Authors:
Joshua Ofori Otchere, Director, Software Development, Precisely
Yvon Leclerc, Vice President, R&D, Precisely
Key Takeaways
- Precisely Engineering welcomed 12 interns this term; six share their experiences here, including four who joined through a hackathon-inspired hiring approach.
- In an AI-driven engineering environment, curiosity, collaboration, and the ability to ask the right questions matter as much as technical knowledge.
- Working alongside this generation of developers was a genuine exchange. Their fresh perspectives and native fluency with AI challenged our assumptions in ways we didn’t anticipate.
There’s a lot of talk these days about whether AI will change software engineering. The fact is, it already has. The real question is what that means for the next generation of developers, and whether companies are willing to bet on them. At Precisely, we are.
In the age of AI, Precisely believes it is more important than ever to continue investing in and hiring junior developers, even as some have suggested that AI will reduce the need for them. AI is changing how software is built, but it doesn’t eliminate the need for people who are curious, adaptable, collaborative, and eager to learn.
If anything, AI gives talented developers an opportunity to become productive much faster. The ability to ask the right questions, understand a problem, work with others, make good decisions, and use AI effectively can matter just as much as knowing how to write every line of code yourself. We saw this firsthand through this summer’s software engineering internship program here at Precisely.
Why We Decided to Act
When we reached out to local universities this spring, we heard the same concern everywhere: students were struggling to find summer positions, and AI was taking much of the blame. After talking it through, we decided we couldn’t just watch from the sidelines. Within hours, Precisely had approved a budget for a student lab. We rented office space, got back to the office, and got to work by organizing a hackathon: our own unconventional way of finding the right people.
What Did the Hackathon Look Like?
Precisely didn’t use the hackathon as a coding competition for the students. Instead, our leadership team hacked right alongside the candidates, watching how they approached problems, how they interacted with each other, the questions they asked, how they responded when they got stuck, and how they turned an idea into something tangible.
And we saw tremendous potential.
This term, Precisely Engineering welcomed 12 interns across our teams. Six of them share their experiences in this article, and four of those six came through the hackathon-inspired hiring approach, receiving internship offers the same day.
What Happened When They Joined?
Fast forward to today, and the six software engineering interns featured here have exceeded our expectations. They each pushed their first merge request within just two days of onboarding, went beyond their initial assignments, took on new challenges, and continued to grow their contributions.
This experience reinforced something Precisely strongly believes: great developers aren’t defined only by what they know when they walk through the door. They’re defined by how quickly they learn, how they collaborate, how they think, and how much they want to contribute.
Meet Six of Our Summer Software Engineering Interns
Anushka Tankala
Anushka is a Computer Science student at Carleton University. Even before the hackathon, Anushka had already noticed something different about Precisely: instead of a standard application process, candidates were given direct access to the product and asked to let their work speak.
That culture carried into the internship. Regardless of seniority, she always felt supported and never felt like she was in the way. “Nobody treated us like we were bothering them,” she said. Her biggest growth this summer was finding her voice: learning to push back, speak up, and admit when she didn’t know something yet. She worked on new AI product capabilities, taking a project from zero to one and shipping production code that real customers would use. What she’ll remember most, though, are the hikes, enough Friday lunches to have strong opinions about Ottawa restaurants, and the cottage trip where the team was able to get to know each other in a different setting. It included mountain hikes, cliff jumping into the lake, swimming, and a BBQ.
Evan Buchanan
Evan is a Computer Science student at the University of Ottawa. He was drawn to our company’s genuine embrace of AI and saw it as the perfect place to gain hands-on experience building AI agents, skills, and MCPs — and it delivered.
Evan appreciated how supported he felt from day one, with colleagues who were always available and made him feel like a real part of the team. By the end of his term he had built and deployed AI agents, worked with MCPs, and shipped code to a production environment. “It was an environment where I felt comfortable contributing, learning, and growing,” Evan said. And while he’ll take those technical skills with him, what he says he’ll remember most are the team lunches and the offsite cottage trip — and, he notes, to always bring a sweater.
Farris A.
Farris studied Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Washington. What stood out to him at the hackathon was how seriously the engineers engaged with the students’ ideas, not just politely, but genuinely.
That set the tone for a term that looked nothing like a typical internship. Farris and his team pitched a product concept and built it end to end. He also took another project from a demo all the way to a production service. “The last 10% is where the real work starts,” he says. It’s a lesson he learned the hard way after code that ran perfectly in development failed intermittently in production. Testing in an environment that closely mirrors production, it turns out, isn’t optional. He leaves knowing exactly what he wants to build next: AI products that solve real problems, not experiments that stay on a laptop.
