Big Effort = Big Impact (Steven's story)

Steven (Robert) Dew is a College student at MTSU and has interned with us for the past 3 months. He has since gotten experience in react native, react js, typescript, firebase, and Mapbox.

Principle: Big Effort = Big Impact

One of our core values we share with our clients is we want Big Effort to have a Big Impact. To reinforce that value with Steven, we paired him with one of our senior developers on a large-scale project to showcase the kind of work he can expect to be a part of. Steven was exposed to a new framework, a new coding language, and a lot of new concepts.?

“The first day was tough. I remember going home feeling stressed and wondering if maybe I’m in too deep.”

After Steven’s internship was over, he reminisced during an exit interview about that first day. “The first day was tough. I remember going home feeling stressed and wondering if maybe I’m in too deep.”?

Big effort

If you’ve ever started a new career you know exactly what Steven was talking about. However, like most things in life, the toughest moments force us to grow the most.?

Steven knew he was at a crossroads. Keep pursuing his passion or quit and find something more simple to do. In my mind, I like to think he sat at home that night and heard a voice recounting our values – “big effort… big impact.”?

Whatever actually happened that night may be a secret, but Steven kept at it. He was working with our developers during the day and studying by night, and it paid off big time.?

Big impact

Fast forward 3 months and Steven is standing in the front of our team. He is ready to present a new app he created from the ground up. We have a pen-and-paper strategy exercise we call Design Catalyst. It helps our clients discover their preferences for how their app will look. Steven created a simple mobile app that speeds up the exercise and drastically improves the user experience. He was nervous sharing it with us, but by the end of the live demo and test drive,? he had the whole team cheering for him. It worked. Big Effort = Big Impact.

“That was the best day! Revealing the Design Catalyst app and watching everyone interact with the thing I was working on was the best feeling!”?

Did I mention he used the new framework, new coding language and new concepts that he was introduced to just months prior? All of the effort he put into these skills paid off in that moment. “That was the best day! Revealing the Design Catalyst app and watching everyone interact with the thing I was working on was the best feeling!”?

Real-world results?

It was a great feeling for us as well. We’ve now used the Design Catalyst app with a real client in a recent Strategy Workshop. The clients loved it. We were glad to have Steven with us and look forward to him making a big impact wherever he lands.?

What’s next

If your organization offers internships, think about how to set them up for success. How could you inspire them to put in a big effort so they can make a big impact??