Today marked my first day of interning at Sift Media, a computer science startup which designs algorithms to tailor ads to smartphone users. I arrived at the American Underground, a workspace that Sift Media shares with other startups, and was greeted by Jud Bowman, Sift’s Founder and CEO. After giving me, an office key and a parking pass, Jud led me into the office. At the beginning of the day, I mostly just followed company members to get a grasp of how the company functioned. I listened in on phone calls with clients and observed the company’s “Stand-Up” or beginning of work meeting. For lunch, I joined some of company’s and went to Banh’s Cuisine a local Vietnamese restaurant in Durham. After lunch, Slawek Pruchnik, Sift’s Chief Technology Officer, gave me a programming project to work on. I worked on this project for the rest of the day.
