Software Engineering Internship Story: Dynetics

Megan Sheehan

Computer Science

What company did you intern with and where are they located?

Dynetics – Huntsville, AL

How did you identify and apply for your internship? Are there any specific resources you used to find the opportunity (i.e. Handshake, career fairs, other recruitment events)?

I found out about internships at Dynetics through their website. Growing up in Huntsville, I already had Dynetics on my radar as a company I was interested in. I was able to talk with Dynetics at the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering Career Fair to begin the interview process and learn more about which teams I would want to learn from through an internship.

What was the application process like?

I first applied for an internship on the Dynetics website where I attached my resume and transcript. I then spoke with recruiters from Dynetics at the career fair and had a next-day in-person interview, where we discussed my interests and skills to narrow down where I would benefit and grow most in the company. A few weeks later, I had an interview over the phone with managers from a software engineering team.

Tell us about your internship experience. What types of tasks and projects did you engage in? Was there a particular project or part of the experience you learned the most from?

As a software engineering intern, I had the opportunity to work with both full-time engineers and fellow interns. I worked closely with a team of three other interns to develop and deliver a program to solve a real problem with our team's project. We were able to experience the entirety of the software development process first-hand in the real world, and our mentors and team members provided incredible advice to help us. We were also able to go to the lab and test our program on real hardware, which was both really cool and an educational experience that I have never had in a classroom. I was able to work individually on a couple of projects as well. Our managers did a great job of giving us tasks like what the full-time engineers had and including us in scrum meetings so we could experience everything the full-time engineers were doing. Overall, it was an incredible internship experience!

In what ways did this internship help you prepare for your next destination after Auburn?

Interning at Dynetics helped me harbor valuable connections, gain and improve both professional and software development skills, and gave me insight into what it is like to be on a productive team and to be a responsible and diligent team member. I was able to witness the day-to-day activities of a team using the agile scrum development process, something I had previously only read about in my classes. It also gave me the opportunity to return to Dynetics after graduation as a full-time Software Engineer, which I am very thankful and excited for.

In what ways did your coursework or other experiences at Auburn prepare you for your internships? Are there specific topics or skills you learned from classes that you put into practice on the job?

Many of my computer science classes helped prepare me for my internship, especially the Fundamentals of Computing classes, Software Construction, and Intro to Algorithms. I was coding all day every day and encountered many skills I needed and was thankful to have learned through my time at Auburn.

Do you have any advice for other students looking for internships like yours?

Do not be afraid of challenges! Your mentors and team members want to help you learn and succeed. Keep an open mind as to what you think you would enjoy doing in your career.