By Tyler Estes

Throughout the spring semester, I had the privilege of working as an intern at Younger Associates (YA) in Jackson, Tennessee. YA is a market research and marketing agency that develops websites as part of an integrated communications strategy for clients all over the U.S. During my time with them, I worked on various projects, mainly focusing on front-end development and web content management. 

The first week with them was quite an experience. I started a week before classes began so I could put in a full 40-hour week getting adjusted to the position. The first few days I was introduced to a lot of new concepts ranging from different package managers, such as bower and npm, to various CMSs, such as WordPress and ExpressionEngine. It took the first half of the week to take in all of the new information that was being thrown at me, but after some practice and instruction I began settling into my new position. 

Settling In

After that initial, hectic week of adjusting to my internship, things settled down into a routine. I mostly did front-end development since that was what I had already worked with beforehand. Occasionally, when I had a little bit of free time I would look into other projects that the company was working on to get a taste of what all else was involved in hosting and managing websites. For the most part, I would be given a design or layout that one of our designers created and bring it to life on a webpage. I was able to work with various CMSs to achieve this and was always being introduced to better ways to design and code.

Expectations and Outcomes

Going into the internship, I really did not know what to expect. I knew the basic idea of what I was getting into, but looking back I had only scratched the surface of what all went into creating a fully functional website. I’ve already learned so much more than I even realized went into web design, and now I know that there is still so much more out there to be discovered. Working with different frameworks and being a part of a team to create something big was powerful and inspiring. It made working enjoyable to see my hard work payoff and be published on the internet for everyone to see.

To the Classroom and Beyond!

I’m very grateful I was given this opportunity to foster my education through this internship. Having the additional practice and really digging deep into the code, I’ve been able to greatly enhance my knowledge in the field of web development. I already had a firm foundation through the courses I had taken previously, but classes aren’t the same as an internship. It’s definitely necessary to have the classes to teach you the initial things you need to know to develop, but having an internship really gives you purpose to what you’re doing. For me, this internship has inspired me to learn even more. Now that I’ve had a taste of what all can be done, I’m even more eager to be learn new things. I want to see just how much I can do.

Don’t Take My Word for It

This internship has been extremely helpful to me. I would encourage everyone to get out there and find an internship or job in their field of study. I think it's important to be able to work on jobs doing things that eventually you will be doing as a career. It’s important to see if you enjoy what you are studying because if you don’t enjoy what you are doing now, then you are probably not going to enjoy what you will eventually be doing for the rest of your life. I know I’ve enjoyed my internship, and that’s only encouraged me to look forward to the future.