Hear from five Viam engineers about interning and starting full-time at a robotics startup. They discuss our rotation program, ownership over projects, mentorship, and what makes working at Viam unique.
At Viam, we believe in giving engineers individual ownership over meaningful projects, fostering collaboration across teams, providing mentorship, and working hands-on building with the platform from day one.
To understand what it’s like to be a new graduate on the Viam team, we sat down with five engineers who interned at Viam and returned full-time to hear about their experiences. They talked about our rotation program, the projects they've worked on, and what it's like to start your career here.
Whether you're exploring internships or thinking about your first full-time role, here's what working at Viam actually looks like.
Meet our new graduates
Dhriti Naidu, Software Engineer. Class of 2025, Georgia Tech, Computer Science
Allison Chiang, Engineer. Class of 2025, University of Texas at Dallas, Information Technology
Jalen Geason, Technical Product Marketing Manager. Class of 2024, Johns Hopkins University, Computer Science
Lillian Hwang-Geddes, Engineer. Class of 2025, Cornell, Computer Science
Daniel Botros, Engineer. Class of 2025, Cornell, Computer Science
What was your internship experience like? How did it shape what you were looking for in your first full-time role?
Dhriti: My internship was a great learning experience because I was given a lot of responsibility early on. Having real ownership over my work pushed me to take initiative and learn outside my comfort zone, and by the end of the internship I had learned a lot about areas I started off knowing little about. It also made me feel genuinely invested in what I was building. Overall, the experience helped me realize that I am looking for a full-time role where I can have that same sense of ownership, make decisions, and be responsible for meaningful parts of projects.
Allison: I loved my internship at Viam because I got to meet really interesting people and experience first hand how fun it was to work at a fast-paced, innovative startup. My internship helped me decide that I wanted to work at a startup after I graduate because of how dynamic everything is.
What made you decide to return as a full-time employee after your internship?
Jalen: I find that, compared to the other places I've worked, my work at Viam has real impact and my colleagues are of a much higher caliber.
Lillian: The variety of projects Viam is working on, the team environment, and the support I received from coworkers were all things that impacted my decision.
When starting at Viam, new grads complete a rotation program. What was the rotation like for you? What teams did you work with and how did the rotation program help you figure out what kind of work you enjoy most?
Daniel: Rotating was a great experience. I really valued the exposure it gave me to the multiple systems that power Viam, and how many people across the company I got to work with. When it comes to getting placed on a team full time, having that broad technical knowledge and strong network of engineers to collaborate with were indispensable assets. I knew coming in that I wanted to work on distributed backend systems so I chose teams that aligned with that type of work (Netcode, Data, Core). It was great to "test drive" being on a team before fully committing to joining, so by the end of the process you end up on the team that suits you best.
Dhriti: I rotated on the Data, SDK, and Computer Vision teams. I really loved the rotation program, especially as a new grad, because it takes a lot of pressure off having to know exactly what you want to work on right after college. It gave me the chance to try out different types of work, figure out what felt like the best fit, and even challenge myself by rotating onto teams I had little prior experience with just to learn something new.
The program also felt like a great middle ground for transitioning into full-time work. Instead of being thrown into the deep end, I was able to ease in. Rotations also made it much easier to get to know people across the company since I worked closely with so many different teams, and that cross-team exposure was quite nice.
I ultimately ended up on the Computer Vision team, but the experience from other rotations continues to help me.
Interested in internships at Viam? Sign up for program updates.
How has Viam supported your growth and learning as a new grad?
Jalen: From the start there was a strong support system from HR to engineering team to executives, you could tell they all wanted us to succeed. The generous Learning & Development budget each team member is granted has also been very helpful in gaining new skills.
Allison: Rotating has helped me to learn a lot about what type of work I want to do and what I want in a team. I've also received a lot of mentorship in each rotation and given the flexibility to decide what domain I want to explore on each team.
What is compelling to you about working in a startup environment versus a larger more established company?
Daniel: I think the best way to grow and learn as an engineer is by “getting your hands dirty” and a startup environment is the perfect place to do that. Startups provide opportunities to work directly on meaningful projects critical for customer success, rather than iterating on experimental changes to an established product. There is also less bureaucracy, so not only is your work more impactful, but you just get to do more as well. As a result you can influence technical decisions early on in your career. The work is also naturally varied, from low level hardware drivers, to mobile interfaces, to cloud services, there are always opportunities to switch things up or learn a new skill. Viam in particular is special in the sense that the engineering is startup-like, but the organizational aspects are much more mature, so you get the technical benefits of working at a startup, along with more structural support.
Dhriti: What's most compelling to me about working in a startup environment is the level of ownership and impact I can have. The work feels very tangible, especially since I get to work directly with clients and see them actively use what I build, which is very motivating. Being on a small team also means lots of collaboration and a lot of responsibility, and it's rewarding to know that my contributions truly matter. I believe that startups push you to learn quickly because you are often responsible for things end to end, which forces you to build confidence early on. Compared to a larger, more established company, I like the faster pace and the fact that I can see how my work is directly used. I also like feeling familiar with everyone at the office, it makes coming to work a lot more enjoyable.
Do you have any examples of cool/interesting projects you got to work on at Viam?
Jalen: When I was rotating on the fleet team, I got the opportunity to add a new table widget type to the teleoperation dashboard. It has been used by many customers internally and externally since then, which has been very rewarding!
Dhriti: One of the coolest projects I worked on at Viam was during my internship, when I built a computer vision model to check the quality of a pizza made by a robot. The model determined whether the robot successfully landed the pizza in its container, which meant I spent a lot of time working with images of pizzas. It was a fun and memorable project, but also a great example of getting to work on something very tangible and seeing computer vision applied directly to a physical system.
What advice would you give to students considering interning at Viam?
Lillian: As with any company, talking to people who work there is helpful. I would also recommend familiarizing yourself with Viam’s projects and partnerships to see if they interest you.
Daniel: Having strong fundamentals and theory can be quite useful at a company like Viam. A curious attitude to figuring out how things work will take you very far. Try to be intentional about how you communicate, as it can be difficult to discuss technical concepts accurately and requires precise language. You also really don't need any hardware experience (but having an interest helps)!
How would you describe Viam’s culture in a few words?
