HNG Internship: An iconic 4 Fortnights dream of an Intern
By: Uba Joseph Ugochukwu
Tags: Hnginternship, Python, Hng, Zuri, Backend Development

INTRODUCTION

The dream of every aspiring software engineer is to be identified as one of the best of his time. Work for one or more Big Tech companies, give back to the community, retire early, and be financially free. However, for this to be true, such an engineer will have to prove himself a tested and trusted fellow who stands out amongst his contemporaries. These, therefore, calls for him to be rigorously trained, disciplined and, conversant with the fast and evolving world of a high-tech echo space. As such, the HNG internship championed by the Zuri team has been the answer to the prayers of many tech enthusiasts, it has gone ahead to churn out individuals whose works can attest to its greatness. Although the internship is not a program for the faint at heart, I believe that as a current intern, that I am ready to prove my mettle.

THE JOURNEY SO FAR

On the morn of Thursday 12th August 2021, I was overjoyed when I received a mail from the Zuri team confirming my acceptance into HNG 8th internship for the backend Development track. The Internship offers different tracks which include:

UI/UX

Backend Development

Frontend Development

Digital Marketing

Mobile Marketing

And more than 10,000 (ten thousand) interns have been accepted already. Fortunately, I was one of them. From that moment, I decided to shoot my best shot. So far, it has been a journey of discovery, from working my way around the slack channel, networking amongst my peers and mentors, to being sent into isolation for breaking the rules. https://internship.zuri.team will give a much more detailed overview of the HNG Internship.

Tracks being offered in this years internship includes but not limited to:

UI/UX: User interface (UI) and User experience (UX) track focuses on tutoring and mentoring interns on building state of the art graphical layout for mobile, desktop or, web apps and determining how they interact with it using Figma.. Here is a link to complete YouTube playlist of UI/UX design Tutorial https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVlQHNRLflP_5_vCknMsxLS-mTJgq1QzH

Backend Development: The backend development tracks mentor interns on back-end programs, designs, and logic. The backend is responsible for the ‘behind-the-scenes’ functionality of applications. The back-end codes connect the interfaces to a database, manages user connections, and power the application itself. Back-end development works hand in hand with the front end to deliver the final product to the end-user. Python/Django has grown to become one of the top backend programming languages. Here is a complete absolute beginners tutorial on Python/Django https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS1QulWo1RIZz1aTTzz17L6rmN2ML3_p-

Front-end Development: Front-end development can also be referred to as client-side development. It includes using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build a graphical user interface of a Web Application so that a user can see and interact with them directly. The Zuri Internship front-end track will put you through the general process of front end web development. If you will want a crash course on front-end Development this YouTube video link will be a good place to start https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8NPQ2RgWyg

Mobile Development: Mobile app development has to do with doing development for any kind of mobile device. These include apps that run on phones, tablets, smartwatches, and any other kind of wearable device, which may be running on some kind of mobile operating system. For example Android or IOS. Different languages are being used to develop mobile apps, flutter being one of the notable languages for mobile and cross-platform development.. This link points to one of the coolest flutter tutorial for absolute beginners. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9jLYyp2Aoh6hcWuxFDX6PBJ

Digital Marketing: The digital marketing track walks the interns through the marketing processes involving the use of electronic devices to pass on promotional messages while measuring their impact. Digital marketing campaigns are focused on computers, phones, tablets, or other devices. It can be in the form of online video, display ads, and social media posts. The following link will lead you to a beginner friendly YouTube Digital Marketing Tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU-IIXBWlS4

Version Control: Git and Github, a version control system play an important part in a very flexible, and dynamic tech environment as we have it today, allowing for contribution to open source projects and reverting of codes when need be. This net ninja YouTube series gives us a comprehensive walk lesson on how to use git & github https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9goXbgTDQ0n_4TBzOO0ocPR

MY DREAMS AND VISION AS AN INTERN IN 8 WEEKS

Just like the infamous hell’s week of the US Naval seal training where boys are molded into the most elite of men, these eight weeks of internship with all its challenges, projects, criticism, and reviews will mark the turning point in my life. As a programmer hoping to turn this crude developer that I am into the most elite through the following ways:

Mentorship: I believe that participating as an intern will give me the opportunity and put me in proximity to meet potential mentors, that is programmers whom I have seen and admired their works from afar. Hence, helping me to establish a relationship that will guide me through my career path.

New Ideas and Perspectives: A few days already spent as an intern has given me a glimpse into the future, the encouragement to participate and express our thought have been great and as someone who loves exploring new ways of doing things I think within eight weeks I will get a lot of answers to my many questions.

A Professional Network: Two good heads they say is better than one. at the end of this internship i see myself accumulating a solid connection of techies in different fields and different skills which will prove invaluable in my quest for becoming world class.

Develop and refine skills: This internship will enable me to learn a lot about my strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, it will allow for feedback from supervisors and mentors who are already professionals in the field, offering a rare learning opportunity that you may not have gotten anywhere else.

Get a feel for the work environment : This internship will give me a much better insight and understanding of what it’s like working in an evolving tech environment with a clearer view of the tech world itself.

Getting a job: I am very optimistic that by the end of this internship, I stand the chance of getting better job offers as a Python/Django backend developer.

CONCLUSION

I could continue to write more and more about the golden opportunities that the Zuri HNG internship offers, the Huddles, and the challenges to earn me its right of passage. Yet, one thing stands out like Morphine, codeine, and thebaine are Alkaloids that make Opium very addictive, so will perseverance, doggedness, and hope see me through.