The tech industry pulled back on junior engineers. We gave them an office.
This fall, five University of Waterloo co-op students are joining our Engineering org for a 16-week term. They'll work out of a physical office in downtown Toronto.
Why are we doing this? Because they're the future.
"We want to invest in the next generation of software engineers," says Engineering Manager Marcel Van Der Linde. "A lot of companies have pulled back on early-career hiring. We think that's shortsighted."
"It's also a bet that pays off both ways. The next generation of engineering students have been AI-native since their first year of school. They almost certainly think about and approach their work differently than many of us who have been in the industry for decades already. We're hoping to learn from them, too."
Instead of having the co-op students do sideline work, they'll be embedded directly onto one of our squads: In-App, Messaging Channels, Workflows, Content, and Audiences. They'll focus on tangible, valuable, customer-facing roadmap work alongside the rest of their team.
We're also flying engineers and leaders into the Toronto office throughout the term. Over the 16 weeks, the co-ops will work alongside dozens of people from across the company and gain direct access to leadership and customers.
To top it all off, each student will wrap up their term with a presentation directly to the CEO.
We'll be sharing their stories here over the next few months so keep an eye out!