Each summer, Mind Over Machines offers internships to stand-out candidates from throughout the Mid-Atlantic. This year, thanks to a uniquely Baltimore partnership between Baltimore City Schools, YouthWorks, Code in the Schools, Pass I.T. On, and Baltimore Tracks, we hosted our youngest-ever intern. And we’re here to tell you: The kids are way better than alright.
Meet Ja’von Gill. He uses technology to inspire, imagine, and create.
Senior, Computer Science, Baltimore Polytechnic Institute
Mind Over Machines Innovation Explorer
Early Experiences
Ja’von’s parents bought Play-Doh, Legos and lots of other AAP-approved toys, but he really only wanted video games. And so, at the tender age of 6, he had a PS2 and hundreds of games for it. But he was never a slacker gamer. Tagged as gifted early on, he was placed in The Ingenuity Project and later earned his spot at one of the crown jewels of Baltimore City Public Schools, Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. “In my mind, Poly was basically like a Harvard. If you got in, you were set for life,” Ja’von recalls.
“I never found work strenuous. Whatever you put in front of me, I’d just get it done. But because things came easily to me, I didn’t know how to manage an overabundance of work until my sophomore year. I was working as hard as I could at both school and my part-time job at a law firm (which he still holds, btw), and I was just exhausted all the time. I couldn’t focus on anything. That’s when I had to learn to set boundaries. School stays at school; work stays at work.”
“Ja’von is curious, kind, focused and hard-working. His eyes light up when you give him an opportunity to be creative. Whenever I assigned him a task, he ran with it and made it his own. That’s impressive and rare in a 17 year old. He brought his whole self to the workplace, which is something I wish more people would do more often.”
— Tim Kulp, Chief Innovation Officer
Meeting Our MINDs
When Ja’von was placed at Mind Over Machines, he was a little nervous. He didn’t know what to expect at a tech company, but he figured people would be very serious. Then, he met our resident musician and Director of Marketing Annie Cassidy. “To my complete surprise, Annie was the exact opposite of serious. She was charming, friendly, and bubbly!”
On-the-Job Exploration
Ja’von says he spent his first two weeks with us as “a sponge,” acclimating to our systems and learning all he could. Annie prepared him for what to expect, and our Innovation Orchestrator Tally Aumiller mentored Ja’von on the tech side.
“He learned the Microsoft Power Platform quickly, exploring its various capabilities to see what was possible,” Tally explains. “When I tasked him with using Power Virtual Agents to build a bot, he knew just what he wanted to do.”
Ja’von spent two weeks creating PosBot, a text-based positivity assistant designed to boost employee morale. PosBot can tell you a joke, provide you with an inspirational quote or motivational phrase, and even share facts about cute animals. Ja’von’s favorite part of the process was hitting up our MINDs for meaningful wisdom to feed PosBot. “It was interesting to see how all MINDs think differently. What each person found inspirational gave me insight into their personalities.”
STRESS!
Building PosBot wasn’t all revealing psychological exploration. Ja’von hit a wall when trying to program PosBot to email employees their requested content. After a day of experimentation and frustrating dead ends, he finally admitted to Tally, “I’m stuck. Can you help me?”
Lessons Learned
One of the most reassuring came directly out of that adversity: “If you don’t know something, there is always someone out there who does. You just need to talk to them.”
Another workplace precept Ja’von picked up in his time with us is there’s no shame in the long game. “Sometimes you can’t get it all done in a day. Don’t be discouraged. Persevere. There’s always tomorrow, so you don’t have to rush to get everything done at once.”
Official Endorsement
“Ja’von is curious, kind, focused and hard-working. His eyes light up when you give him an opportunity to be creative. Whenever I assigned him a task, he ran with it and made it his own. That’s impressive and rare in a 17 year old. He brought his whole self to the workplace, which is something I wish more people would do more often.”
— Tim Kulp, Chief Innovation Officer
What’s Next?
After graduating from Poly in June 2022, Ja’von has his sights set on a computer science degree from Johns Hopkins or UMBC. Beyond that, he has an interesting indicator for having achieved professional success: “I’ll know I’ve made it when I can sit in my house for a whole day unbothered by people. Just free to hang out and think deep thoughts.” And maybe play some video games too.
