Nela Jankechova

Before 2019 I would have assumed it was better to hire someone who had graduated from computer science and had job experience than someone who was still in their program. After hiring Nela Jankechova and John Ogundeji for internships, that changed.

In the fall of 2018 I was looking at three Ontario University student programs to hire paid interns at Cannect. University of Western Ontario, my alma mater, University of Toronto and University of Waterloo. Of the three, Waterloo had the easiest and most straightforward program to post a job, screen students, and hire. 

I was late in applying to the program for the Winter session so I was surprised at the amount of applications I received. One of the standout resumes was Nela’s. 

Archeological Field Student, Student Host - Ontario Science Centre, and School Ambassador. Designed and programmed an app using MIT App Inventor to help high school coaches with scheduling, used Pascal to create a database of the Toronto Transit System’s average ridership, designed a robot to monitor the temperature and humidity of greenhouses to improve plant health, and planned, prototyped, and built a maglev mini-exhibit to engage and inform visitors. All of this before starting University! How could you not hire someone with that resume.

Nela had no experience with the Ruby on Rails platform that we developed on but it didn’t matter. She quickly got up to speed on the language, the framework, the build pipeline and our codebase. Within a week Nela was already taking on meaningful tasks and within a month she was fully up to speed helping us build out new features. 

Nela was one of the most productive developers I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Great code, intelligent feedback and improvements on our product, and great to work with. My only regret is that the co-op program only works in four month increments so we had to part ways before Summer.

Although I left Cannect at the end of the Summer in 2019 Nela re-joined for another four month co-op session. The great thing about Waterloo’s co-op program is that if the experience was beneficial for both you and the student they’re more than welcome to rejoin for their next session. I think it’s even more beneficial since the student has experience with your processes and code base and can get up to speed much more quickly. 

I’d highly recommend investing in a co-op student program. It’s good for students and for companies. I’d especially recommend working with Nela if you get the opportunity. It’s why she’s on My 52.

LinkedIn: nela-jankechova