Co-op Experience at WorkMarket

As a Computer Engineering student at the University of Waterloo I spend every other term of my undergraduate degree working as a co-op student at various companies. For my first co-op work term I was offered a job at WorkMarket. I didn’t know what to expect, so was pleasantly surprised to learn that WorkMarket has a long history of integrating co-op students into their daily workflow.

Rather than being assigned dull, tedious tasks that the engineers and developers didn’t want to do, I worked on meaningful projects that were closely related to my area of study. The supportive environment that exists at WorkMarket made for a seamless transition from University to the working world. I never had to look far to find someone who was willing to answer my simplistic questions, or walk me through standard processes.

One worry that I had going into this work term was that I would be confined to a very small, and insignificant portion of the code base because my employer wouldn’t want a co-op student working on something of importance. This was not the case at WorkMarket. Within the first couple of weeks I was treated as an integral part of the team with the responsibility to complete tasks that others depended on.

I always felt challenged, there was never a point when I thought that my abilities were not used to their full potential. Someone at WorkMarket described it as follows; “We pitch, you bat. If you keeping hitting it out of the park, we keep throwing harder”. I think this metaphor perfectly describes the allocation of work to co-op students at WorkMarket. Because of this, I was able to gain valuable experience and learn something new with every project that I completed.

Also, the relatively small size of WorkMarket as a company allowed me to gain insight into the many levels that make up a successful business. For example, during my work term I saw various features come into fruition. Born out of a business application, worked through development, and finally released. This gave me a real sense of why I was doing the work that I was doing, and the role that it played in the grand scheme.

Overall, WorkMarket provided a great atmosphere for me, as a co-op student, to learn, develop new ideas, and apply myself to the greatest extent. Most people use their first co-op term as a stepping stone for future positions but WorkMarket provides everything you could possibly want in a work term.

-Mike Matyszczuk