Left to right: Hosea Ogeleka (intern), Joey Flora (intern), Alec Letourneau (intern), and Mike Waddick (employer).
About Punch Through Design:
Punch Through Design LLC is a growing hardware/software development firm focused on connected devices. Located in the iconic Colonial Warehouse in North Loop, Punch Through consults on and develops everything from apps to advancements in Bluetooth technology.
New to the team are SciTech interns Joey Flora, Alec Letourneau and Hosea Ogeleka. When interviewing these young men for the position, President Mike Waddick recalled, the deciding factor came down to one thing: passion.
“We’re not advocates of resumes or a list of experiences,” said Waddick, “we want you to show passion in the work that you do. It’s basically a personal interview, that is to say, ‘do you care about the task at hand?’”
From that first interview to the last day of their internships, Waddick stuck to his ‘passion over practice’ approach, introducing his interns to new coding programs and guiding them through basic application and eventual skill building.
“In the context of computer science,” he said, “the argument is that if you can understand computers, you can write any language.” Flora, Alec and Ogeleka came into their internships with experience in similar software and a passion to apply it. Punch Through Design taught them the rest.
Meet the Interns:
During their internship at Punch Through Design, each intern worked on his own unique assignments. Flora began with independent research, Letourneau helped with firmware development, and Ogeleka did some website work, Android app development and script writing.
Working at a small company like this allowed the interns to try their hand at a wide selection of projects, helping them to get the most out of their internship experience.
“I also just really like the company culture,” Letourneau said, “It’s nice to see how all the departments interact.”
“The fact that I feel like I can approach anyone here, about anything,” Flora added, “it makes the company dynamic feel very comfortable, which makes it easier to ask questions and suggest ideas.”
“I feel I appreciate technology a lot more now,” Ogeleka said, “now that I’ve seen the amount of problem solving that goes into the simplest program.”
Get Involved
Learn more about the SciTech Internship Program, apply online and create your own meaningful internships that support your company and Minnesota’s growing STEM workforce.
Small Minnesota companies receive up to $2,500 to help pay a STEM intern. At least 350 wage matches are available through August 2019.