Konrad Rakowski

College: Queens College

Education Level: Senior

Career Interest: Software Engineering

Hi! My name is Konrad Rakowski, and I am a first-generation college senior with a fascination for technology. Both of my parents came from Northern Poland, which means I am a Polish citizen, and can also speak the language as well. My journey with technology started when I was very young, where I was gifted my first computer and unknowingly set a password on it three days later, locking it from everyone, including me. All jokes aside, my fascination for technology started with a coding class I took in high school, which introduced me to the world of programming; and I built upon those skills at Queens College. In my free time, I enjoy working on projects that I am fervent about, as well as ones that exemplify my other interests, like chess. Away from a working environment, I appreciate spending some of my time outside biking, playing basketball, or if I have the time, travelling. In addition to these outdoor activities, I also like spending some time inside playing videogames or just relaxing. In the future, I plan to travel around the world, especially Europe, so I can experience the different cultures, people, and locations that are offered outside of the United States. Since I am a competitive person, one thing that makes me tick is when someone doesn't try their best, notably people who I know can do better. My overall goal in life is to continuously grow and learn new skill, as well as improving on my old ones.

What was your role?

CS (SWE)

What did you work on?

What was the impact of your project?

In a small scale, the section I am working on for this project consists of creating a goal store, where individuals can select a financial goal to work toward. A chosen goal has its own milestones that can assist people for its completion based on their financial situation. The projected impact of my section comes from these milestones, which act as an motivator and guidance for anyone attempting to achieve a certain goal. In the large scale of things, my project brings Unadat closer to completion, which in turn, would help individuals make smarter financial decisions, whether it be for erasing debt or simply daily budgeting.

What did you learn or improve on from this internship or from your teammates?

What skills have you gained?

Some new skills that I`ve picked up so far include the usage of Google Cloud Shell and PHP. Although I have never used Google Cloud Shell before, it was not my first experience with the cloud (AWS), so it was relatively simple to make the switch. However, with PHP, I have very minor experience with its application for databases, so it was interesting to learn that the entire site was built on PHP.

What was the biggest roadblock you've overcome?

So far, the biggest roadblock I have overcome has to be when observing the website`s back-end functionality, where I needed to get a rough idea of which chunk of code does what. Eventually, after a lot of refreshes and concentrated observation, I was able to put some understanding behind what was implemented previously.

How has company culture guided your work?

What was your experience at Unadat?

What was one big project you worked on during the internship? Can you walk me through the process?

What advice would you give to future interns?

Some advice to the next group of interns would be to prepare their knowledge of existing skills as well as being prepared to learn new ones. I also appreciated in getting to know you and the other interns a bit better so the workplace wouldn`t be so foreign.