Interning at Concrn: Mission Bit students in tech

Cora Monokandilos | November 9, 2018
Categories: Student stories

This year was Trent Taylor’s first summer and Oscar Tiong’s second summer with Mission Bit. Currently, both student have been interning at a local tech company, Concrn. Concrn has been operating for the last three years in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. In their first year, they received 3,500 crisis reports. Neil Shah, CEO at Concrn, stated that using the Concrn App is similar to ordering an Uber. However, once you “activate your empathy” on either an iOS or Android device, the GPS based app orders a compassionate response team to the listed location to deescalate the situation and refer the individual(s) to services, reducing the demand on law enforcement services for behavioral and mental health crises.

Trent and Oscar are learning firsthand what it is like to work in the tech industry while also earning $17.50 an hour. Trent stated that his role at Concrn is app development. Though he feels he isn’t very strong yet with the language that is being used, Neil and his team have been very supportive and have recommended that he take additional courses on JavaScript and Ruby. Trent sated, “My Mission Bit experience was amazing. Being able to see what I was capable of with the help of friends [has] really pushed me to take my skill and work harder.” He further stated, “From my internship so far, I’ve learned a majority of the business side of tech and what it takes to make it in this industry. I’m also learning new coding languages and how to communicate with people in the tech industry.” Trent is also a TechHire Oakland talent member.

According to Oscar, he is responsible for making videos and has learned how apps work. He’s even gotten experience tabling at an event and telling people all about Concrn. Oscar stated, “My experience at Mission Bit was great. I learned how to program, solve problems, and overall make an amazing game. These programming skills helped me see through beyond the features of the app, and how it [was] made.” Through his internship at Concrn, Oscar stated, “I have learned the processes of testing, grants, starting up a company, making my own products, and speaking to people who may know other people who are of help to me.”

Neil explained that Oscar and Trent are learning so much around how mobile apps are built and the process beforehand. Neil has provided the youth with exposure to the design team, where they’ve helped with interviews and testing. Trent is also included in the marketing team and has learned multiple things hands on. Both students are learning soft and hard skills hands on from the experts themselves.

A special thank you to our friends at the Kapor Center I-Lab in Oakland for hosting Mission Bit and Concrn as non-profit residents and welcoming our student interns in their space.

To learn more about Concrn and the work that they do, visit their website at www.concrn.org.

At Mission Bit, our goal is to have 100 paid internships by Summer 2019 for our students. Internships occur in the summer, typically last six-weeks, and allow students to experience the tech industry in a professional setting, assisting them in getting real life experiences and skills in the workplace.

If you are an employer in the tech industry and are interested in providing an internship to Mission Bit students, email us at info@missionbit.com. You can also click here to learn more about Mission Bit.