Subtitle: July 25, 2025 – Final Post
Name: Pavani Gopaldasu
Supervisor: Rishitha
Saayam For All is listed on VolunteerMatch to promote its mission of helping communities through education, health, employment, hunger relief, and housing support. By using this platform, the organization reaches out to potential volunteers and partners, enhancing visibility and engagement in service activities. This listing plays a key role in expanding our nonprofit impact and connecting with like-minded individuals.
Our development team used GitHub Actions to manage and track code updates, pull requests, and continuous integration workflows. The repository shows regular collaboration among contributors, with features like request handling and file merging. This automated setup helped ensure smooth testing and deployment processes, improving project reliability and development efficiency.
What I Expected vs. What Surprised Me
Before attending this practicum, I thought that it would help me perfect my technical skills in backend development using java and equip me with practical experience of a real-life experience in coding. I expected that it will be very coding-oriented and instructions are clear and tools are provided. What struck me though was the degree of problem solving and flexibility. Many times I was required to find answers by myself, debug a problem that never should have happened, and decide how to implement something based on user requirements. I did not anticipate to spend so much time in such fields as SEO and cross-browsing testing, either, and it had made me have a more comprehensive idea of what it takes to have a full-scale deployment of a working website.
What Was Fun, Hard, and Useful
Among the most pleasurable aspects of this experience was features coming to life (particularly when the user logins and session management modules behaved as expected, after days of testing). It was thrilling to combine the front end JavaScript interactivity with the back end capability. The most difficult was to deal with complicated SQL-Java connections debugging and administration of session states without errors. The simple errors in the configuration would crash the whole process of logging in and finding solutions to those would require time and tolerance. the best bit was being given knowledge in how to go about having a full-stack development process with frontend to backend to database and how those three parts and others relate to each other.
Tasks I Enjoyed the Most
I liked assignments which had some technical and some creative components particularly. An example was the frontend validation that I carried out using JavaScript and connected it with the backend login logic, which made me feel like the user experience was under my full control. The databasing and databasing of SQL that are secure in nature also helped me understand the significance of the flow of data. Furthermore, the aspect of trying out SEO practice such as the optimization of meta tags and how to structure articles to boost search results was also a new skill that I did not anticipate I would have acquired here.
Challenges and Room for Improvement
Ensuring that the application works well across browsers and devices is one of the most significant issues that I managed to resolve. What appeared to be perfect on Chrome was not so perfect on Safari or mobile view. I got to know the importance of testing and responsive design activities in the actual development process. The only thing that I would change is possibly introducing more feedback loops or meetings with the team in general, as I could sometimes not tell whether I was doing the right thing until I was almost finished with a certain feature. An early task breakdown or a mentor check-in could have been more helpful.
Would I Do This Again?
Yes I would definitely consider getting a job in this sort of a job. It also provided me a taste of what being such a full-stack engineer means. I have liked the combination of the backend logic, frontend interactivity, and technical creativity. It reaffirmed my desire to have a career in web development or software engineering (especially those that will enable me to create tools that will be used directly by the users). The internship experience had actually enabled me to be more confident and ready to do another internship or go to a full-time job.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this practicum was a good learning process. It helped me to move out of my comfort zone, learn to deal with the real-life tasks, and understand how various technologies interact to enable a modern site. I am happy to have a chance to help Saayam for All and want to thank my supervisor and team which took me in and helped. As much as I am leaving with a better set of technical skills, I also feel better able to learn, change, and develop as a professional.