What HashiCorp Interns Learned This Summer

The second cohort of interns in HashiCorp’s Early Career Program is closing in on their final weeks at the company. Interns in departments across the company have spent their summer learning new programs, developing practical skills, and networking throughout HashiCorp.

In this post, 10 of the 70 interns in HashiCorp’s Early Career Program share what they have learned along the way:

»Amir Aslamov: Partner Alliances Engineering Intern, University of South Florida

Given the opportunity to work in a unique role positioned between engineering and business, I learned new skills in new areas. This includes technical knowledge of cloud security architecture and the functionality of other cloud infrastructure tools, as well as integration and validation with cloud infrastructure technologies. I also gained experience in business communication and relationship-building. And I learned about how the principles of HashiCorp resonate with the daily life of the HashiCorp team and how to incorporate those principles into my personal and professional life.

»Mauricio Alvarez Leon: Software Engineer Intern, University of California, Merced

Heading into my Internship at Hashicorp I had two goals in mind: to learn as much as I could about Kubernetes and connect with as many people as possible within the company. It turned out I learned more than I expected, including how Kubernetes works within HashiCorp Terraform and how the Vault Helm chart assists Kubernetes within Terraform. I worked with cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Lastly, I learned the value of making connections early in my career by meeting with individuals across the company.

»Marissa Sherman: Marketing Operations Intern, University of Wisconsin, Madison

The two main things I learned from my internship this summer are technical knowledge and teamwork/communication. In terms of technical knowledge, my team ensured I was constantly learning, helping me understand the different pillars of marketing operations and the main software functionality that the team uses. Because my internship was rotational, teamwork and communication were key to success with my team members. I learned to connect with all the members of the team, feel comfortable reaching out with questions, and be confident in working on the projects I was assigned.

»Oluwatobi Afolabi: Customer Success Intern, East Central University

I learned three things during my internship. The first is that no skill is too technical for anyone. You can always learn tech skills if you set your mind to it. The second is to ask questions when you do not understand something. There is no crime in asking questions and everyone was nice enough to not just answer them but ensure that I understood the answers. The third thing I learned is to ask for feedback from my manager to improve my performance.

»Azameet Gebremariam: Recruiting Coordinator Intern, University of California, Merced

During the past two months of my internship at HashiCorp, I had the opportunity to learn about the recruiting processes used by the Talent Acquisition team and the role of a recruiting coordinator. Along my journey, I carefully considered HashiCorp’s principles and how they align with the company’s goals. I’ve also learned about HR and project management applications like Greenhouse, Confluence, and Asana along with some of HashiCorp’s products.

»Kelly McCarthy: Solutions Engineering Intern, Williams College

I learned about the possibilities that exist in the tech space — not only from a product standpoint but also from an occupational perspective. The thing that I enjoyed the most about my internship was the opportunity to speak to people at HashiCorp in all different types of roles. I learned that solutions engineering is a possible career path for me after completing a computer science degree. I also learned about functions such as customer success and partner alliances and gained a better understanding of how the overall sales organization operates.

»Tommy Barnds: Investor Relations & Corporate Development Intern, Princeton University

Throughout my time at Hashicorp, I learned from both my own work as well as from my team. On the individual side, I’ve been able to develop and practice skills such as researching relevant information, building financial models, and creating different types of presentations. My role involved a good blend of working on large projects over the course of weeks and smaller projects that take only a few days. Finally, I also learned a lot about the inner workings of the company, including the Investor Relations/Corp Dev processes.

»Gabriela Diaz: Sales Development Representative Intern, University of Texas, Austin

Throughout my time at HashiCorp I developed an immense amount of skills that I can use moving forward in my professional career. I’ve gained a lot of technical product knowledge that not only is relevant to the company but also gave me a better understanding of the industry as a whole. I’ve developed soft skills as well, like communication, adaptability, and most importantly a growth mindset.

»Marilee Zafaripour: Research and Insights Intern, University of Oregon

The first thing I learned was that your timeline is the most important timeline. I spent my first few weeks feeling behind my peers since my college is on the quarter system and I started later than most. But I was reminded by my amazing mentor that we are all on our own timeline. I learned that I really do love research and that this is the correct career path for me. My technical skills also grew exponentially, and I learned how to discuss one of our products, HashiCorp Consul, with people of varying technical backgrounds. My intern buddy (an experienced team member available to answer questions) and my manager were huge inspirations and made me feel like no question was out of place or silly – each question mattered and deserved an answer. I have also been privileged to grow my confidence and soft skills, and I want to thank HashiCorp’s Early Career team for setting up amazing speakers to help with that.

»Russell Chan: Software Engineering Intern, University of Waterloo

During my time at HashiCorp, I have had the pleasure of learning a variety of technical and non-technical things. As a software engineering intern on the Cloud Billing team, I got to learn Ember.js and Go through hands-on experience of feature implementation and bug fixing. It was a great experience to work with technologies that I was unfamiliar with, especially with the support of some very bright engineers. I also got to learn about other important roles at HashiCorp through day-to-day interactions and sitting in on various meetings. The internship has been a really cool opportunity to learn things beyond the scope of software engineering.

To learn more about HashiCorp’s Early Career Program and how to apply, read our blog post on Recruiting for Early Careers at HashiCorp. Recruiting for next year’s internships begins in October and runs through mid-December, stay tuned to our intern job page for more information.