.  We hope this series helps you get to know our team and understand why we dig what we do!

The interns have officially invaded UDig! Our three interns, Jake, Bao and Spencer are already working hard on projects for our Innovation Studio and main office. Our IT Innovation Interns, Jake and Bao, are working on a project utilizing Raspberry Pi and our Data Intern, Spencer, is helping our sales team to clean up our Salesforce data and create new reporting.

Dig in to learn a little more about their unique personalities and the work they’re doing for us!

UDig: What school do you/did you go to and what major did you have?

Jake: UVA, Computer Science

Bao: VCU, Applied Mathematics

Spencer: Virginia Tech, Computer Engineering

UDig: What prompted you to choose your major?

Jake: Well I came in thinking I was going to do chemical engineering and then took a chem lab and absolutely hated it. So I took a CS class and liked it so I thought I would just do that instead.

Bao: I started off as a Bio major and had aspirations to be a dentist but then quickly realized that I didn’t like memorizing things and preferred problem solving so I majored in Math. I was interested in software in my free time and was able to pursue that on the side.

Spencer: Computer Engineering is sort of a mix of hardware and software. It’s kind of a middle ground and I liked all the people I met in that major when I was touring Tech so that’s why I chose it.

UDig: What was your favorite class outside your major?

Jake: Dracula because the professor was really good at lecturing and the class was about vampire myths. My professor really didn’t like the book Dracula so we didn’t even read it.

Bao: Weight training because all I had to do was go to the gym for an hour.

Spencer: Intro to Cinema that I took last semester. It was really cool and we got to watch movies all day which was nice!

UDig: Tell us a little bit about your role as UDig interns.

Jake: Bao and I are working on different parts of the same project. The project is to create an internal social networking program with Raspberry Pi so I’m doing the front end stuff for that.

Bao: I’m working on the back end and trying to setup the Raspberry Pis to run microservices for the app.

Spencer: I was brought in by Steve to help in the main office. I do whatever random projects anyone wants me to do, it’s hard to pin down exactly what I do but I do whatever needs to be done. I’m also transitioning the way that the contacts are viewed for the sales team in Salesforce.

UDig: Why did you choose UDig for your summer internship?

Jake: First and foremost because this place actually seemed fun! Some other places I spoke with said I had to wear a tie. I also had interesting conversations with everyone I met.

Bao: I picked UDig because I read a lot of blogs and learned a lot about the culture. When I got into the interview it was super relaxed and everything seemed super collaborative and that was something I wanted to be a part of.

Spencer: I had a connection through Steve and he seems to be very happy here.

UDig: What emerging technology are you most interested in?

Jake: Probably “Reacts,” I find it interesting because it’s a completely different way of creating a front end. It’s doing HTML in Javascript which is cool and unique.

Bao: Definitely machine learning. I haven’t done a lot with it but a little bit of spam detection but it’s crazy and cool.

Spencer: I like the internet of things, like the Amazon Echo and home automation. I think that’s really cool. I have all my lights set up to the echo so I don’t ever have to use a light switch again which is pretty sweet.

UDig: What is the most played song in your library/spotify?

Jake: I’ve been really into this heavy metal band that sings songs about pirates…so Alestorm- Alestorm

Bao: Odesza- Say My Name (Remix) It’s old but I’m into it right now.

Spencer: Flashlight by Parliament, I really like classic funk music.

UDig: You’ve been told you have the day off of work tomorrow, how do you spend your day?

Jake: Sleep! I have not slept well for the past few days and need to catch up.

Bao: If it was in the winter I would take a trip to Snowshoe, since it’s summer right now I would take a hike with my dog.

Spencer: I’d like to spend it playing racquetball.