From intern to software engineer with Catherine Ni

Hear about Catherine’s career journey and what it’s like to work at Capital One.

Something truly special about Capital One Canada is how many associates start their career here. It’s not unusual to go from intern or new grad, to full time associate and beyond (just ask our President, Asa Harrington!). This is a testament to the unique opportunities that an associate can collect along the way. We love to help grow and shape careers, but we want our associates to lead the way. We recently joined one of our software engineers, Catherine Ni, as she reflects on her time at Capital One Canada:

“Having completed my internship here, I experienced how welcoming and inclusive the environment is. I was genuinely impressed by the people. Everyone I worked with was invested in my growth, and I wanted to start my career in an environment where I’m challenged by the work, but feel fully supported by the people around me.”

Making lasting impressions

You only have one chance to make a first impression, and we’d like to think we’re pretty good at it. We’ve built a welcoming culture that shines bright as soon as you walk through our doors. It’s something we work hard to upkeep, because a thriving culture is one of the most important things in a workplace, and Catherine experienced it from day one:

“From my internship experience, my first impression was how approachable everyone was. People were genuinely friendly and always willing to connect, whether it was to answer questions, offer guidance, or just chat. What surprised me was the level of ownership and flexibility I was given, even as an intern. I felt empowered to choose how I worked and what I wanted to achieve.

As a full-timer, coming into the office was another pleasant surprise, especially since my internship was fully remote during the pandemic. The office is beautiful, and the view of the CN Tower is definitely a plus.”

Growing on the job

If an associate chooses to invest in their career at Capital One (and we hope that they do), we help them continue their education through our reimbursement program and online resources. Catherine was able to develop her skills in areas that will continue to benefit her:

“With the support and resources available, I was able to expand my skills in cloud computing and earn my AWS Cloud Practitioner certification. I've also had the flexibility to explore areas I'm interested in to grow both technically and professionally. Overall though, I've grown the most in taking ownership. I’ve become more comfortable speaking up, asking questions, and thinking beyond simply completing the tasks to understanding the impacts and identifying opportunities for improvement.”

Curiosity and a willingness to grow is essential, and giving people the space to explore pays off in the long run. We love seeing associates achieve accomplishments that they want to talk about. For Catherine, it was a series of machine learning knowledge sharing sessions she led with a colleague:

“We wanted to make the concepts of machine learning more approachable for the team, so we went through a few topics with some practical, real-world examples. It was great to see how these sessions sparked new technical discussions and ideas, and to know they contributed to both our product thinking and our collective growth.”

Supporting each other

If you give us the chance, we’ll always talk about how people make Capital One an amazing place to work, but we don’t take it for granted. It’s important that our associates feel the same.

“My manager and team actually value my ideas – they’re always supportive and encourage my growth, which has helped me continuously build my skills and confidence as an engineer. My manager also constantly encourages me to take on more responsibility, give presentations and share my work more broadly. I became more comfortable speaking up and more aware of the impact my work has on other teams.”

Making a difference

As Catherine looks to the future, she’s focused on our customers and the changing landscape, both in the tech and financial spaces:

“I'm excited to continue growing as an engineer while working on products that have a real, meaningful impact on customers. I'm also motivated by the company’s focus on innovation and continuous improvement, which creates opportunities to learn and to take on new challenges.”

And her best advice for someone considering a career at Capital One?

“Come in with a growth mindset. Be proactive, communicate openly and take advantage of the support around you. There are a lot of opportunities to learn and grow here if you're willing to step up and challenge yourself.”

If you’re looking for a new opportunity in tech, check out our open roles. You could join Catherine and our team of tech associates in working on challenging projects that help us change banking for good.