My Redfin Internship: Paul Cruz - Redfin Real Estate News

My Redfin Internship: Paul Cruz

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Updated on October 5th, 2020
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It’s been a few days since my Redfinternship ended, and I’m still amazed at how quickly twelve weeks can simply fly right by. From the moment that I first walked into the office, to turning my laptop in on the last day, my experience at Redfin has been filled with great memories and amazing people. After taking some time to really think about my internship, I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity that Redfin gave me to learn and grow.

As a rising junior at his very first internship, I had spent the days before my internship worried and anxious. I was uneasy about my lack of experience, and I couldn’t help but focus on the upcoming challenges that I wouldn’t know how to deal with on my own. I walked into the office on the first day with all my concerns and nervousness, and as I talked to my mentor, manager, and all the developers, it really astounded me at just how welcoming and friendly our community really was. I remember my discomfort being blown away as my mentor opened up the document he had written for the new Bouncer page in React. He demonstrated how much impact my project would have, energetically described all the new improvements he had in mind, and introduced me to multiple developers that I could always reach out to for help. Throughout the twelve weeks, whether I was talking to my mentor about career advice, bombarding other developers with questions about JavaScript, or talking to PMs about design, there was a clear commitment to helping me succeed.

It was through the help of my teammates, other developers, PMs, and designers in the office that I was able to learn about working with React, planning for design, synchronizing with teammates, and much more. In the process of learning, I also had the chance to work on a great project that really contributes to the productivity of our engineers. While porting over the functionality from the old bouncer page, and adding in new features, like a search bar and better filters, the amount of ownership I was given over the project was awesome. Being in charge of the entire project gave me a chance to make important decisions regarding design and code infrastructure, challenged me to think about usability from multiple perspectives, and provided opportunities for me to implement feedback from a variety of sources. At every stage in the project, it felt as though I was trusted with decision making for the new page, and I really appreciated the confidence and responsibility that my mentor and manager gave to me. I could always tell that my team respected me as more than an intern and appreciated the work I was doing. It made the team feel much more like a family than anything else.

At the end of the day, I’ve loved every second that I spent at Redfin. I got more out of my internship than I could have ever imagined, and for that I’m really grateful. The company really devotes a lot of attention and effort to ensuring that their interns have an enjoyable, educational, and productive experience. I had the chance to work on a project that mattered, meet awesome people, and broaden my skills as a developer. I honestly don’t know what more I could have asked for.

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Paul Cruz

Paul was a Redfin dev intern on the Engineering Frameworks Team in Seattle.

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