16 Nov A Tale of Two Spencers: Interning with mobileAxept

A Tale of Two Spencers: Interning with mobileAxept

Now that everything is going digital due to the pandemic, the team at mobileAxept has been very busy creating and managing donation platforms for the ministries and congregations that are transitioning to online giving. To help cover the extra workload, Spencer Grimes, a mobileAxept software engineer, submitted a listing on the SciTech job board in the hopes of hiring a full-stack web development intern for the summer.

“I had a really good response to the job posting this year,” Grimes said. “We got a lot of really good applicants. I’m always impressed by the SciTech candidate pool.”

Of all the hopefuls that applied it was another Spencer, Spencer Pauly, who managed to stand out. Pauly is studying computer science and marketing at the University of Minnesota in Duluth. He had a passion for programming, some previous internship experience and a well-built portfolio.

“It was clear that Spencer was incredibly self-motivated,” Grimes said recalling the website that Pauly had made to display his previous programming projects. “It indicated to me that he’s hardworking and could jump in and start building right away.”

Small problems, big accomplishments
Pauly started with frontend work and then moved to backend development as his internship progressed.

His first big project was to design the frontend for a local church’s management software. The tool that Pauly created integrated with their API, allowing the client to pull info from their current system so they can make alterations themselves.

He’s since taken on a project that last year’s SciTech intern started, developing a personalization page, and helps out with other programming tasks as the needs arise. Of all the projects Pauly was able to work on this summer his favorite was getting to learn more about backend programming. When working in that area, he said, “Even solving a small problem feels like an accomplishment.”

Never stop learning
Impressed with his work ethic, Grimes and the team at mobileAxept offered to extend Pauly’s internship into the fall, working part time to balance his school work and classes.

“It’s clear to me that Spencer has an entrepreneurial spirit,” said Grimes. “We talk about cutting-edge tech a lot, and that’s super valuable […] Working with interns, there’s an excitement to the things they’re doing. I relearn that every summer.”

Grimes offered these words of advice to Pauly, “Never stop learning or being excited about something new.”

Get involved
Make an impact on a future STEM professional’s life and strengthen your talent pipeline. Start planning your internship today at scitechmn.org. At least 200 wage matches are available on a first come, first hire basis between now and August 2021.

Are you a returning student? The new program year is underway! Reactivate your account and start applying for internships today.

​This post was originally written by sitetechmn.org. We have chosen to feature the post on our site as well, but you can view the original post here if you desire.