Programmed for Success

James Mor­rison Klein, a fifth-​​year infor­ma­tion sci­ence major, recently returned from a six-​​month inter­na­tional co-​​op in France, where he gained valu­able expe­ri­ence and con­fi­dence as a soft­ware devel­oper at a startup called Copass.

Based in Paris, Copass is a global mem­ber­ship net­work that grants users access to more than 256 inde­pen­dent co-​​working spaces in 42 dif­ferent coun­tries with one single account. “Copassers” can use the space for as long as they need, whether that is a day or a month, and get the perks of a social experience.

“By Amer­ican stan­dards, Copass is a startup,” Klein explained, noting that the com­pany has part­nered with Airbnb to help trav­elers find accom­mo­da­tions. “It was a very tightknit team with only five employees, including myself, and I really enjoyed the freedom that came with working with a startup as self-​​sufficient yet suc­cessful as Copass.”

As a soft­ware devel­oper for the startup, Klein built web appli­ca­tions from scratch and main­tained the company’s cur­rent soft­ware. A trusted member of the small team, his respon­si­bil­i­ties often extended beyond pro­gram­ming; he was fre­quently involved in every­thing from dis­cussing long-​​range busi­ness deci­sions to offering input on helping the office run effec­tively on a daily basis. “There were a huge slew of things beyond the pro­gram­ming,” he said.

Klein also became well versed in agile soft­ware devel­op­ment, which pro­motes adap­tive plan­ning, con­tin­uous improve­ment and empha­sizes quick response to changing require­ments. “Agile devel­op­ment is huge in the United States now because star­tups need quick pro­to­typing,” Klein said. “There were times where I’d come in and need to learn a new frame­work and pro­gram­ming lan­guage in one day.”

Thank­fully, Klein found a sup­portive mentor at Copass, who helped guide him through the new assign­ments. This encour­age­ment not only helped him become a more effec­tive inde­pen­dent worker, but it also boosted his con­fi­dence by instilling in him the belief that there was nothing he couldn’t do. “It was extremely empow­ering, from a tech­nical per­spec­tive, and I’m extremely con­fi­dent in my abil­i­ties since returning from the co-​​op.”

His expe­ri­en­tial learning oppor­tu­nity at Copass built on his co-​​op with Her­cules Tech­nology Growth Cap­ital, a ven­ture cap­ital firm in Palo Alto, Cal­i­., where he pro­grammed internal soft­ware for client management.

The new skills he learned at Copass will come in handy in the class­room and in his career, said Klein, noting that both his co-​​op employers have dis­cussed the pos­si­bility of hiring him as a full-​​time employee after graduation.