WIMTACH Student Profile: Tanvi Gupta

Tanvi Gupta had a goal of becoming a mature Software Developer so she joined the Software Engineering Technology program at Centennial College. To further enhance her learning, she also applied for a Student Researcher position at WIMTACH.  She was selected to work on an Electronic Medical Record development project with an EMR company at WIMTACH in March of 2020. With this project, she assisted the WIMTACH research team in the role of a Software Developer and Business Analyst. Over the course of 10-months, she successfully worked with the entire project team to deliver results.

This project helped her in understanding how best to deliver a client’s needs for a project. “Most of the time I was a Business Analyst and I did the requirement gathering [for the project],” she said. “I think that skill will help me in every possible way because it is important to understand what a client requires and to document it in a proper way.”

Her successful contribution in the project as a Business Analyst enhanced her confidence. As a result, she decided to pursue more roles for a wholistic learning experience. She applied and got roles of Software Developer, Quality Assurance person, as well as a Tester. This enabled her to get a full picture of how Software Development works. “I did all types of roles which is required in any Software Development project,” she said.

As a result of joining WIMTACH at the early stages of the EMR project, she was able to get a better understanding of the project as well as an opportunity to interact with a client.

“That was a really good [meeting] for me,” she said. “Luckily I was able to have that experience because [afterwards] the pandemic happened and everything went online.”

She explained that building a connection with a client has been a major highlight.

“Since I met the client in person … in [Zoom] meetings she used to look for me,” she said. “She was always curious to know my ideas about how the project should work because of the contact before the pandemic. So, it gave me confidence and I was really happy.”

Additionally, Tanvi appreciates the learning environment at WIMTACH and she has found it instrumental in her progression in software development.

“I think when we have the main objective of learning it gives a good environment,” she said.

She explained that learning is accessible at WIMTACH because advisors and team leads are always available to answer questions. Looking back at the EMR project, she found that the team leads really encouraged her to be curious about learning more.

“They were always available if you had any questions or if you had any doubts,” she said. “They were really helpful in a good way and we used to meet on a daily basis. We used to have calls in the morning and again in the evening so we tried our best to connect as much as possible because we were online.”

Through her Student Researcher position at WIMTACH, she’s been able to familiarize herself with Java Spring Boot, React, Angular and she has also gained an acute understanding of how to create strong code through testing the work of other developers. Currently she is learning about how to write different testing scripts using Cypress on a new project called Orbit.

With all the experience she’s gained from WIMTACH, she is looking forward to landing a new professional position as a Software Developer and she’s confident about the prospects of finding a job she really wants.

“Working in WIMTACH acted as a bridge for students,” she said. “It gave me confidence. It gave me a different environment that we’re not able to get in classes so, I believe that this is going to help me in getting a job.”

As she’s nearing the end of her contract at WIMTACH, she has reflected on the importance of being open to learning and she advices new Student Researchers to take on as many positions as they can.

“No matter what type of [role] you are doing in WIMTACH … you are going to learn new things and you are going to use it in the future so be open to learning,” she said. “Take it as a learning process for yourself so that it will help you in your job.”

Her second advice to new students who are hoping to join WIMTACH is to start applying for a Student Researcher position as early as possible.

“The more experience you get at WIMTACH, the better it is for you,” she emphasized.

Looking towards her future, in 5 years Tanvi hopes to become more skilled as a developer.

“I want to be knowledgeable enough that I can be part of every step of the Software Development process,” she said. “I just want that, in the future, where ever I work, they don’t have to hire a separate tester to test my software and they don’t need a separate person to get the requirements from a client. I want to do it on my own totally like I did at WIMTACH.”

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