Harkirat Nagpal
Harkirat recently completed his Master of Engineering in ECE at the University of Ottawa. At the hackathon, he was drawn to the power and openness of the Precisely MCP server — building with it showed him the kind of hands-on, real-world impact he was looking for.
Harkirat was surprised from day one by how much ownership interns were given, both in terms of influence and production responsibility. His proudest moment came when he shipped a fully functional AI asset marketplace, watching it go from rough prototype to live production through GitOps. “That’s the moment I stopped feeling like an intern and started feeling like an engineer,” he said. What he’ll carry forward isn’t just the technical depth, but the mindset of thinking like an owner, someone who genuinely cares about getting it right, not just getting it done.
Waleed Samouh
Waleed is a Master’s student in Computer Science at Georgia Tech, with a focus on AI. It was the openness to new ideas and the freedom to truly build and experiment that piqued his interest in Precisely.
That spirit carried through his entire term. Waleed was given real ownership early, working on systems that reached well beyond his own team. His biggest challenge and proudest achievement were one and the same: taking a new project from a concept to a fully deployed AI platform and agent ecosystem. “The confidence to take ownership of bigger problems, figure things out as I go, and build systems end-to-end,” he said, is what he’ll carry with him long after this summer.
Yassine Sahli
Yassine is a fourth-year Software Engineering student at the University of Ottawa. From the moment he arrived at the hackathon, he said the energy of the Precisely team made him feel included, even before he’d officially joined.
His summer challenged him in the best way: building a project from scratch, starting with a bold idea and having just four weeks to bring it to life. “It was exciting and exhausting in equal measure,” he said, “but looking back, it was one of the most valuable experiences I’ve had in software so far.”
What Did We Learn From Our 2026 Engineering Interns?
This experience was a great reminder that talent doesn’t always arrive with years of experience. Sometimes, it arrives with curiosity, energy, and the willingness to learn.
But what surprised us most was how much we learned in return. Working alongside this generation of developers gave our team fresh perspectives we hadn’t anticipated. These students navigated their high school years with AI as a native tool, not an afterthought, and that shaped how they approached problems in ways that genuinely challenged our assumptions.
They asked questions we hadn’t thought to ask, explored solutions we might have dismissed too quickly, and brought an openness to experimentation that served as a useful reminder of what’s possible when you haven’t yet decided what’s “supposed” to work. Their viewpoints, shaped by a generation that thinks about technology, collaboration, and creativity differently, added real value to our teams. This wasn’t a one-way learning experience. It was a genuine exchange.
Through our engineering internship program, our goal is to create an environment where potential can turn into real impact. To all 12 interns who joined Precisely Engineering this term — and especially to the six who shared their stories here — thank you for your curiosity, your energy, and everything you’ve contributed. Whether you joined us through the hackathon approach or another path, you became part of our engineering teams, and you’ve already made a difference. At Precisely, we believe strongly in the next generation of developers. And in an AI-driven world, we’re not betting against them. We’re betting on them.
We’re always looking for curious, driven developers to join our teams. See what’s waiting for you at Precisely.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes an AI software engineering internship at Precisely different from a typical internship?
Precisely software engineering interns don’t shadow or observe, they ship. The six interns featured here each pushed their first merge request within two days of onboarding, contributed to real production systems, and took on challenges well beyond their initial assignments. The environment is built around ownership, not task completion.
How did Precisely find and hire its summer interns?
Precisely Engineering welcomed 12 interns this term. Six are profiled in this article, and four of those joined through a hackathon-inspired hiring approach where candidates worked alongside leadership on real problems. Rather than evaluating technical output alone, the team observed how candidates thought, collaborated, asked questions, and responded when things got hard.
Do interns at Precisely work on real AI projects?
Yes. This cohort built and deployed AI agents, contributed to an AI platform and agent ecosystem, shipped an AI asset marketplace to production, and developed new AI capabilities — all within a single summer term.
What qualities does Precisely look for in junior developers?
Curiosity, adaptability, and the ability to collaborate and ask good questions matter as much as technical skills. In an AI-driven engineering environment, the ability to think clearly, work well with others, and learn fast can be just as valuable as prior coding experience.
Can students with no prior industry experience apply?
Absolutely. Several interns this summer had little to no prior industry experience. What set them apart was how they approached problems, not what they already knew when they walked in.
