Schrödinger

Project Overview

  • Duration: May 2018 - August 2018
  • Team: Python development team
  • My role: Software Engineer Intern
  • Tools & Frameworks: Python, PyQt5

In the summer of 2018, I worked at Schrodinger's HQ in New York City as a Software Engineer Intern. I got the opportunity to work on Schrodinger's revamp of a core product: the Multiple Sequence Viewer (MSV). The multiple sequence viewer is a graphical display for helping scientists and researchers view the alignment of proteins and nucleotide sequences. Previous iterations of the MSV have been viewed by their current customers as slow and outdated, and a new version would greatly improve productivity for scientists in the research field.

My time at Schrodinger was spent helping them on the following tasks:

  • Developing various features of a multiple sequence viewer in Python and PyQt5 and writing corresponding unit and hypothesis tests.
  • Implementing the extraction of sequences from antibodies databases and pairwise global alignment of protein sequence groupings. The alignment algorithm attempts to maximize similarity among chains through the Clustal dynamic programming algorithm.
  • Improving model-view-controller synchronization and algorithm speed by 20% for a network visualizer and a protein structure panel for Agile development.

I am unable to share a lot of the work I did publicly, but feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Reflections

This was my first ever computer science internship and so this was an excellent learning opportunity for me to learn how software engineers operate on a day to day basis. One thing that was stressed greatly this summer was that code needs to be both functional and readable compared to my previous experience in a classroom setting of just getting the code to work. I learned how to properly conduct code reviews and respond to other people's comments on my code to make sure that everything is well documented for future users of the codebase. Additionally, I learned how the Agile development lifecycle works, and valuable other industry skills such as pair programming and setting up bash scripts to help improve my development efficiency. Additionally, from simply networking with everyone in the office through 1-on-1's and coffee chats, I was also able to pick up on great insights and advice that helped me plan my future academic and career options!

Overall, I also really loved my summer in New York, and here are some of my most favorite moments from my summer:

  • Visiting famous museums such as The MET and MoMA and seeing world-class paintings.
  • Watching the famous Macy's 4th of July Fireworks on the FDR.
  • Trying Joe's Pizza in Greenwich Village from the Spiderman movies
  • Attending Smorgasburg, the largest weekly open-air food market in America
  • Getting to see the Manhattanhenge