We are kicking off 2024 with two new co-op students! Katie Liu has joined the Sofware Development team and David Teixeira is part of the Marketing and Sales team.
They will spend the next four months with us, learning, growing and hopefully having some fun along the way! Get to know the newest member of #TeamCCX!
Tell us a bit about yourself! What do you like to do in your spare time?
David: I’m originally from Mississauga and moved to Ottawa in 2019.
For fun, I like to golf and do a lot of outside activities. I play video games, I read books and I build a lot of LEGO.
Katie: I am a student who’s passionate about learning about software development and am happy I get to dive in during this co-op term,
During this work term, I find I am getting more free time to spend with my friends and family; I enjoy cooking, baking and watching K-dramas with them. At the end of the day, I often like to spend time by myself and read webtoons – web-based comics usually translated from Korean or Japanese. I typically find romance ones relaxing to read.
What are you currently studying at school?
David: I am at Algonquin College in the Business Marketing program.
Katie: I am in my third year of studying Computer Science at the University of Ottawa. The program is really starting to ramp up and get more complex. Topics include compilers and how they interpret programming language and different types of algorithms. The first two years consisted of general courses and were very focused on theory. I’m excited to learn more focused content in my next study term.
What was your favourite class last year?
David: I enjoyed both the Market Research and Integrated Marketing and Communications classes I took last semester.
Market Research involved developing surveys and understanding how to conduct different types of research – both in person and online.
In Integrated Marketing and Communications we learned how to develop a marketing plan consisting of various channels like TV advertising, newspapers, and social media advertising and how to keep consistent messaging across all the different channels and platforms.
The two classes worked in concert together, so once we had the results of our research we built a marketing plan based on those insights.
Katie: My favourite course was an elective – Chinese. Growing up I didn’t get much of an opportunity to learn my parents language. As I get older, I want to connect with them more without a language barrier. Getting the chance to work on my Chinese while at school was a great opportunity. I hope to keep practicing and improving.
What attracted you to Cliniconex for your co-op placement?
David: It seems like a fun, smaller company compared to a lot of the larger corporations or government agencies with co-op placements available.
Also, because I have a medical background, the fact that Cliniconex is also in the healthcare field was interesting.
Katie: This is my second co-op placement. After my first work semester in a large government agency, I found I wanted to experience more of a close-knit team environment, I thought it would be helpful for me to learn the ropes of software development and provide more opportunities to grow in a smaller company.
I’m already finding this to be true. I love the team so far! It’s very supportive and I get a lot of mentorship.
What are you looking forward to working on or learning about the most?
David: I’m looking forward to developing a marketing plan for our social media channels that aligns with the corporate goals for the year, and then developing posts that help us meet those targets. So putting all my course theory into practice.
Katie: Since this is my first taste of software development, I am looking forward to comparing working on both the front-end and backend and how they tie together.
I hope I get to help more as I continue to grow into the team.
How do you think your time at Cliniconex will help during your next year of school?
David: This co-op term will help me understand more of the social media aspect of marketing. Next term we will work with a real-world client, and I am assuming they will have social channels they want to leverage or improve. So having real-world experience at Cliniconex is going to help a lot.
Katie: I’ve always been curious about how teams implement software development practices, how Sprints work and what the development lifecycle looks like in practice. I think getting this type of hands-on experience will help me see the bigger picture when I am back in course work, especially during group projects. I’ll probably have a better idea of how to distribute work and how to plan for building.
