When I started looking for an internship, I was looking for a place where I could learn while still feeling like I was contributing to something meaningful. When I first read about Courier Health, I loved the mission. It seemed like a place where even as an intern, I could do something good. On my first day, I was placed on the platform team, and throughout my time here I have gotten to work on workflows, a core piece of infrastructure that powers a lot of what happens on the solution.

I was surprised how much insight into other parts of the organization I got, even as an intern. Because of the size of the company, I wasn’t siloed into just my own team. I got to learn about parts of the business I wasn’t directly involved in. Hanbin organized sessions throughout the summer with different departments and engineering teams, which gave us a chance to hear directly from people across the organization about what they work on and how their part of the business fit into the bigger picture. I also got to sit down for lunch with our CEO, Danny, and the other interns, where we could ask questions and learn what work looks like at different levels of the organization. That kind of openness isn’t something I expected walking in, and it made the whole experience feel a lot more well-rounded.

A majority of my work was focused on the backend, but I also got to experiment with frontend work occasionally, which isn’t where my expertise lies. Coming into an unfamiliar code base, on top of an area I was less comfortable in, made for a steep learning curve. It pushed me to get comfortable asking questions and figuring things out. My 1:1s with Jerry were a big part of that. He helped me work through frontend issues and was a great resource throughout. That experience of pushing through the unfamiliar ended up leading to the most personally rewarding part of my internship: getting to plan and iterate on my own ideas, and having ownership over something from concept to execution.

That sense of ownership carried through the rest of my internship. Throughout my time, I was given a lot of freedom in my work, both in what I got to focus on and how I implemented the projects I was involved with. I was able to propose my own ideas and both give and receive feedback, which pushed me to "think like an owner" versus someone executing a task. Through this, I learned that being unfamiliar with something isn’t a barrier, it's just a starting point.

Diving into a codebase I didn’t know taught me how to orient myself quickly: figuring out what actually mattered for the task in front of me instead of trying to understand everything at once. And when I did get stuck, asking for help was part of the process, not a setback. That’s something I’ll carry into any new role in life, technical or not.

Working with the team shaped my experience just as much. There were no stupid questions, and everyone was more than willing to help when I felt stuck. Christine, our PM, helped keep me oriented throughout my work. Chris D. played a huge part in shaping the direction and scope of the projects I worked on, and Cameron taught me a ton working through the LLM and agentic work I was doing. Beyond the day-to-day work, I had regular 1:1s with my mentor and onboarding buddy, Will C., as well as with Will B. and Derek, often just walking and talking about work, life, and everything in between. These conversations made me feel like an integrated part of the team. We also had plenty of chances to connect outside of work, things like Courier Health Day, the H2 kickoff, Lego night, a Yankees game, and a team pasta-making night, which gave me even more opportunities to get to know people beyond just our day-to-day tasks.

If I could give next year’s interns one piece of advice, it would be to take pride in your work and stay curious. Ask questions, even ones that feel small, and don’t be afraid to chase the things you’re genuinely interested in.

At the end of the day it is a job, but it’s also a huge learning experience. I think this internship is a great fit for someone who’s self-directed and comfortable with a bit of ambiguity, someone who wants to take initiative and propose their own ideas. Looking back, this internship gave me exactly what I was hoping for when I started: the chance to learn, grow, and feel genuinely connected to the work I was doing.

Olivia Ribeiro is a rising senior at Tufts University, pursuing a BS in Computer Science.