After launching our brand new internship program this summer, we’re excited for more passionate people to join our team. Hear all about it from current intern Maegan Womble, one of the first people to go through the OseLaunch program.

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOU

Up until this year, I was an English instructor at a private institution in Japan, where I taught for the last two years. While there, I met many extraordinary people who inspired me and rekindled my earlier passion for coding – a hobby which I’d started as a child and am now pursuing as a career.

I started out learning how to code from online courses and books, making projects in my free time and familiarizing myself with HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

After returning from Japan, I also reached out to the many local programming groups hosted at Techlahoma’s StarSpace46 – groups such as FreeCodeCamp OKC, SheCodesOKC, OKC.js, and DSN+DEV+OKC.  The help and support I have received from the local developer community here in OKC has been extraordinary.

HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT OSEBERG?

I first heard about Oseberg after attending a talk on functional programming by Oseberg engineer Zach Mays at the Functional Programming OKC meetup. Two months later, when I heard about the OseLaunch program through a friend, I knew I wanted to be a part of it.

WHAT PROJECTS HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING ON AT OSEBERG?

I am currently building a new DataStream API docs website for Oseberg using data from their API, React, React-Router, React-Redux, Javascript, HTML, and CSS.  It’s been an incredible learning experience with new challenges to solve everyday.  Currently, the website has many features, including login, a dashboard to see changes in data, the ability to query data from a chosen date range, choices for different versions, and many more features to come!

WHAT WAS THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF YOUR INTERNSHIP?

Working with React, React-Router, and Redux has completely changed how I think about Javascript and website architecture in general.  It’s been challenging, learning to work with application state, asynchronous actions, nested routes, etc, but it has been an amazing learning experience.  It’s also the part I have most enjoyed. That, and working with everyone on the team.  I owe a lot to Zach Mays, my mentor, who has been an excellent resource on Javascript and to the developers on the Data and App teams at Oseberg.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR KEY TAKEAWAYS?

I’ve already gained so much from this experience.  There are the technical things – like getting better at interpreting errors and debugging and learning cleaner ways to write new code – and then there are the not-so-technical things, like perseverance, teamwork, and trust.

WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE?

Once my internship with Oseberg is complete, I want to continue working as a developer and spending time on my personal projects.  If you’d like to follow my progress, you can find me on GitHub, or through my portfolio.

ANY ADVICE FOR FUTURE INTERNS?

Don’t ever feel like you can’t become a programmer just because you’re self-taught.  Many others before you have done it, so take their advice.  Seek out your local tech communities, attend Meetups, and talk with other developers.  One of the greatest strengths of tech today, is in the supportive and innovative nature of its developer community.

If you’re interested in interning with Oseberg, check out our OseLaunch program!