During the summer holiday I worked for Open Box Software. I wanted to find out what it is like to work for a more corporate and Information Systems orientated company and see if I will fit in. In the past I have interned at smaller companies and did mostly graphic related things (including some Augmented Reality).
Open Box Software is a Cape Town based company that develops custom Microsoft based products for companies all over the globe. Their main client is Tishman Speyer, based in New York. To find out more about Open Box software check out their website http://www.openboxsoftware.com.
I was quite skeptical at first and thought that the work might bore me very quickly. I was wrong. I was completely taken by surprise. Not by the work that was being asked of me, but by the friendliness of the staff! My fellow staff didn't feel like co-workers but more like friends who happened to be working at the same place as me. It didn't feel like work!
I wasn’t the only vac worker. I was joined by David Chaplin (UCT Engineering student) and Andrew Tainton (UCT Information Systems student). At first I wondered how we would ever come about working together seeing as we are all from different faculties, but it all seemed to work out. We all learned from each other’s expertise and soon became quite close friends.
We were given the task to develop an Enhancement Tracking Application that Open Box can use to keep track of all their enhancements that need to be done on their projects. It will also be available to the clients so that they can see the status of their projects desired enhancements. In the past they used Excel documents to keep track of Enhancements so this application would greatly increase productivity and client satisfaction.
The technologies used to create the application were Microsoft SQL Server 2010, ASP.NET and Linq-To-Sql. Although I have never really programmed using these technologies before, I felt quite comfortable using Visual Studio (extensive XNA experience). I soon became accustomed to how ASP.NET works and it was smooth sailing from there on.
We received help in doing the project from the Project Manager, Denzil Morison, and Technical Advisor, Louis Kruger. Even though they were extremely busy people, they never once looked annoyed by a silly question or got angry when we asked them for help.
As part of the vacation work experience we had to attend a bunch of Induction sessions where we were told about the ins and outs of the company. This really made us feel as if we were part of the community and it helped us build relationships with the rest of the staff. It was especially interesting to see the Software Life Cycle in action. We studied so much about the different Software Engineering Methodologies, a topic I was never particularly fond of. However, seeing it being applied practically changed my perspective completely. What I once regarded to be dull and boring topic, I now find quite fascinating!
Other than the work we had to do as analyst developers, we were also encouraged to take part in social events with the rest of the staff. I went away one weekend to take part in a team event called the Total Sports Challenge. It was a relay race from Gordon’s Bay to Kleinmond. We all slept over at the CEO’s holiday house in Rooi-Els and the following morning we took part in the brutal adventure. Afterwards we all had a good lunch and drink, at the company's expense, before heading back to our respective destinations.
It was really encouraging to see how well they take care of their staff and how much emphasis they put in trying to make the staff happy. When it was time to leave and get started with my honours degree I was sad to say goodbye.
I was completely sold by the company and hope to one day do business with them again. I highly recommend doing vacation work at Open Box Software if you are given the opportunity!
