WIMTACH Student Profile: Inderjit Singh

Inderjit Singh Bedi was always fascinated by Artificial Intelligence and mobile technology and his curiosity brought on a passion for programming. “When I started doing it, it blew my mind,” he said. “The interest built right from the beginning. Even my dad pushed me to become a software engineer.” As a result of this enthusiasm, he enrolled in the Software Engineering program at Centennial College. Later, he found a comfortable fit for opportunities to build websites and experiment with programming once he joined WIMTACH. “I knew that [WIMTACH] was the right place for me to start a career in Canada,” he said.

Acting as a student Full-stack developer for a project collaboration with Special Compass, an education resource center for people with learning disabilities, Inderjit was able to enhance his development skills. The partnership led to the successful creation of a web application that enables administrators to securely exchange data between partnering educational institutions and Special Compass. Ultimately, the application enabled the organization with expanding its reach for students in need. In a typical workweek, Inderjit would participate in a project meeting to determine which feature element he would work on and decide on the timeline for completing his tasks and determine milestones for himself. Through the team’s Agile workflow, he was able to gain flexibility and a certain degree of control over what he was learning and doing throughout his internship. This project offered his first interaction with the Agile Methodology, and it proved to be helpful for him in improving his professional communication skills with clients. He was often interacting with the Special Compass team, presenting his ideas, and providing a demo of his work.

Although Inderjit joined the project development team, several months after it started, his immersion into the WIMTACH team was seamless. Senior members of his team were constructive in teaching him how to handle challenges as they came up throughout the development cycle of the project. “I got to merge up with different people and had to be in sync with them every step of the project,” he said.  Significantly, he noted that he had the chance to work amongst a diverse group of student developers assembled from different nationalities around the world which gave him a particular advantage in being part of innovative discourses since the students were able to approach tasks in unique ways. “I got to work with people from Nigeria, from Hong Kong, from Nepal, from Southern America,” he said. “It was a good experience.” Since his team members had specialized expertise in different areas, he was able to learn from them and build upon his development skillset.

More, his role as a student Full-stack developer enabled him to learn and use React Js and Prisma Object Relational Mapper. He noted that the internship also taught him how to work well on a team and manage his time well. “They helped me quite a lot,” he said. The most memorable part of his internship was the feeling of knowing that his input was valued, and his voice was heard. When he suggested ideas, he was pleased to know that the team was willing to adopt them. As the application is now in use, Inderjit is content with knowing that his work was well-valued by a WIMTACH industry partner.

During his internship at WIMTACH, Inderjit was happy to be challenged every day. As a result, in 5 years, he hopes to be in a managerial position. However, for now, with graduation around the corner, he is looking for a job opportunity, and he is confident that his internship experience will help in this process. “This will definitely help me to add to my Canadian experience,” he said. “[Employers] will appreciate me working with WIMTACH.”

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