Jacob Freemyer Update: Summer 2010 Internship

I worked with Kingland Systems in summer 2010 as a User Interface Software Engineer. I really enjoyed this experience, and I felt it gave me some good insight into a smaller company that's located right here in Iowa. Kingland offered experiences with new technologies, incluidng Google Web Toolkits (GWT/GXT), JSP/JSF, and web development in general. Kingland's atmosphere was different from my internship last year at Intermec. Unlike Intermec, everything at Kingland was localized. I didn't have any communication over the telephone; in fact most questions and communication was done in person. It was also great to see how far a small company has come and where they are going, as it's pretty easy to see Kingland in a position of growth. This made me very excited to be a part of their team.

At Kingland, I worked on a web user interface that was built from a piece of software owned by IBM. IBM and Kingland are partners, and this summer was a great opportunity to see the stages of software design-- from an idea, to a analyst who develops the requirement, to a developer who puts the requirement together, and finally the end product.

Kingland offered me not only the chance to meet wonderful people and work in a great working environment and facility, they also gave me and the other interns a place to live. I lived in Mason City, which is only a few miles from Clear Lake. Kingland also offered intern activities such as bowling, a BBQ, and a boat outing on the lake. These activities allowed us all to get familiar with the community and also connect with each other. I was assigned a mentor at this internship, and I was fortunate enough to spend time with him on his boat a few evenings, along with fishing and kayaking with fellow employees.

All of these things add up to create what a company is all about. While there is a job to be done and to be done right, there also needs to be a community - a solid working environment full of people willing to connect with one another in many ways. Clear Lake, Iowa and Kingland Systems do a wonderful job making an employee feel like a respected part of their community. I really enjoyed my summer and I have decided to continue working with Kingland through the Fall and Spring semester this year.

Jacob Freemyer Co-op with Intermec Inc in 2009

For 7 months, January through August 2009, CS Senior Jacob Freemyer did a Co-op with Intermec Inc. in Cedar Rapids. At Intermec he was a Bluetooth Automated Test analyst, developer, and tester on Intermec's rugged mobile PC's bluetooth throughput, connectivity, and discovery ability. This was his first experience in the field and he learned that "you don't have to know everything; you get opportunities to learn new things".

Jacob was given the opportunity to participate in all group meetings and able to give input when needed. He also picked up two pretty interesting languages, xml and xsl, which he used to transform test data into graphs that could be viewed in browsers. Using C# he was able to improve a 3 day automated test cycle by developing an application to organize otherwise tedious tasks. Intermec provided a pleasant and laid back work environment while still keeping schedules strict and getting what needed to be done completed and completed right. He would definitely recommend students to Intermec, they have nice employees, a good work environment, and a strong company background.