From startups to spacecrafts: The nonlinear journey to aerospace
All the achievements, challenges and lessons Mihir Gupta learned from his nonlinear co-op journey that ended with him landing his dream role at Blue Origin.
Mihir Gupta (he/him) is a fourth-year Computer Engineering student. He discusses his passion for the aviation and aerospace industry and how his co-op experiences helped him to thrive in his dream role. Although the journey was unexpected, his experiences allowed him to become a better and more versatile engineer.
Mihir's co-op journey
Work terms one and two: Mihir started his co-op journey at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) as an Android developer. In that role, he was working on a proof of concept for integrating their app with Google Assistant. He wanted to learn more at RBC, so he returned there for his second work term, where he took lead in prototyping an app for Google Pixel watches.
Work terms three, four and five: Mihir then went to a startup company called Faire Wholesale. His first role there was as an Android developer for the food and beverage team. In that role, he focused on growth for the food and beverage retailers on the platform. He returned for his fourth work term as a back-end developer on their search infrastructure team, where he worked on the categories for the site. For his fifth and final work term at Faire, he was an Android developer for Faire’s internal design team - Slate.
Work term six: Mihir wrapped up his co-op journey in Seattle at Blue Origin. He had the opportunity to work in his dream industry, aviation and aerospace, as an avionics software engineer.
Q&A with Mihir
What sparked your interest in the intersection of computer engineering and aviation?
“I’ve been interested in aviation since I was young. That was first seen through my love for science fiction, especially Star Wars. My interest in aviation led me to join my local Air Cadet Squadron. From there, I attended a summer course called Basic Aviation Technology in Aerospace (BATA) Force. There, I was able to learn more about the aerospace industry which got me interested in the aviation and aerospace sector.”
“In high school, I joined my first robotics team and that’s where I started developing some interest in robotics. Pairing those two interests led me to apply to Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo. The goal for me when entering the program was to learn more about hardware and software design, and that hopefully this knowledge would eventually get me into the aviation and aerospace sector.”
How does working in a startup compare to working at a larger corporation?
“When I first joined Faire, they were definitely in ‘startup mode’ and it was challenging for me. I wasn’t used to working in a very fast-paced environment and having so much autonomy. It took me some time to get a feel for things, but I ended up learning a lot about the software development cycle. At startups, I feel like they give you a lot of very meaningful work that will eventually be used one day. That’s very exciting, but at the same time there is quite a steep learning curve.”
“I don’t regret working at a startup. I think it’s the best thing I could have done at that point in my career. I learned so much and I don’t know if I would have had the same opportunities if I had worked for larger corporations.”
“I’ve found that with large corporations, the work is a lot more structured and a bit slower. It’s great because it allows you to have a better handle on the projects and you can work at a nice pace. When you’re only there for four months, there’s only so much you can learn.”
“As for company culture, at the larger corporation my team was really big. It was great having so many people to meet and work with. I enjoyed the culture at the startup because it was a smaller team and a lot tighter knit. We would have a lot of fun activities like online board games or just be able to chat about things. It’s easier to get to know people in a startup.”
What is the most interesting thing you’ve done during a work term?
“The most interesting project for me was during my fifth work term where I worked on Slate. I worked with a lot of designers. At the beginning, I found that I didn’t know much about design. I used to think design was just making the website look nice and consistent. As I got to work with the team, I learned that there is a lot more that goes into it. Things like how to make products more accessible, maintainable and consistent across all product platforms. There were many things I had never considered.”
“I was working on the Android front, but there were also people working on the website development front and iOS fronts. We had to bring up issues that were unique to each of our platforms. We also worked with other designers and developers. That project was really interesting because of how many stakeholders were involved.”
What is your proudest co-op achievement?
“In my fourth co-op term, I was working as a back-end developer at Faire and because it was my second time coming back, I was more comfortable in that environment. I was ready to take on the role of directly responsible engineer (DRE), which means you are the owner of a project. I asked my manager if there were any small projects I could be a DRE for and he was able to find a project for me to take ownership of.”
“It was a learning curve. It was hard for me in the beginning because when you take ownership of a project, you have to communicate with so many people and there’s so many answers you have to search for. Once I got all the answers I needed, I started to make more progress and I was able to get the project finished, tested and good to go by the end of my co-op term.”
“At that point in my co-ops, I’d mostly been following projects that my managers gave me and I’d never been in a position where I could take ownership of a project. I felt really proud at the end because I was able to own that project by myself and take it through all parts of the software development cycle.”
What have you gained from these experiences that you will carry with you into the future?
“My goal was to enter the aviation and aerospace industry, and even though I did eventually land there with my sixth co-op, my journey there was not very linear. I did so many things that weren’t very relevant to what I wanted to do. At first, I was a bit frustrated because I was working really hard to achieve that one goal. Now that I see everything, I’m more appreciative that I did take that nonlinear path and got to check out different things.”
“I think it’s very easy to fall into this notion of being a specialist and going into one thing and doing it very well. There’s actually a lot of perks to being a generalist and trying out a lot of different things because those experiences allow you to see different perspectives and learn new things.”
“I found that all those experiences actually helped me in my sixth co-op because I was able to view software development from different points of view. That broad experience made me a stronger developer and gave me the confidence to pitch new ideas.”
What my co-op terms taught me is that you should appreciate all the experiences you have, even if they don’t feel relevant right now. Any knowledge is good to have and you should definitely appreciate the journey more than the overall destination.
What’s next for you?
“I’d like to work more in the aviation and aerospace industry. I’ve found that I really enjoy working on physical products, especially airplanes or rockets. During my internship at Blue Origin, I met so many talented people and they all worked in different areas of engineering within the aerospace and aviation industry.”
“That has sparked my interest to maybe pursue graduate studies in aviation and aerospace, or maybe with autonomous vehicles. I definitely want to work for a bit to get more exposure and then make that decision later in my career.”