Confessions of a Senior Intern

No jokes today, let’s talk about something serious!

Since starting college, I’ve worked quite a few odd jobs. Bussing tables at restaurants, working at fast-food joints, running paperwork for the department office, tutoring… But this was the first time I truly stepped into the tech industry, set foot in an office, passed interviews, and officially joined a company.

It’s already been a year since I joined Sudo. And you know how it is—people start getting nostalgic.

So before reading this post, put on some background music!

Last summer, wearing a button-down shirt, black-rimmed glasses, a backpack, and carrying an ASUS laptop, I walked into AppWorks. Full of anticipation and nerves, I stepped into the elevator only to have Andy put his arm around my shoulder: “Aren’t you hot in that?” Turns out first impressions can be deceiving—I originally thought he was some badass engineer.

A gentle accent paired with that quintessential engineer brevity—that was Ke-ke. And Denny, whom I met that evening during sudo day.

This group of people accompanied me through my greenest, most inexperienced days.

I was truly nervous during the interview. For me, stepping into tech and entering that office building was a real eye-opener. On top of that, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted yet, nor did I know what Sudo was looking for.

And so, from a corner in AppWorks—back when the team was just a dozen or so people. Every day, I could walk downstairs to order what I consider the second-best latte from Xiao Dan, and look forward to happy hour every Friday.

Gradually, we got our own office. Even though it was just an internship, it felt like we were truly building milestones together. I still remember that entire summer, quietly watching Tuts+ tutorials all day while learning Rails development. Commuting every day on the crowded MRT to work in Taipei’s bustling Xinyi District.

When I felt tired, I’d grab a snack from the pantry or take a walk nearby for a cup of coffee. It was exhausting, but deeply fulfilling.

A year has passed. Looking back at who I was a year ago, it feels like I’ve come a long way. A sea of green contribution squares on GitHub, conference badges, participating in various tech communities with the company, and of course, all the growth—both visible and invisible.

The team is quite different now from how it started: standardized onboarding processes for newcomers, CI pipelines, various SOPs, and each team evolving its own development workflow tailored to different business needs. I can’t help but wonder: if I hadn’t stepped in here, would I still be foolishly using tabs, writing somewhat outdated ES5 syntax, and only finding out what Webpack was after graduating?

Without realizing it, I really have come a long way!

From the V-line bet, HackNTU,

MakeSchool,

Offsite,

Sudo Conference,

to now working on the summer academy and touching the core product.

I don’t know how much luck I’ve been blessed with to be where I am today.

While enjoying life, don’t forget to pause and reflect on just how fortunate you are!

Thank you Andy, Eric, Yvette, and James for unanimously agreeing to let me join;

Thank you Ben and Denny for accepting my ugly code back then (though it might still be pretty ugly);

Thank you Bleeki and Henry, it’s been such a pleasure working with you;

Thank you Fangxin for picking me up from NTUST;

Thank you Selina for taking such good care of me when I first arrived;

If I keep going like this, there are just too many people to thank.

You guys always say my wings have grown strong. This time,

I want to say in all seriousness: “These wings were given to me by you.”

And this cozy little office has unexpectedly become quite bustling. What once felt spacious is gradually getting crowded.

Who knows what comes next?

I’m suddenly reminded of that line from Jerry Maguire: You Complete Me