Matthew Teets Talks APIs, Connectors, and Accomplishments with DaVinci

Whether a newbie or a seasoned professional, software engineers will need to be resourceful when looking for solutions to problems—no matter what stage they’re at in their career journey. But, it’s these challenges that help define the type of software engineer and the contributions they’ll end up making to the digital landscape. This is what Software Engineer Intern Matthew Teets was confronted with during his internship experience at Ping, where he embraced new technologies—in this case, DaVinci—to develop his skillset.

Read about his experience:

Before landing my internship at Ping, I worked four summers as a camp counselor for Silicon STEM Academy. Here, I assisted in teaching the fundamentals of programming and engineering to kids of all ages. Working at SSA solidified my career path and set me up to be a viable candidate for this amazing internship. I found the job posting for the Software Engineer Internship while on my daily hunt for new intern listings on Indeed.com.

I am currently working as a Software Engineer Intern with Ping’s TAP (Technology Alliance Partner) team. I am one of two interns that are responsible for designing, constructing, testing, and documenting as many PingOne DaVinci connectors as possible. My main focus throughout this internship has been to—in whatever way I can—make a lasting contribution and impact during my time as a Ping Identian.

After viewing the onboarding videos to familiarize myself with Ping and our offerings, my first assignment was to get experience with the different tools and resources that I would be using to build the DaVinci connectors. An essential tool that I added to my arsenal is an API platform called Postman, which enables developers to create, test, and construct custom APIs.

The first connector I was tasked with developing was WhatsApp for Business. The goal was to build a connector that would allow users to send templated messages from a DaVinci flow to their customer's mobile devices. This connector was definitely a challenge, but helped me familiarize myself with the entire process that goes into building a connector. 

It was incredibly satisfying to complete my first connector because I was able to build something that improved a product that real customers will use. Apart from building connectors, I was able to contribute to the development process by initiating and contributing to the first draft of the DaVinci connector unit testing documentation.

At first, I wasn't able to fully appreciate how cool DaVinci is because I am a complete amateur when it comes to development use cases. But after being directly involved in the effort to expand DaVinci’s capabilities, it became more and more clear how powerful this product is. The idea of orchestrating a demo for a product in real-time is such a compelling and fun concept. It’s like LEGOs for business people!

Taking several big steps back away from building connectors, away from DaVinci—and away from the hustle and bustle of working at a tech company—the biggest takeaway for me personally has been the incredible people that I have had the absolute honor and privilege of working with. Working in an environment permeated with friendly faces and positivity turns out to be one of the most crucial motivators in any office, and I accredit the majority of my hard work to this simple but rare attribute of Ping.

We’re always looking for talent at Ping! Interested in applying for Ping’s Intern program? We’d love to hear from you. See if we are hiring for interns near you, here!