Working with a startup has been an exciting experience for students taking part in SummerTech LIVE.

"I’ve enjoyed putting my skills into practice working with this startup,” says Smit, one of more than 140 tech students and recent graduates who have taken part in the Victorian Government’s SummerTech LIVE program this year.

”I never realised how much I’d learn on the job, and how good it is to be introduced to so many new networks and connections in the industry.”

Smit is completing his final year in a computer science degree at RMIT and was partnered to work on Mountoken, a social impact startup venture at RMIT activator, alongside Abhi, a recent RMIT Masters graduate in Cloud Computing.

Abhi has enjoyed the collaborative approach to solving problems.

At the time of writing, the team are in their final weeks of the project.

“We’re collaborating closely on our work, which is right out at the forefront of tech,” says Abhi.

"Working on a project for a startup like this is very special, as we get to work with cutting edge technologies, which are experimental.”

SummerTech LIVE is a paid 10–12-week studentship which matches students with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across Victoria to help solve their digital problems, taking place over the summer break.

Delivered on behalf of the Victorian Government by the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, SummerTech LIVE is designed to give students valuable industry experience and a chance to kickstart their career. It also helps small to medium businesses boost their competitiveness and solve problems with new and emerging technologies.

According to Sonia Komaravalli from Mountoken, the support Smit and Abhi have provided to the Mountoken project has helped progress the IT development of their social impact platform in ways that would not have been possible otherwise.

“I am thrilled to be working with Smit and Abhi. They’re helping us design a digital art platform that will enable emerging, under-represented, Indigenous and remote artists to embrace blockchain technology so they can protect their intellectual property and sell work internationally.

“The coding knowledge and expertise Smit and Abhi have contributed is amazing and highly professional. Thanks to them we are all looking forward to launching a successful project very soon.”

For more information visit SummerTech LIVE.