This position with UofG/OMAFRA required a fundamental skill set of communication, organization and an analytical mind. These are important skills in school as well, and working in a rapid real-life scenario helped to augment all these areas. In particular, the skills I saw the most improvement during the term were my analytical view and programming. Though I had programming background from school, this position allowed me to directly apply this knowledge and expand my skills in a practical and hands-on manner.
The nature of my work also allowed me to improve my technical research skills. Though I’ve had experience in Python through previous work terms and projects, there were many technologies introduced in this project that were new to me (some of which were proprietary). To be successful, I had to use all the resources at my disposal to learned about and incorporate them.
My time with UofG/OMAFRA has enhanced my academic experience, as I was working in an agile development environment. I have learned about agile practices and other methodologies through software development courses, but these methods had always been very intangible prior to co-op. The opportunity to immerse myself in this environment helped me to solidify the knowledge I have gained from University.