Advancement of Self and the Team : Agile Software Development as a Teaching Experience

Abstract

As a topic on which to write my SIP, I completed an internship over the summer at Vistaprint, a company that specializes in custom printing. Vistaprint’s base of operations in North America is in Lexington, Massachusetts. My internship involved programming a tool for use by the company, and my level of accomplishment would be monitored by my team surrounding me. When I arrived, the company was in a transitory phase in attempting to adopt what are known as “agile software development methods.” Because of this transition, I would be getting experience not just with raw programming, but with an unfamiliar system. After completing the internship, Vistaprint offered me a position as a software developer. This paper will tell that story, including how I was affected by the larger structure of the company.