The context
I joined Anchor for two backend engineering internships. During my first stint, from September to November 2024, I worked primarily on a global-payments feature and internal tooling. I returned from August to November 2025 with broader responsibility across Anchor’s digital-account infrastructure.
The second stint gave me the opportunity to return to a familiar system and contribute at a wider level than I had the first time.
What I was responsible for
My work covered backend integrations and supporting tools around Anchor’s financial infrastructure. In the first stint, this meant implementing a reusable library that consumed an external payments API and building a tool for consolidating internal documentation. When I returned, my focus shifted toward digital accounts and stablecoin wallet capabilities, alongside fixes elsewhere in the platform.
What I did
I implemented the payments integration library with Java and Spring Boot, translating an external API into an interface that could be used within Anchor’s system. I also built a TypeScript tool that merged JSON documentation from two separate services into one internal reference, reducing the friction of working across both sources.
During that first stint, I also explored a TypeScript-based AWS Lambda integration. The function was not completed before the internship ended, but the work gave me practical exposure to designing event-driven integrations and scoping work within a limited timeframe.
In my second stint, I contributed to digital-account and stablecoin wallet work using Java and Spring Boot. The feature had not been deployed by the time I left, so I do not claim a production outcome for it. Alongside that work, I helped ship fixes and unblock issues across Anchor’s existing system.
What it taught me
The experience taught me how financial features depend on more than writing an endpoint: external contracts need to be understood, wrapped carefully, documented clearly, and integrated into a larger system. Returning for a second stint also showed me the value of context. Familiarity with the codebase made it easier to take on broader work and contribute beyond a single feature.
It also made me more deliberate about separating completed work from exploration and about describing impact honestly when a feature has not yet reached production.