AV俱乐部

Computer Science student Rebecca Ansems is concluding聽her co-op journey聽with a bang, with her final work-term at Twitter鈥檚 HQ in San Francisco.

鈥淚t鈥檚 Twitter,鈥� says Rebecca, when asked why she chose this role. 鈥淚 figured having an internationally recognized name on my resum茅 would make me stand out from the crowd.鈥�

Rebecca is working as an Android Engineer on the Twitter home timeline team, which means she鈥檚 working on the main timeline screen Android users see when using the Twitter app. She is one of around 2,000 employees at Twitter鈥檚 San Francisco office.

鈥淢y days are really varied,鈥� Rebecca explains. 鈥淥ne minute I could be working on one of my assigned projects, the next fixing bugs or attending an intern event.鈥�

Connecting with colleagues across the globe

Unsurprisingly for a large tech company, Twitter takes full advantage of remote collaboration across its 35 international offices with Rebecca working with colleagues in various North American cities.

鈥淚n my case, my mentor works out if the New York office and my manager is based in Boulder, Colorado,鈥� she says. 鈥淭echnologies such as Slack and Google Hangouts are used extensively to make working with individuals and teams from across the globe very accessible.鈥�

Working like this is a fresh experience for Rebecca and is proving to be one of her big takeaways from this co-op term.

鈥淚鈥檝e learned a lot through working in distributed teams, especially in terms of how to manage common issues that arise as a result of not being able to physically meet with people,鈥� she reflects. 鈥淚鈥檝e also developed by working with different teams within the same company through the projects I have been assigned to.

鈥淔or example, one of my current projects includes work with the iOS team as well as a backend team. In addition, Twitter has given me the opportunity to really improve my technical skills in writing Android apps, something I only had limited experience with before this work-term.鈥�

Ending on a high note

Rebecca has already completed three co-op terms during her time at AV俱乐部 as a programmer at Ubisoft in Halifax. As she鈥檚 from Nova Scotia herself, she saw her final co-op as a chance to spread her wings.

鈥淲orking for Twitter has been an excellent opportunity for me to try out moving to what is arguably the tech capital of the world on a not entirely permanent basis,鈥� she says.

Alongside her busy work schedule, Rebecca is taking full advantage of spending a summer living in California.

鈥淚 moved to California a week before I started work to do a road trip with my sister from San Francisco to Santa Monica, along the Pacific Coast Highway 鈥� it has been named one of the best scenic drives in the world, I fully agree,鈥� Rebecca says.

鈥淐loser to my new home, I have hiked in Muir Woods and walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. I have plans to visit Lake Tahoe and San Diego before the end of the summer.鈥�

Upon conclusion of her Californian adventure, Rebecca will return to Halifax in September to complete her last three classes.

鈥淚鈥檓 looking to complete my聽Bachelor of Computer Science聽in December,鈥� she says. 鈥淟iving in a completely different city has opened my eyes but I鈥檓 not quite done with Nova Scotia yet, I鈥檓 hoping to find initial employment in Halifax once I have finished my studies at AV俱乐部.鈥