William is a rising senior at Virginia Tech majoring in Computer Science. He joined Appian's 2025 internship program as a software engineering intern on the Scale Up Sync Squad. As the squad’s first intern, he was able to gain first hand experience of what it means to develop solutions that help solve real-world problems. Read on to learn more about William’s second summer and his impact on his new team.
What attracted you to the internship position at Appian?
After a rewarding first summer, returning to Appian was an easy decision. The combination of ambition and the people was compelling. It is very hard to find a company filled with ambitious and competent people, but also people who value life outside of the office, outside of the computer screen.
Did you have any expectations before joining?
My second time interning, I came in with more clarity on what I wanted to get out of the internship, which was beneficial for me. This time around, I am also seeing my work at a scale that I can only experience at a company of this size. I am developing good practices for adaptable work that moves quickly, which has been a great learning experience this far.
What are you working on?
As an intern on the Scale Up Sync Squad, my experience has felt less like a traditional internship and more like stepping directly into the role of a full-time developer. Rather than being assigned a standalone intern project, I take on real tickets - just like any other member of the team.
From bug fixes in active sprints to larger technical challenges, I’ve had the opportunity to contribute to meaningful impacts. Catching and resolving a few bugs myself was especially rewarding - it reminded me how even small fixes can make a big difference in the product experience! Right now, I’m tackling a more complex initiative: enabling customers to create data objects in bulk, unlocking deeper access to Appian’s feature set through Record Types - which serve as the backbone for many platform capabilities.
While working through this solution, I’ve gained insight not just into the technical architecture, but into how to think holistically about scalability and user impact. This experience has been a true preview of what it’s like to be a full-time engineer here: immersive, collaborative, and high-impact.
How do you personally contribute and make an impact?
One thing I’ve really appreciated at Appian is how open the team is to questions and ideas. From the start, I’ve felt encouraged to speak up and contribute, and I make a point to do so.
It’s been rewarding to see that my work is genuinely helping move things forward faster. Feeling like a valued part of the team has made this experience especially meaningful.
What’s one moment or milestone you’ve felt especially proud of so far?
This year, being the only intern on my team, I am proud that I can keep up with the other developers I collaborate with. I may not be as fast as my brilliant coworkers, but we operate on the same wavelength with similar scopes of work. My team has been great about intentionally guiding me to important things to learn while still making sure that my bandwidth is used in ways that feel just as well-prioritized as the way a full-time employee's bandwidth would be used.
In terms of specific things I've grown from, I think that one of the most valuable growth opportunities I've had here stems from the demand to ensure my work is enterprise-standard code. Having very experienced engineers check if my work is up to standard has been like having a gym professional available to check my weightlifting form. This helps you grow more effectively, especially as someone early in their career.
What's the most valuable lesson you've learned here at Appian?
One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned here is about general things to look out for in my code. It's challenging to mentally organize all components when creating a solution or fix. It is like training a muscle, thinking about different organizations or what to name groups of code to make everything more readable. Training that muscle of recognition has been very valuable for me, particularly since my team is full of senior engineers who have previously trained this muscle.
Intern event at Top Golf (Will pictured on the right)!
Have you had opportunities to grow or learn something unexpected?
Being afforded this opportunity to learn from people that have developed careers and skills, it has been easier for me to maintain clarity, as well as direct and forward momentum on my personal development and skills.
How did you leverage Appian's internal tools, documentation, or the expertise of your team to navigate and resolve them?
The Appian codebase is huge, so finding specific functions or object access methods I'm looking for can be difficult on my own. Everyone on the team has always been super open to questions and pairing if needed, so it's been great being able to shoot a message in the group chat or turn around and ask a nearby engineer and make sure I spend more time building instead of aimlessly searching.
If you've had a previous internship, how does this one stand out and how has this experience shaped your thinking about your future career?
Coming from the defense contracting background, moving to a company like Appian where the work is very fast-paced is fulfilling. I like that Appian moves quickly and is consistently excellent.
Appian does an exceptionally strong job at making sure your passion continues to thrive. Meaning, you work on projects you are passionate about, and you work on impactful projects. It is easy to get lost in the idea of purpose, but coming to Appian has helped me realize that purpose and having an impact is incredibly important to my personal fulfillment and career.
What’s been your favorite part of the internship so far?
Without a doubt, the people. The hiring team here at Appian does a tremendous job at hiring amazing talent. Everyone at Appian is great to work with, be around, get to know more, and learn from. Having that resource abundantly available when you walk around the office is my favorite part.
For a specific event, the free food chat. A notification from that chat always sparks joy, wondering what the food is.
Learn more about internship and campus hiring opportunities at Appian.