Let’s talk about what I’ve been doing. What I’ve contributed to Punchmark and what I’ve learned. This summer I’ve gotten to work with several popular APIs including Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Yelp, and Google for Merchants. Each API has its own nuances and methods for data retrieval. I learned how to use these platforms and integrate…

Many of the posts I’ve written about this internship are about observations I’ve made concerning my work style. I’d say I’ve finally gathered enough observations about my work style to make a conclusion. Autonomy I like to work autonomously. Give me a goal and I’ll make it happen. I’ve found that I prefer to receive…

In 1994, two professors from Stanford business school set out to observe and define business culture. They chose to observe over two hundred of the fledgling tech startups in the valley. Little did they know they were creating the most detailed account of early Silicon Valley tech giants. Nevertheless they found that five predominant work…

A big part of my learning from this internship has come from discovering how to stay focused and productive for so long. Staying focused was one of the first struggles I noticed early on and it remains a daily struggle to even more than six weeks later. I have noticed some patterns as well as…

Some employers think they are getting an excellent candidate only to discover that candidate’s greatest skill is self-promotion. Sometimes I feel that this is the case in my recent employment. I am amazed everyday at the amount of stuff I do not know. I often feel like a kid who just shows up everyday and…

So, recently I made a mistake. Several, actually. I was tasked with eliminating some cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in Punchmark’s framework. A simple but tedious task. Basically just had to filter user content for HTML tags and clean it before storing it. To make the task a bit faster, I used a feature of my…

According to The Intelliegence Group, 72% of millenials would like to be their own boss. But if they do have to work for a boss, 79% of them would want that boss to serve more as a coach or mentor. Additionally, 88% prefer a collaborative work-culture rather than a competitive one. As much as I’d…

Lately, I’ve been reading Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg. In the second chapter, Charles explains the factors that make a great team. He cites research from cognitive and behavioral scientists as well as corporate research such as “Project Aristotle” conducted by Google. The results of…

If I had to choose one thing that I’ve developed the most during this internship, persistence is a strong contender. In all my previous work (coding and otherwise) I was all about getting to the easiest solution. These days everyone and their dog are building frameworks, APIs, plugins, and bundles so if you’re willing to…

At the start of week five, I’ve noticed something. I’ve noticed that things are going a lot smoother. Now that I’ve gotten some experience working on several parts of Punchmark’s framework, and am generally familiar with their database structure, I am much sharper in my work. Today I experimented with what I’m calling “The Art…