WORCESTER – David Crouch, who started Ten24 Digital Solutions in 2008, is quickly learning the value that interns can bring to his firm that specializes in e-commerce website software with a growing team of 16 developers, designers, and marketers.

At the Chamber’s recent Career Fair sponsored by Monster Jobs atop Worcester Airport on April 6, Crouch gave two students enrolled at Clark University the potential career-launching opportunity of a lifetime. The students are India-native Sunny Sahu, Masters in Science Information Technology (Spring 2017), and Yuqing Yang, Masters of Science in Information Technology (December 2016). The students were chosen from among 20 candidates that presented resumes at the event and then six finalists who were interviewed. The two Clark students are only the fifth interns the company has ever used.

“We want to support the Worcester development community and build the perception that Worcester is a viable option for students to gain experience and employment in software development,” Crouch said.

So far, the internships are being viewed as a success. Both Clark student interns are currently focused on writing unit tests for e-commerce applications. Unit tests allow Ten24 to quickly test new functions as they are introduced into the code base. “We have boot-strapped the development of software called Slatwall that is used by companies like Scientific American Magazine,” Crouch said.

Sahu and Yang are both working 20 hours per week and are each paid $15 per hour plus college credit. They begin each day by participating in Ten24’s developer stand-up, which is a quick meeting for all developers to gather and voice any issues or roadblocks they might be having with a specific task. Crouch said this is a collaborative chance for the interns to interact with the entire team and understand the scope of projects happening at the company. They are then assigned specific tasks each day, and report back when they have questions or are ready to commit a unit test for review.

If the interns are successful, they potentially could apply at Ten24 for future staff positions as junior developers that start at $50,000 per year. Crouch said, “Our company is growing at a steady pace and we will be adding to our development staff in the 2nd half of 2016, so it would be great if one of these students could graduate into a full time role.”