WIMTACH Student Profile: Aesha Ganatra

A student in the Software Engineering Technology program at Centennial College, Aesha Ganatra became a valuable member of the WIMTACH Student Researcher team when she started her work placement. As she slowly becomes a professional Software Developer with Android and Cloud development skills, she is certain that WIMTACH will be essential to her success. “Because of WIMTACH, I have gained knowledge, various critical skills and began networking which will be crucial for my employment,” she said.

Taking on a position of a Student Front-end Android developer, Aesha immediately began working on a project for WIMTACH’s industry partner. This project aimed to develop a pioneering Non-Fungible Token (NFT) marketplace. One of the main tools Aesha implemented in her work was Kotlin, a programming language used for front-end web development. However, she also began perfecting her knowledge of Amazon Web Services and Amplify, tools more common for Back-end Developers. “Knowledge of [server utilities] helped me to better integrate the back-end Application Programming Interface (API) into my front-end environment,” she said. “I have built great confidence working on API integration exclusively because of WIMTACH.” Over time, with the help of her advanced knowledge in front-end and back-end development, Aesha took a leading role in the team of Student Researchers, which became a vital step in her professional growth.

When her first project ended, Aesha moved on to work on a project for OneTrip, where she had the opportunity to advance her web development skills. As she proved to be an exceptional leader during her previous assignments, Aesha was put in charge of the Jira board, where she guided a team of students to ultimate success. “When I was managing the Jira board, I worked on creating user stories and monitoring the development process,” she said. Becoming a true leader among her peers enabled Aesha to receive unique training extremely rare for software developers at these early stages.

Among various new software that Aesha worked with, she also made great progress at perfecting her soft skills. “When I just started working, I was introverted, but WIMTACH helped me to overcome my fears,” she said. Especially impactful for Aesha was her collaboration with other WIMTACH Student Researchers. As she was required to work in a team, she became more comfortable in such a setting over time and excelled as a great leader for her peers. Apart from communication and leadership skills, Aesha refined her time-management abilities, enabling her to meet deadlines even for the most complicated assignments. “Due to my experience at WIMTACH and seeing the impact of collaboration on major projects, I improved and embraced time management as my core strength,” she said.

Throughout her internship at WIMTACH, Aesha has had various opportunities to collaborate on Cloud-related assignments. Over time, her interest in this area of programming grew, and she became passionate about Cloud development. “Within one year, I aim to achieve a certificate in Cloud development to expand my knowledge further,” she said. Also, as she prepares for further education, Aesha is looking to share her knowledge and experience through a new blog she plans to start. “I always liked writing about my work and experience, so I will start a new blog based on my knowledge of Software and Cloud development,” she said.

As she plans the next steps in her career, it became clear to Aesha how much she grew as a professional developer during her WIMTACH internship. “The WIMTACH experience and knowledge that I carried away are now helping me to secure a job with less stress,” she said. Moreover, Aesha is planning to secure a position as a Full-stack Developer as she has gained important and valuable back-end and front-end development skills while at WIMTACH. “Being a career-oriented person, I believe if I join any firm to become a Junior Software Developer, within five years, I will be mentoring other juniors,” she said. “However, this would not have been possible without the initial experience WIMTACH offered me.”

For more stories, please visit: https://wimtach.centennialcollege.ca/news/