By Floris Weers, Research & Development Intern
I still remember when I first received the email about a possible internship at Jaunt. I was initially surprised because I never thought that a six-month international internship would be a part of my university experience. The opportunity sounded just too good to pass up. Not only was the internship well aligned with my academic and personal interests, but it was also located in the epicenter of tech innovation: Silicon Valley. It didn’t take me long to decide that it was worth taking a break from my regular studies to accept an internship with the Research Development team at Jaunt.
During my six-month internship, I evolved from applying things I had previously learned in school, to applying completely novel approaches to solve problems that I had never studied before. One of the things that really made this internship great was that I was able to work in a professional setting without feeling like an “intern” — I felt like an actual member of the team the whole time I was there. I was handed individual responsibility and had the opportunity to contribute to the team. In the end, I’ve added various new elements to our projects where I can actually see that my contribution has made a difference in the final product. One of the projects that I owned completely was the development of a Unity SDK. I later ended up teaching most of the company how to use my SDK the annual Jaunt Hackathon.
While Jaunt has grown and matured over the years, it still offers many of the advantages of working at a startup. Having a meeting with the co-founder/CTO is completely normal, just like sitting next to your manager in an open office is the norm. I also got to visit Jaunt Studios in Los Angeles. While there, I was given the opportunity to represent the company to partners and potential customers by demoing our latest technology to them. Since demoing was completely new for me, it not only gave me a chance to see what it was like, but it also taught me how to properly plan and execute a flawless demo and improved my presentation skills (I didn’t sleep much that night!).
This was the third edition of Jaunt’s annual internship program. The program offers students the opportunity to work on cutting edge of technology while getting real-world experience and the opportunity to network with media and technology industry professionals. Past internships at Jaunt have spanned marketing, production and studio, and engineering, with interns positioned throughout the company’s departments.
In total, Jaunt had ten interns this year who came from all over the world. At lunch, we would gather and share stories about the habits and customs of our upbringings — we really got to know each other quite well. While planning for the hackathon, our discussions became way more interesting because of our vast diversity. The interns were spread across three areas: Studio, Product Engineering, and Research & Development. The two studio interns located in Santa Monica were working on a new AR experience. The interns in San Mateo were working on projects involving machine learning, multi-platform development, program management, and even storytelling.
Of course I learned a lot about coding and XR, but for me, the largest take away from this internship was how much I grew personally and seeing the growth of my peers. We were given the opportunity to show what we are capable of in a professional work setting, and that was something that I could never learn in school.
Jaunt provides a comprehensive internship program for graduate and undergraduate computer science students each summer across our office locations. Each intern is assigned a mentor, assigned a project, is expected to participate in real product development teams.
If you are interested in an internship at Jaunt, please contact [email protected] for more information.
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