What We Learned as Engineering Interns at Guidewire

The three of us chose to spend the summer interning at Guidewire Software because it was clear that the company strongly values coaching and learning for students who are interested in the software field, and we expected to learn a lot from the experience. During our internships, each of us worked on a different team within Guidewire’s Cloud Common Services organization (CCS).

CCS is responsible for addressing cross-cutting cloud concerns including cloud infrastructure, AuthN/AuthZ, observability, developer experience, and various other shared cloud services within Guidewire Cloud Platform (GWCP). As CCS Interns, we had a unique experience working alongside junior and senior engineers to develop and maintain a variety of products on GWCP. Below are three key observations from our shared intern experiences at Guidewire.

Authors: Cale Correos (CCS Intern), Eric Latham (CCS Intern), and Param Nagda (CCS Intern)

An Emphasis on Collegiality

Interns at Guidewire are more than just learners. As part of CCS, we assumed the same responsibilities as the rest of the team. Limiting the impact of hierarchy on our day-to-day work is in line with Guidewire’s core value of collegiality. Often, the best sources of knowledge aren’t articles or books, but rather the people we work with. Guidewire’s collegial environment encourages interns to talk openly with co-workers and learn in the process. Additionally, the assignments given to interns are never busy-work; we worked directly on products alongside full-time engineers every day. Almost all of the code we produced made it to production by the end of the summer, so our efforts really made an impact and helped to fulfil our teams’ goals.

We were treated as equals among our more experienced teammates, but that doesn’t mean Guidewire interns aren’t treated like we’re special! We had dedicated communication channels to supervise our experience and learning, and we were also provided with special swag, our own coffee breaks and socials, as well as volunteer opportunities.

“Though my co-workers were all well established in their careers, Guidewire’s commitment to Collegiality made me feel comfortable and equal with those I worked with. I was given instruction and help when needed because I was an intern, but I also contributed fully and had expectations on my performance just like every other member of the team.” - Cale