Introduction

The first phase of the EMRTS Summer Internship has been a transformative experience, and I am excited to continue participating in the upcoming second phase of the program, which challenged me with new technologies, real-world project workflows, and collaboration practices. Before this internship, my technical exposure was primarily academic in nature. This program provided a hands-on opportunity to apply what I knew—and more importantly, to rapidly learn what I didn’t.

Project Highlights and Learning Reflections

All the projects assigned during the internship presented challenges, as they incorporated tools and concepts that were entirely new to me. Through consistent experimentation and the use of Claude AI as a learning and debugging assistant, I acquired a number of skills not traditionally covered in university courses, such as:

• Deploying web applications on AWS (including NGINX, Gunicorn, and HTTPS configuration)
• Writing and interpreting JSON data for real-world data workflows
• Using GitHub for version control, documentation, and collaborative development
• Understanding backend/frontend architecture in full-stack applications
• Performing time series forecasting using Python libraries such as Prophet
• Managing databases using PostgreSQL and integrating them with web applications
• Practicing TDD and BDD workflows, using PyTest and Hypothesis for validation.

Favorite Project

The most challenging and rewarding project for me was the Online Bookstore. At the beginning of the internship, I had no understanding of frontend/backend structure or web deployment. Successfully creating and hosting a working e-commerce site on AWS gave me an immense sense of accomplishment and confidence in my ability to work independently.

Other key projects included:

– Traveling Politician Project: Helped me understand geographic data, address parsing, and data enrichment.

– Provider Lookup Tool: Deepened my skills in API integration and user interface.

– Time Series Analysis of Medicaid Forecasting: Though I haven’t completed this project, I learned a lot about real-world data forecasting applications.

Reflections on Collaboration and Communication

The collaborative structure of the internship was meaningful, though it came with challenges. Due to time zone differences among team members, synchronous collaboration was sometimes inefficient. Daily meetings were informative and valuable, especially with Verbus’s explanations of systems architecture, database modeling, and deployment practices. However, the knowledge gap among interns made group discussions somewhat imbalanced—participants with more experience tended to dominate, while beginners (like myself) sometimes struggled to participate.

Internship Program Feedback

Strengths: – Real-world, hands-on projects – Access to mentors and AI tools for self-driven learning – Exposure to the full software development lifecycle (from data to deployment)
Suggestions for Improvement: – Consider grouping interns by experience levels for more balanced collaboration – Provide more initial onboarding resources for AWS, Git, and full-stack development – Offer optional breakout sessions or pair programming for hands-on support

Looking Forward

This internship provided me not only with technical exposure but also with confidence in self-learning and adaptation. As I transition into the second phase of the EMRTS Internship Program, I look forward to building on the foundation I gained
during the first phase. I plan to continue developing full-stack applications, delve deeper into backend infrastructure, and explore advanced topics in machine learning. I also aim to contribute more meaningfully to collaborative team projects, leveraging the lessons learned from the first phase to be a more prepared and engaged participant.

Conclusion

I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to participate in the EMRTS Internship Program. This report marks the completion of the first eight-week phase, and I am excited to continue into the next phase of the internship. I look forward to engaging in new challenges, deepening my technical skills, and contributing further to the ongoing projects. Despite the pace and technical rigor, the learning curve has made me a more capable and confident developer. Thank you to Verbus and the entire team for their support and mentorship.