This summer, DS2 interns gained hands-on experience in a real-world software development environment, contributing directly to active projects and participating in agile workflows alongside full-time teams. They attended standups, tackled technical challenges, and deployed working solutions while learning the tools and processes used across the organization.
Throughout the program, the interns demonstrated curiosity, initiative, and a strong commitment to growth. Their experiences helped them build technical, problem-solving, and teamwork skills while making meaningful contributions to DS2. In this article, interns share their perspectives on the projects they worked on, the lessons they learned, and how the DS2 Intern Program has influenced their professional development and future career paths.
Hannah Castor
Software Engineering Intern
Georgia Tech
What’s one thing you’ve observed or experienced at DS2 that stands out (culture, team, projects, community involvement)?
The team here at DS2 is truly something special. The culture of teamwork and trust stood out to me from day one, everyone is very supportive and always up for a conversation. This welcoming environment has made my internship all the more rewarding and created a place where I was encouraged to ask questions and learn.
What motivated you to pursue an internship with the DS2 team?
Coming out of my first year at Georgia Tech, I knew I wanted to continue learning and challenging myself through a software engineering internship. I wanted to see what engineering was really like outside of the classroom and experience what it meant to work on real projects as part of a development team. DS2 stood out to me because as a small business interns are trusted with meaningful work and have the opportunity to contribute to real products while learning from experienced engineers. Having grown up in a military family and lived near Eglin Air Force Base for most of my life, working for DS2 was an exciting opportunity because of its closeness with the local community and its work supporting the DoD.
Have you had any “aha!” moments or skills you’ve learned that surprised you?
Far too many “aha!” moments to count! From learning new programming languages and backend development to squashing code bugs, participating in sprint reviews, collaborating with a team, and contributing to real software projects, I truly learn something new every day. Whether it’s a technical software skill or a lesson in teamwork, this internship has pushed me outside my comfort zone and helped me grow as an engineer and a problem solver.
Jacob Mubarak
Software Engineering Intern
University of West Florida
What project or task have you enjoyed working on the most so far, and why?
If I had a favorite project, it would be the RADAS Log Aggregator. It was one of our longest-running projects that went through three separate iterations until it was finally complete, starting from a simple one-file script to a complex desktop app and eventually becoming a fully-fledged feature in GAS Server/Manager. There were a lot of fun projects over the course of the internship, but this one had a particular satisfaction seeing it come all that way.
What’s one skill you’ve grown or developed during your internship?
If there was a single skill that I’ve grown since starting my internship at DS2, it would have been systems/project design. Over the course of the internship, we were tasked with a variety of project with different platforms, technologies, and purposes. All of these factors required us as a team to architect meaningful components and solutions that fit our specific requirements. For the work I did in particular, this revolves around managing cloud deployments through Azure, especially when working with web applications and database storage.
What’s one thing you’ve observed or experienced at DS2 that stands out (culture, team, projects, community involvement)?
Since the day the internship began, it was clear that the culture at DS2 was excellent. There was not a single person in the office who hadn’t been immensely helpful and approachable. As an intern who is new to both the company and the industry, the “work hard, play hard” culture at DS2 has been a great framework for starting out. I feel that our team was extremely productive over the course of the internship, but at no point did we burnt out. The guitars all around the office are also a plus!
Alex Doyle
Software Engineering Intern
Majoring in Computer Science with a Minor in Computational Mathematics
Florida Institute of Technology
What motivated you to pursue an internship with the DS2 team?
I wanted to gain relevant experience in the industry.
What project or task have you enjoyed working on the most so far, and why?
The project that I have enjoyed working on the most at DS2 has been the Planning Poker Application because we got to design the architecture of the entire webapp from scratch and pick the web stack that fit our set of requirements best.
What has been the highlight of your internship so far?
Working with the other interns has been the highlight of my internship so far because we all have become friends and we all enjoy spending time together.
What’s one skill you’ve grown or developed during your internship?
One skill that I have grown during this internship is teamwork on a team of individuals with diverse talent.
Have you had any “aha!” moments or skills you’ve learned that surprised you?
I am surprised to learn as much as I have about continuous integration pipelines and Docker imaging during this internship.
What’s one thing you’ve found challenging, and how are you working through it?
One thing that I have found challenging about this internship is public speaking. Early in this internship, I knew I needed to present at sprint reviews and stand ups but, speaking in front of groups and talking about things that I was not 100% familiar with triggered a lot of anxiety for me. My goal was to build my confidence so I could deliver clear, engaging presentations without letting nerves affect my delivery. To work through this, I practiced box breathing with my project manager, I practiced presenting in the mirror, and I volunteered to speak in stand ups more often. While I get a healthy amount of pre-meeting adrenaline, those steps transformed my comfort level. I now regularly speak confidently in stand-ups every day and am ready for future sprint-reviews.
Justin Vroon
Software Engineering Intern
Pursuing Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science
Auburn University
What motivated you to pursue an internship with the DS2 team?
I was motivated to pursue an internship with DS2 because I wanted to work with a company that partners closely with the government and the Department of Defense, which is meaningful to me coming from a military family.
What project or task have you enjoyed working on the most so far, and why?
I was tasked with implementing a First‑Person View camera in an existing software application. I enjoyed the process of creating the camera script, integrating a new UI button into the application, and improving the design based on feedback from the team. Seeing the final feature integrated into the application was incredibly rewarding.
What’s one thing you’ve observed or experienced at DS2 that stands out (culture, team, projects, community involvement)?
One thing that stood out to me during my internship at DS2 was the balance of autonomy and support. Our group of four interns was trusted with meaningful projects, but the DS2 team was always available to help and consistently provided thoughtful and constructive feedback. It created an encouraging environment to learn and grow.
