An Inside Look at the Hootsuite Co-op Experience with Cathy
By: Hootsuite Careers
Tags: Software Development, Careers, Co Op, Students, Internships

Have you ever participated in a co-op? If you have, you know it’s an amazing experience where you can apply what you’ve learned in school, grow your professional network, and find a career path that truly interests you. Here at Hootsuite, we see the value in these programs and we’ve had the pleasure of hiring some impressive students to join our teams.

If you’ve ever wondered what the Hootsuite program looks like, you’re in luck! Meet Cathy Chang — one of Hootsuite’s newest co-ops. Cathy is majoring in Systems and Computer Engineering at Carleton University. She joined us last September and is spending eight months with us as a software co-op, working with the Acquisition team. We sat down with Cathy to get the inside scoop on her experience as a co-op so far.

What team do you work on and what is your role?

I work on the Acquisition team at Hootsuite. My team creates a best-in-class and relevant web user experience to drive customer acquisition growth through trials, demo requests, and web-sourced leads.

I’m a software developer and my primary role is to help maintain and improve Hootsuite webpages and implement A/B tests to create the best customer experience and improve results. I also work on improving abandoned cart programs to meet PII compliance.

What do you work on?

At Hootsuite, I write code to improve our marketing website and related services to pique customers’ interest in Hootsuite products. I work with a group of talented developers, who guide me through problem analysis, code reviews, and code deployment processes.

Currently, my team focuses on improving the reliability of the Hootsuite website through monitoring and alerts. We are also constantly improving the website performance and implementing A/B testing experiments in accordance with the marketing team’s designs and goals of growing customer acquisition and overall revenue.

As for me, I have worked on an A/B test which splits the request demo form into two steps in key webpages. I was responsible for the implementation, QA, and launch process. The two-step form brought an increase of 39% more demo requests — a big acquisition growth success!

Control — One form (on left). Variation — 2-step form (on right).

Other than finding and solving team-based problems, I also learned a broad range of technologies through technical training, study groups, the Owl2Owl mentorship program, hackathons, and much more. All of these have made my co-op experience much more rewarding. The great people and great culture at Hootsuite make my learning and growing journey fun and enjoyable.

What are you learning during your time here?

I’m constantly learning how to analyze and solve problems in efficient ways. Here are a few key areas my co-op has helped me improve in:

How to effectively complete support tickets. Code reviews from other developers are super valuable — based on them, I always do a thorough analysis of the existing solution, then gradually approach a better one by fixing bugs, improving code efficiency and system performance. How to think out of the box. Instead of just focusing on one problem, I’ve learned how to analyze it in the whole system. I list the pros and cons of all aspects, then come up with a solution that best combines performance, reliability, security, maintainability, and timeline. How to work out loud. Communicating with other developers in a timely manner always makes problem solving much more efficient and ensures I’m on the right track. Every day, I absorb great insights through idea exchange conversations, and by sharing my thoughts I’m provided with an in-depth understanding of the areas I’m working on.

What challenges have you faced?

Starting as a co-op, I am aware there is a lot I still need to learn and I have faced challenges due to a lack of knowledge and experience. I have been unable to find the causes of a problem after spending a long time researching and debugging and that is quite frustrating. At times, needing to work across a wide range of technology stacks can be overwhelming, but my team is helpful and knows I am here to learn and grow from this experience.

Additionally, I love that my team at Hootsuite is so collaborative and there are always people here to help me out whenever I get stuck, but I personally feel more of a sense of achievement if I am able to solve problems on my own. This is something that gets better over time, as I work on more projects which allow me to keep learning new technologies and acquire the necessary problem-solving experience to be successful.

These challenges are helping me to build strong technical skills for the future. To help myself improve, I have started to keep notes of each struggling problem I face, highlighting things I’ve learned and the areas that I need improvement in. Referring back to these notes will assist me in overcoming similar issues in the future.

What advice do you have for future co-op students?

My advice for future co-op students:

Master solid data structures and algorithms knowledge. This will impress your interviewers and be helpful during your co-op term. Practice coding questions before your interview. You’ll want to brush up on your skills. Find your interests in Hootsuite’s tech stack. You can find more information here. Then build something! Your attitude is important. Be humble, willing to learn, and a good team player!

These are a few skills that will help you with landing an internship. Ensure you’re well prepared so you can impress your interviewers and land the job!