Meet our 2023 interns

This summer, we had the pleasure of hosting 14 interns on our Engineering and Product teams! We consider it a part of Viam’s mission to help train future engineers and create a world with lower barriers to entry for improving the world through accessible smart machine technology. Our interns worked alongside full-timers to work on interesting projects to help build Viam’s platform. Before they left, I spoke with a few of them to learn about their experience this summer.

Meet the interns interviewed

Julie Krasnick, University of Michigan ‘24, SDK/NetCode Team

Our team creates software development kits (SDKs) that provide idiomatic language wrappers which allow people to interact with robots in the language of their choice. Our goal is to enable access to robot functionality across a range of languages (including Python, C++, TypeScript, and Flutter). Our team is also responsible for secure and reliable communication between the clients (ex: computer, raspberry pi, a phone) and the robot.

Joyce Jiang, Barnard College of Columbia University ‘24, Product Design

This summer, I interned on the Product Design team, where we work really closely with all of Viam's teams in the office to understand heuristic analysis and pain points to develop design solutions. Specifically, we work more closely with product managers and engineers to develop low and high fidelity wireframes, as well as the information architecture of a certain feature in order to lessen the cognitive workload for users on our platform.

Alex Jiang, University of Pennsylvania ‘25, Product Management

I had the pleasure of interning on the product team this summer, which is a cross-functional team consisting of program managers, product managers, and product designers. As a product management intern, my responsibilities were centered around deciding what features the company should prioritize in order to achieve product-market fit.

Matt Perez, Georgia Tech ‘24, RDK Team

I worked on the RDK (Robot Development Kit) team this summer! They’re responsible for writing and maintaining Viam’s hardware drivers and component software. The members I worked with closely are tasked with getting Viam working on microcontrollers. It’s been incredibly exciting working with hardware, right on the metal.

Vignesh Pandiarajan, Brown ‘24, Computer Vision Team

I interned on the Computer Vision team this summer! The CV team takes input from various sensors and cameras and extracts useful information through services.

Sounds fun! So, what was your favorite project or feature that you worked on?

Julie Krasnick: The Viam Mobile App! Basically, it is a way to control a robot you built through a mobile application.

Joyce Jiang: My favorite feature that I worked on at Viam is rethinking the entire fragments experience at Viam to share configuration settings across multiple robots. The documentation that I worked on this summer thought through many edge cases and workflows that could possibly exist regarding fragments, from an individual creating, using, and modifying a fragment. Although this feature isn't as prioritized in Viam's features, the work that I've been doing really shows the potential that it can bring to the platform and it was really exciting that I was able to work on it.

Alex Jiang: My responsibilities included conducting market research, flagging usability issues, meeting with engineers and designers to gain alignment on projects, mapping out user flows, and scoping out new features. Projects I worked on involved software concepts that I had to learn about, such as databases, machine learning, and robot hardware. The most enjoyable part of my job was how people-oriented it was.

Matt Perez: I worked on two projects this summer; adding webhook functionality and adding modular driver support to the Micro-RDK. The Micro-RDK is a lightweight version of Viam’s RDK that can run on microcontrollers such as Espressif’s ESP32.

Vignesh Pandiarajan: This summer I worked on Obstacle Detection Models. The obstacle detection models provide the user with a way to grab location information about the obstacles that may exist surrounding their robot.

How has Viam provided mentorship to you this summer?

Julie Krasnick: My mentor has been incredibly welcoming and helpful during my time here. We meet weekly to discuss how my internship is going and how life in NYC is!

Joyce Jiang: The mentorship during the internship has been great

• I've felt like a full-time member of the team since the beginning of my internship.

Alex Jiang: My mentorship has been great during my internship! My mentor taught me so much by working with me on projects, providing detailed feedback, and inviting me to her meetings with various teams.

Matt Perez: My mentor was awesome. I feel that the others in the team played an active role in mentoring me throughout my time here and made the experience more enjoyable.

Vignesh Pandiarajan: My mentor is one of the smartest people I've ever met. Everyone on my team has been great, always willing to help and super knowledgeable about anything I might ask about.

What’s been your favorite part about interning in NYC so far?

Julie Krasnick: I love strolling through Central Park!

Alex Jiang: Honestly everything! There's always so much to do here, and I've been able to try something new almost every week.

Matt Perez: I've really enjoyed having so many culinary options here.

What’s been your favorite activity so far?

Julie Krasnick: Scott’s Pizza Tour.

Joyce Jiang: The escape room activity!

Alex Jiang: I'd say the yacht ride across the Hudson. It was a great bonding experience for the interns, and the food was great!

How would you describe the interview process?

Joyce Jiang: Personally, the interview process wasn't stressful at all and more just like a regular conversation.

Vignesh Pandiarajan: The interview process was very smooth. From the initial phone call to the final interviews, everyone was super professional and friendly.

How does this internship compare to others that you have had?

Julie Krasnick: Compared to other internships, Viam is focused on how they can help me grow into a better individual and software engineer.

Matt Perez: This has been the best internship that I've ever had. The people are intelligent and collaborative, and the problems and projects are interesting and exciting.