Skip to main content

Meet Associa's MIT Extern: Victor Cheng Experiences the Associa Team Spirit

Published Date

From January 8, 2018 to February 2, 2018, Associa’s Client Shared Services Center hosted two externs from MIT. We interviewed each of them after they’d returned to campus to learn more about how they found Associa, what they worked on and what they learned from their time with us. This article focuses on MIT extern Victor Cheng. 

 

Name: Victor Cheng

Major: Computer science

Year: Sophomore, Class of 2020

What interested you about the externship at Associa?

“In the description of the externship it said we’d work on mobile development. Working on mobile apps is something I’ve wanted to do work on for a long time now; I wanted to get real-world experience doing that to see what it was really like.”

What did you work on while you were here?

“I worked on a customer-facing application, helping to develop the app for both native Android and iOS. The app handles financial transactions for community management companies.”

Did you experience our values in our culture? (e.g. family spirit, customer service, integrity and accountability, loyalty, innovation and improvement)

“Yes. During my time at Associa, I was fortunate enough to be put on a really good team under Luis [Lafer-Sousa]. The team spirit felt like it was really enthusiastic, hard-working, and deeply interested in the project we were working on. Luis was a great mentor, and he and the rest of the team did a great job working with me through roadblocks and generally guiding me through my month here. This was really important since I’d never worked on a mobile app before.”

What was the most important or interesting thing you learned during your externship?

“Part of the reason I was interested in this externship was that I wasn’t sure if I’d like doing mobile development. But coming out of the experience, I had a ton of fun. The most important thing l learned was that it’s something I want to pursue. The externship really ignited my passion for the work.”

What’s next for you?

“Computer science is a big field with many options. I’m unsure what particularly in the field I want to focus on right now. But experiences like the one I had at Associa are key to helping me decide what I want to do later on.”