Sonia Saitawdekar | 1964069 | 12/3/20 | Computer Science | TurnUp

CSE 301 Internship Report

TurnUp is an organization that is creating an online platform for youth activism. Last

August, they officially released their mobile app “TurnUp Activism.” My role is a part-time

software development intern who is contributing to creating a website for TurnUp. I write code

to create different parts of the website that will eventually be used as a browser alternative to

their mobile app.

The code for the website is written using React (front-end) and Firebase (back-end). For

the first few weeks, I participated in onboarding assignments to practice using React (ex:

creating a simple button component) and GitHub (ex: forking a repository). After that, I started

working on larger tasks to create parts of the website using React. In CSE 154, I had had

experience with creating websites using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. However, I had never used

React (a web framework) before (apart from a 2 week assignment in CSE 331), so it was a fun

challenge to learn about the similarities and differences between the two. One of the first

technical problems I helped solve was making a page responsive to the screen size using

bootstrap. Some components I created on my own include displaying an event, displaying a post,

and displaying resources (in card or list format). Like I had learned to do in CSE 331, I assisted

with creating tests for a form to check if the outcome was as expected. Additionally, I often

reviewed my fellow interns’ code and suggested stylistic and functional improvements. It was

good practice to decode someone else's program, especially because sometimes I would make the

improvements myself.

I met many of my goals since I was able to work on a large-scale project in a professional

environment. Participating in the CSE Internship Program was beneficial since it let me reflect

on my goals and achievements during this time. One challenge was making sure my work was
 Sonia Saitawdekar | 1964069 | 12/3/20 | Computer Science | TurnUp

always clean and complete. This is because unlike homework assignments where bugs might not

be corrected after its graded, the code I wrote for TurnUp would be placed into a much larger

project and would need to be improved upon over time. Another challenge was learning how to

use React, but the trial and error process made the reward of working code much more satisfying.

The fact that I was mostly working independently was also a hurdle, since although there were

other interns, it was all remote so most people were working on individual tasks at their own

pace. Some of the skills that helped were staying organized and punctual with my tasks and

communicating with my mentor about tasks and any questions or confusions. I would mainly

talk to my mentor over Slack, but a few times we conversed on Zoom. He helped build my skills

in decision making by letting me choose tasks I was interested in and gave me leadership

opportunities such as reviewing other’s code. I realized I enjoy web development specifically

because of the visual aspect since you can see your code come to life. I mostly worked on the

front-end, but I am interested in exploring other parts of web development in the future. Finally,

if I had to give any advice based on my experience I would say to be open about your interests to

ensure the job is mutually beneficial and to be open to opportunities to grow your skill set.

I was very grateful to have this experience even though it was not a “typical” internship.

It was my first time working on a professional project that would eventually be released to the

public. I enjoyed it and ended up extending the internship to fall quarter. In the future, I am

interested in exploring topics related to web development and working on other large-scale

projects that have a positive social impact. I also hope to experience a more professional setting

and work in a team environment. Additionally, I am interested in exploring more roles that will

help develop my leadership skills.