Meet the co-ops: Mei Jin

Editor's note: With intern and co-op season just around the corner, let’s hear from Mei Jin, currently on a cop-op term with our iOS team here at TextNow.

Hello! My name is Mei Jin, my pronouns are she/her, and I’m a student from the University of Waterloo on my co-op term here at TextNow. Because you, the person reading this, just might be in my position within a few months, it is probably beneficial for you to learn a few things about working at the company.

What surprised me the most amid my onboarding at TextNow is how people feel connected. Trust me that even a co-op student with limited workplace experience can recognize that this connection is different from the kinds of your typical “networking” in other companies. TextNow is where relationships are personal: you meet each other as people, instead of just colleagues. This will make you love working at TextNow even within a time as short as four months, starting right from your application to the company.  

It must be near impossible to find a student from the University of Waterloo who really enjoys the co-op searching process. It easily becomes too much in too little time: students go through countless applications and interviews, and after a while, you grow sick and tired of the whole thing.  

But TextNow makes it different.  

The company invited its co-op candidates to an open house at the office after the interviews. It was a one of its kind experience to learn more about TextNow, connect with past co-op students, and tour the great office space that is always stocked up on snacks. You know a company is the one when it makes you feel welcomed before your job offer.  

And TextNow wants to make sure that just about anyone is warmly welcomed to the company. The company places heavy emphasis on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion with three Employee Resources Groups (ERGs) for those who identify as a part of a community (and their allies) — Mental Health@TextNow, Pride@TextNow and Women@TextNow. Any co-op student can opt for a mentor from the ERGs who can share unique professional insights from their identity perspective. I can speak from my personal experience about how amazing it has been to connect with other female employees (which is especially rare in the technology industry).  

One of TextNow’s values, “People First,” is what makes the company among the friendliest workplaces to my knowledge. I felt this since onboarding, when an employee on a different team reached out to ask whether I am interested in having an online meeting just to “get to know each other more.” I made my first friend just like that!  

I have finished work terms without ever having a personal conversation with my colleagues, never knowing their hobbies nor who they are as a person outside of the work environment.  

But at TextNow, people are willing to go out of their way to connect with similar souls. And I always work better with friends.  

Editor again: If Mei’s co-op experience here sounds intriguing, then keep your eyes plastered to our Careers page where we’ll be putting up co-op opportunities, as well as the University Of Waterloo’s co-op site.
 

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