Cover Letter

During my internship at WiseTech Global, my tasks included extending several legacy web systems that were riddled with quick fixes and were poorly maintained from people contributing code over decades, and over this long period of time as they do, standards for code quality changed.

I needed to implement new features that adhered to the company's standards of quality and speed while ensuring long-term sustainability. When working with these legacy systems, I made a conscious effort to avoid short-sighted solutions that would introduce tech debt, even though they would have been faster, and instead made the effort to propose a more modular approach and refactor old code to improve code integrity. Throughout the process, I collaborated with senior engineers and stakeholders and maintained transparent documentation on progress.

These refactors would make it easier for future contributors to add more features, as the refactored code was usually more readable, and comprehensible by modern standards.

While leading a team to develop a web-based diagramming tool for WiseTech, our group needed to clarify project requirements with both technical engineers and non-technical stakeholders.

I was responsible for bridging communication gaps and ensuring everyone had a clear understanding of the project scope and timelines. To achieve this, I proactively organized regular meetings within the team and with stakeholders to discuss requirements, gathered feedback from the project owners, and translated their needs into a refined backlog of features. I also presented progress updates and code reviews to maintain clarity for all parties involved, and to maintain morale and momentum within the development team.

As a result, the requested features were delivered on time, and the collaboration between the technical team and stakeholders remained smooth and efficient.

As an intern at Wisetech Global, I was responsible for completing a number of miscellaneous feature adjustments such as bug fixes, refactors, front end changes, and changing logic for a range of existing products, managed by various teams. As part of Wisetech's review process, completing my task would involve getting approval from both fellow engineers on its efficiency, and approval from product-related stakeholders on its implementation.

When starting these tasks, the requirements of these tasks were often unclear, so to accomplish my tasks I proactively reached out to product stakeholders, who usually weren't very technically inclined to ask for their intended use, and i'd translate this into a technical specification of implementation and tests. I would then ensure that the reviewing engineer approved this specification before proceeding. And, as I worked with different engineers across different teams, they often had different standards for how they would want the task to be completed.

This multi-step approval process ensured that all individuals had a shared idea of what and how requirements would be implemented. In turn, this pre-approval process greatly minimized the number of rewrites that would have occurred without active communication.

During my time at Wisetech Global, I had the duty of embracing the company's strict standards for development processes such as testing, time management, and version control. To add to this situation, I was expected to contribute to code bases with programming languages and frameworks I had no experience with. At first, it would take me a lot longer to complete tasks than my peers, which reflected negatively on my performance. To achieve the level of quality demanded by the company, I took time, both during tasks and in my own time to read through relevant documentation of unfamiliar tools and write notes on my learning throughout, so that I could refer back if needed. When documentation wasn't adequate, I made sure to ask my peers for help.

As a result, I quickly became proficient in the company's specific internal tools for version control, deployments, and time tracking, and became much more efficient in contributing, showcasing my ability to become self-sufficient and deliver to the required standards in a professional setting.

I have, at varying times throughout my university studies, balanced my university workload, leadership positions in two student societies, and an internship at WiseTech, facing multiple overlapping commitments. I needed to ensure high-quality performance in all roles without compromising on deadlines or deliverables. To maintain this balance, I implemented personal time management strategies, breaking large tasks into smaller milestones and closely tracking my progress. I also regularly sought feedback and assistance when needed from peers and mentors, and over time this extended experience helped me refine my approach.

Consequently, I successfully upheld my academic performance, fulfilled my obligations as president and treasurer, and met my professional responsibilities at WiseTech, sharpening my self-discipline and adaptability in the process.

As President of Anime@UTS and Treasurer of Progsoc, I worked closely with diverse teams on both social and technical projects, balancing collaborative teamwork with the need to step up as a leader when situations demanded it. I facilitated team meetings, delegated responsibilities based on individual strengths, and fostered accountability within the group. Part of managing a team as large as anime@uts was learning conflict management. With more than 20 people, it was common to have disagreements in how things like moderation and event planning are done. It was difficult at times, because as a leader I had to develop and maintain a big-picture mindset, which at times would be at odds with personal opinions and relationships. For example, there was a case where one individual was too overambitious with the scope of a future event. As a leader, I was responsible for moderating this conflict, and ensuring that both sides had their concerns voiced and addressed.

As a result, my leadership contributed to consistently successful events at Anime@UTS, marked by the club's growth to the largest social club, with a growth of over 300+ members during my tenure, illustrating how effectively I can work within a team and assume leadership responsibilities when necessary.