Not Your Average Internship

Often when we think of interns, we imagine naive college students frantically running errands or fulfiling meaningless tasks to pass time! Unfortunately, this is the 9-to-5 for many collegiettes, who work for companies that are ignorant towards aspiring talents and dreams.

At Accelo, however, this is not the case. Our interns provide us with youthful insight, educate us about our own product, and most importantly, motivate us to do the work that matters.

Two of our current (delightful, and very talented) interns, Selena and Serena, took time out of their busy schedule to shed some light on their time at Accelo so far, and this is what they had to say:

"I was so very lucky to discover Accelo...

Coming into college, I was often worried about finding internships and how I would fare in a real work environment. I was so very lucky to discover Accelo: a wonderful start-up company that has not only helped me grow personally and professionally but has also taught me more about the industry than I could have ever imagined.

The beginning definitely involved a steep learning curve! I came in not knowing much about the SaaS industry and didn’t have a grasp of the software or any of the technical terminology that my manager and co-workers were using. It was a surprisingly fun learning process, however, simply because everyone was so willing to help, teach, and explain things to me whenever I had questions… and I had quite a lot of questions (still do actually).

Looking back now, this is what truly makes Accelo an awesome and great place to work— the people and the training create the greatest difference. Communication is never a problem, our managers are constantly looking out to find us fun projects to work and learn from, and everybody chips in with their ideas, making brainstorming and meetings unique and interesting.

Interning at Accelo has also been a great way to take small breaks away from the hectic life of college. Here I am allowed to settle into a different lifestyle, of simply working on projects and software platforms, petting office dogs, and hearing crazy stories from my co-workers. I see a bigger perspective when I’m at Accelo and it helps me re-organize my priorities outside of the UC Berkeley bubble. The community at Accelo is honestly the best, and it’s definitely become a place I look forward to going to every week," said Selena.

"Accelo was the ideal place for me...

As someone who is passionate about utilizing technology to help businesses grow and develop, Accelo was the ideal place for me to start learning more about the growing industry of Software as a Service (SaaS). In the recent decade, words foreign to me just a few weeks ago, like “cloud-computing”, “Customer Relationship Management (CRM)”, and “Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)”, that are commonly thrown about at Fortune 500 companies have become integral in my daily vocabulary. Learning how to speak this new language is only one way that I have grown, professionally, at Accelo.

While I have been interning at Accelo for less than a month, it has been an amazing experience. I have previously worked at three part-time jobs, but none of them have amounted to the experience I have had with Accelo. This is my first time commuting to a job in San Francisco, but despite the tedious commute, I truly look forward coming into the office every week. My fellow colleagues are some of the kindest, funniest, and hardest-working people I know and I feel so fortunate to be in their presence. The culture at Accelo is exactly the reason why everyone is so passionate and excited to come to work. The people here do not feel like my colleagues, they feel like my friends and family - people who I can count on to brighten my day when I have had a tough week. While Accelo has many perks from company-provided lunches on Fridays, office outings, the option of working from home, and charming dogs to greet you the minute you walk through the door, people genuinely love the work that they do - aligning with Accelo’s slogan, do the work you love.

Accelo is a well-established startup that has been operating for around 9 years. Unlike seed-based startups where the structure is quite disorganized, and unlike corporations where there is a strict hierarchy with little flexibility, Accelo is the perfect balance of having an organized structure while giving individuals the opportunity to pursue their own interests and contribute their unique input to the company.

Despite my short time at Accelo, I have gained and refined many skills, from learning how to navigate Accelo’s platform, designing visual and aesthetic presentations, and creating templates and modules. It has been an honour so far working with such a great group of people and I look forward to what Accelo has in store for me," said Serena.

If you're someone who is eager to learn about the SaaS industry and work on exciting projects at a growing startup, we want to hear from you! Please contact [email protected] :)