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Appareo is an embedded systems engineering company located in Fargo. Their two main focuses are aircraft telemetry platforms and ruggedized agricultural systems. I was recently hired for an embedded Linux software position, and am excited for get some real experience with embedded software development.
Voxtelesys is a VoIP services provider located in Fargo, North Dakota. Their business, put simply, is providing internet phone related services. Most businesses in the last couple decades have started using internet-based phones, known as "VoIP" (Voice over IP) phones. This means that a company that previously would have had to run dozens of phone lines into their building can now route calls over a single internet connection, vastly simplifying their routing and increasing the number of "phone lines" they can provide their employees. It also makes moving employees throughout the building easier, as the phone can automatically know which calls it needs to receive regardless of where it is in the building.
When routing calls over the internet, there are several pieces of technology that all have to work together to allow internet-based phone traffic to communicate with the standard phone network. Voxtelesys provides services to make that happen.
I started interning at Voxtelesys in May of 2020. In September of 2020, I was hired on as a full-time developer. Most of the time, I worked with the OpenSIPS scripting language, Golang/Go, or C. In this position, I got to use a Linux-based OS full time, which I was extremely pleased about.
John Deere Electronic Solutions, abbreviated JDES, is the division of John Deere (Deere & Co.) responsible for developing electronic components for John Deere's products. They also do work for other manufacturers upon request. I interned at JDES in Fargo starting in March of 2018. While there, I gained valuable real-world experience on what it is like to work in the Electronic Design department of a major electrical engineering group. I have learned how to apply theory to real-world circuits, while also developing lab skills to match. Following a real engineer throughout his troubleshooting procedure has shown me how actual design problems are diagnosed and repaired in a lab. My experiences at JDES developed in me the kinds of skills, intuition, and understanding that cannot be substituted for in a classroom.
In March of 2019, I was rotated from the Electronic Design department to the Software department. In the Software department, I learned Python (including the process for converting from Python 2 to 3) as well as gained experience using collaborative software tools. I also gained experience managing and troubleshooting Jenkins for testing software on real-world automated test setups. Not coming from a software background, I acquired a large amount of new software related skills and experience in a very short time.<br>
I maintained my position at John Deere until May of 2020, at which point I left to intern at Voxtelesys in Fargo.