Residency at Omnitech is the bridge between our summer internship experience and a full-time engineering position. These students continue to finalize their undergraduate degrees, but have graduated from foundational lessons to work on impactful internal and external projects at Omnitech. They remain active during both the school year and the summer, keeping their skills fresh and continuing to expand their learning.
Each summer's new intern cohort participates in a group session with Rana DeBoer to begin conversations about culture, communication, and consideration in the workplace. Every intern team finishes this session by defining their own professional code: the values they agree to strive for together during their time at Omnitech.
The summer intern cohort of 2024 produced the following values:
One year later, the members of the cohort (now in their residency) were asked to re-introduce themselves, reflecting on the team-defining values that have since remained with them throughout their professional, academic, and personal lives.
Jordan - Be curious.
During my residency, I’ve learned that curiosity isn’t just about asking questions—it’s about asking better ones. At Omnitech, I’ve had the space to dig deeper into how things work and why they matter. Whether it was troubleshooting code in a real-world Vue and .NET project or collaborating with other residents, I found myself constantly asking what can I learn from this? That same mindset showed up in the rest of my life too—while grading as a Teaching Assistant for Data Structures & Algorithms, supporting peers as a Resident Advisor in the freshman residence halls, and even learning to lead better as a newly promoted Sergeant in the Army National Guard. Curiosity is what keeps me moving forward, and in residency, I’ve learned that the best way to grow is to keep asking questions.
Mehrezat - Be driven.
Last summer's internship happened at the start of this shift to self-leadership that seems to happen during the senior year of university. At that time all of your teachers and mentors start to remove themselves from you, slowly, so that you can understand how to lead yourself before you are completely separated from them.
At my school, this was given in the form of a team lead position on an entomological AI development project, an individual research project (and soon-to-be publication) on coastal sage and chaparral photosynthesis, a work-study opportunity as the sole student manager of the campus bike shop, and a collaborative approach by faculty to upper-division and elective computer science courses.
Did I write this to brag about all the cool projects I've been a part of? Perhaps. Nevertheless, the greater lesson I've taken from this year's opportunities is shown:
There is an incredible value in the trust you are given to learn by practicing and leading.
I think that Omnitech has come to the same conclusion, and that this is the driving philosophy behind the residency program. Our sherpas taught us the skills we need to conduct ourselves well. Now, we practice initiative and teamwork in an environment where we have the space to try new things and fail, to expand our own learning, and to drive our own selves forward.
Tammy - Be friends.
In my internship, I was so awkward talking to people in the breakroom. Now in my residency, I yap to everyone at Omnitech, and they yap back at me. And it's great! I've become more familiar with the people around me. When we're not talking about music, we talk about the news happening in the tech industry. We ask each other what quirky tech things we've been doing outside of the office and share our thoughts and ideas. For example, being able to share my excitement about homelabbing has been a great relief for me. I have also been applying things from my internship to my personal life, such as a brand new personal website. Fancy! While working on internal projects at Omnitech, I have become more familiar with the world of .NET and Vue and TypeScript and... basically what it means to be a software engineer. It's a lot, but it's exciting to learn. I am looking forward to enter my final year at South Dakota Mines with the things that I know and with plans to do great things.
Marcus - Be awesome.
I am a developer that is passionate about frontend and mobile development. I have worked with companies like Caterpillar, Garmin, and Property Meld. Along the way I have gained significant experience in Swift, Kotlin, and React Native. These attributes give me a unique background and skillset that I can bring to the table at Omnitech. For me, my main motivation is through creativity and competition. Which is why outside of work, I really enjoy competing in boxing. Where I not only get the opportunity to master the art of boxing, but also come up with new creative ways to win against opponents and showcase my abilities to judges.
