We’ve talked previously about how many users can use ROBLOX as a platform for starting lucrative careers. Speaking to that effect, we decided to check in with some of our summer interns, who are approaching the end of their times here at ROBLOX, and see what they’ve been up to over the last couple of months. Turns out they’ve been working on some big projects. Check it out. 

Garrett Fleenor – Senior, Oregon State University

I got the chance to work on the LEGO® Hero Factory: Breakout game, alongside fellow developer Zach Linblad (fusroblox), and it turned out to be a really fun game. Outside of our overall goal, which was to create a scavenger hunt-type-game, we were given quite a bit of creative freedom. Zach created the basic drop zone code, and John built the city. We continued iterating the game until we arrived at a rewarding, immersive 3D experience.

I also worked on ROBLOX badges, which were really fun to create and share, and gear items like the Meteor Staff, which I was very happy with. Overall, my ROBLOX internship has helped me transition from an academic setting to the real world. In school, almost every project becomes an individual affair. Here, I’ve learned the importance of teamwork, and how to leverage my skills in the context of a team development effort with lots of moving parts.

Steven La – Sophomore, UCLA

I started off fixing bugs and making style fixes to modernize the site, working primarily on the badges pages. Once that was finished, I began working on the mobile side of things, which was a project we started from scratch. It was a lot of fun—we got to pick pages that were key to the ROBLOX experience, and boil them down into a mobile-friendly interface.

I’m also currently working on a “Reputation” system. This would allow more reputable and less spammy users to get more attention when posting things in the Catalog—I think this would encourage a better, safer community, and make our Catalog even easier to use.

Writing code with many people isn’t an easy task, but everyone was friendly and helped me out until learned how to work efficiently with others. I was exposed to a lot of code that I didn’t write, so I learned a lot about styles and practices. Now, I’ve got the experience to start and lead more ambitious projects at school, and have also learned to organize my time and efforts in order to get things done more efficiently.

Nick Isaacs – 1st Year Masters Program, Stanford

I spent most of my time testing new features and fixes submitted by the web team– focusing primarily on the Trade System and the new Catalog. I worked with engineers to ensure that both of them worked perfectly and were easy to use.

I also spent a good deal of time making automated tests for our website. For Hack Week, I put together a small project that allows scripters to get the rank and rank name of a player in a specific group, which would potentially allow higher group game functionality. That particular project did go to production, but doesn’t yet have a solid release date.

I have been continuously surprised by how inter-connected the ROBLOX website is, and have learned how careful we must be when testing the effects of a new release. Web-security has become more important than ever–even the most innocuous updates need to be constantly checked for security. On a higher level, I learned the importance of incremental development when you’re dealing with such a large system. ROBLOX is huge, and maintaining our functionality is the number one priority.