A Day in the Life of an Intern in the Engineering Development Group
By Jaydeep, EDG
The Engineering Development Group (EDG) internship program at MathWorks is a unique experience for budding engineers to explore MathWorks, form valuable connections, and enjoy every moment. The program seamlessly blends the elements of developing programming skills, enhancing technical communication, and presenting in a corporate setting along with outdoor activities, fun outings, and a wide array of recreational events that make it truly remarkable. This was my first job in a software company, I couldn’t have asked for a better segue into the corporate world than the internship with MathWorks in the summer of 2022.
Here’s a look at how I would describe a typical day as an EDG intern at MathWorks.
8:15 a.m. I arrive at the Lakeside Campus in Natick and proceed straight to the cafeteria to grab a free, sumptuous breakfast. I sit down with a group of friends, mostly other interns, and discuss a host of different topics both related and unrelated to work.
8:30 a.m. After a healthy breakfast, I head to my office and get settled. After quickly scanning my inbox for emails, I open our team’s group chat and commence work for the day. Interns are assigned to projects within various teams at MathWorks. The projects interns take up also differ greatly in the technologies, programming languages, and tools that are employed. I then open MATLAB and Simulink and an IDE and get started for the day.
9:30 a.m. Because our daily scrums and sync-up meetings are held around 10 a.m., I begin thinking about the updates on my work to provide to the team during the meeting. After figuring that out, I head to coffee machine and get a hot chocolate. I almost developed an addiction to this during the internship!
10:00 a.m. During the scrum meetings, it’s always interesting to hear about the cool projects that the team is working on and try and relate how my work would fit into the team’s overall workflows. These meetings also serve as great avenues for asking questions and getting help or feedback about my own projects. The willingness of the team to help me out whenever possible is always encouraging.
11:00 a.m. After the meeting, I spend a few minutes on clearly articulating and documenting the tasks for the rest of day, and then jump right into the work. I start thinking about complex optimizations that will be applied to MATLAB code before converting it into HDL. I search the massive codebase and begin tweaking it. After running some tests, I fix the ones that failed.
12:30 p.m. I eagerly wait for one of my friends to knock on my office door and head out to lunch. Just like breakfast, lunch is also free and offers a huge variety of choices with specials each day. The cafeteria is buzzing with MathWorks staff having lunch and discussing a plethora of different topics. On Thursdays, a special barbecue is organized in one of the outdoor areas on campus. The food is delicious, fresh off the grill!
1:00 p.m. After lunch, it’s playtime for us (not officially)! The Lakeside campus boasts a large set of games to choose from, including putting golf, table tennis, an arcade machine, spikeball, football, soccer, and a whole lot more.
1:30 p.m. I head back to the office after a refreshing game of Ping-Pong. Now is the time to write the most code and make the most progress on my project. I might also schedule another meeting might with my project mentor.
3:30 p.m. Around this time, I make my way to the coffee machine for the last time during the day. A latte or mocha keeps me coding for the rest of the afternoon.
5:30 p.m. I conclude the day by documenting all the tasks completed on that day and reflecting on the progress made so far. After shutting down my laptop and waving my friends goodbye, I head to the gym. After an intense workout, I take the bus home.
A typical day would be full of learning, coding, coffee, and giggles. The program is so carefully crafted, which reflects one of MathWorks distinctive qualities, a great work-life balance. So amazed was I by the experience that I eagerly returned for another internship in the summer of 2023, and chose to return to MathWorks as a full-time engineer without much thought. Needless to say, my full-time journey has been just as fun as my internships.
