What does it take to turn classroom knowledge into real-world impact? For Sky HUI Hoi-Hung, a Year 5 student from the Dual Degree Program in Technology & Management (T&M-DDP), a software engineering internship at The Trade Desk (TTD) during Summer 2026 provided a valuable opportunity to apply his interdisciplinary knowledge in a professional setting. Through his work with large-scale technologies, tackling real-world engineering challenges, and collaborating with industry professionals, Sky gained firsthand insight into the fast-paced world of advertising technology (AdTech).

Read on to learn how this experience shaped his skills, broadened his perspectives, and reinforced his aspirations for a career in software engineering.

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What is the background and mission of TTD, and why did you choose it for your internship?

The Trade Desk (TTD) is a US advertising technology firm that provides data-driven technology for digital advertising across the open internet.

I applied to its Software Engineering Internship because of its strong engineering culture, collaborative environment, and the opportunity to work with a complex, large-scale tech stack.

What were your main responsibilities and key projects during the internship?

I was assigned a project to develop an internal dashboard for my engineering team. My team had faced obstacles rolling out some new features, because they had no existing ways of monitoring certain code performance during testing. My dashboard was  to close that visibility gap.

My project was conducted in two phases: First, I extended the company’s logging system to store the relevant production metrics in our database. Then, I built a simple app to visualize the collected data.

What was the most memorable or rewarding experience you had during your internship?

The most memorable part is when I presented the project deliverable to the engineers of my team. I walked them through the problem statement, showed an app demo, and proposed a plan to continuously maintain and improve the app after my internship. That felt like a “full circle” moment where I am truly taking ownership in a project that I am proud of. I had a great time during the internship overall, but it was that moment that inspired me to work as a software engineer after graduation.

What challenges did you face, and how did you overcome them?

My biggest obstacle was cross-team communication. Most of a software engineer’s time is spent communicating with others, such as gathering feedback from stakeholders, requesting code approvals, and obtaining permissions for critical resources. This is especially difficult and time-consuming in an international organization, where your colleagues live in different time zones.

To stay efficient, I learned to reach out to colleagues as soon as possible, allowing me  to work on other tasks while waiting for their responses. I also make sure to provide them with the relevant information upfront to avoid misunderstandings. When necessary, I arrange meetings to align our understanding and expectations. The key is to be clear, proactive, and to have the “thick skin(厚臉皮)” to keep projects on track.

What skills or knowledge did you gain during your internship, and how did the DDP program (or even any specific DDP courses) help prepare you for the role?

My interdisciplinary background gave me an advantage in this role. While my Computer Science major gives me the essential problem-solving skills for software engineering, my coursework in marketing and finance also helped me understand how programmatic advertising works.

Also, the Corporate Consulting course TEMG4950 “Next Intelligent Wealth Advisor for UBS” in the Spring Term 2024-25 strengthened my design thinking skills, including understanding stakeholder needs and developing creative solutions. This helped me navigate the highly flexible and self-driven project at TTD.

Were there any skills, knowledge, or workplace practices that surprised you?

I was surprised by how much autonomy software engineers have in their work. Senior engineers often identify opportunities to improve processes and develop solutions, including new internal products. I am convinced that this sort of perceptiveness and creativity is truly indispensable to engineering work!

How has this internship influenced your future career plans and aspirations?

I think this internship gave me an accurate taste of software engineering, and made me feel more certain about joining this field!