From finance to open source: Shashank Jha shares his internship experience at ONLYOFFICE

Our Back to school series continues with another story from the ONLYOFFICE Internship Program, which has welcomed students and young professionals from around the world since 2024. Today, we’re talking to Shashank Jha from India, who joined the team as a technical writing intern.

Personal background

Please briefly introduce yourself.

Hello everyone! My name is Shashank Jha, and I’m from India. I completed my bachelor’s in commerce from the University of Delhi, and I have a strong interest in both finance and technology. Currently, I’m working as a technical writing intern at ONLYOFFICE, where I make sure the Help Center documentation and GitHub READMEs stay accurate and are a breeze to read.

What was your inspiration behind pursuing this particular career path or field of study?

If you were to look at my phone’s home screen a couple of years ago, you would find every big tech app out there. But one day, I stumbled upon itsfoss.com, and that led me down a rabbit hole into the open-source ecosystem, and questions like why one should even care about what’s running on their phone. After spending a couple of months learning, I decided I wanted to contribute to this vibrant community, not just be a user. I joined ONLYOFFICE as an intern, and after so many months, I can say it’s been one of the most enriching experiences I’ve had.

The one person (a mentor, teacher, or public figure) who has influenced your professional journey so far?

I’ve worked in remote setups before ONLYOFFICE, so I understand that having a good work ethic is crucial to making this setup work, since we’re not physically seeing our teammates. For this, I’m humbly grateful to my first manager, Deval Savla :), who inspired and helped me build this ethic very early in my career. Breaking big tasks down into chunks and communicating clearly with the team takes half the mental load off, which in turn makes me more creative at my craft.

What’s a fun or quirky fact about you that your team might not know?

I love stationery. Not that I need a ton of it; I’m just particular about what I use. As a child, a brand-new notebook was enough to make me want to study more (I distinctly remember rationing the first few pages of a fresh one because I didn’t want to “ruin” it with bad handwriting). Even today, I like trying out new pens and highlighters. I currently have a small drawer at home that’s basically a graveyard of used pens. I think it sparks that creative energy in me. There’s something about a smooth pen or a perfectly color-coded page that makes even boring tasks feel a little more fun.

ONLYOFFICE experience

What’s the one surprising thing you discovered about ONLYOFFICE after joining?

For me, it’s definitely how the remote work culture works throughout ONLYOFFICE. There’s less hand-holding, and more emphasis on giving me the creative freedom and ownership of my work. I love that. And whenever I run into problems, my mentors, Olga Kot and Ksenia Fedoruk, have been kind to help me out.

Have you had any memorable moments with your team or fellow interns?

I got the opportunity to represent ONLYOFFICE at DevConf 2026, along with my then-teammate Eeshaan Sawant. The experience was far more enriching than I had imagined. I talked to more people in those two days at the event than I normally do in a month. Students, developers, writers, people from all spheres of the open-source ecosystem were there. It was an amazing experience talking to all of them, explaining our office suite and taking questions.

Is there a particular value or practice at ONLYOFFICE that resonates with you?

In my experience, giving people the creative liberty to try out methods beyond convention is a value that deeply resonates with me. Whenever I give any suggestion, I feel I am adequately heard, and my opinion is valued.

If you could describe your internship experience in three words, what would they be and why?

Enriching, freedom, ethics.

• Enriching, because I’ve learned a lot. I took inspiration from how my mentors used AI and VS Code, adapted it in my own way, and made my workflow more efficient.
• Freedom, because I get to choose my working hours.
• Ethics, because having a good work ethic is fundamental to a fruitful professional career, especially in a remote setup. With ONLYOFFICE, I’m learning this every day.

How has this internship influenced your career goals?

This internship taught me a clear distinction between working in a small, tight-knit team and working in a large organization with multiple layers of bureaucracy. Going forward, I would definitely like to work in the former, where things move fast, and thus feedback is quicker.

Skill development and motivation

What tools or skills have you picked up that you think will be useful in your future career?

I’ve picked up quite a few skills, but one that will stick with me is building a Claude workflow. After multiple iterations, I’ve created a system for myself that acts like a second brain for my workflow at ONLYOFFICE. It takes in all the input, cross-verifies it across websites, and generates the output I desire, while constantly incorporating my feedback along the way. I believe this skill will be useful in any domain I work in going forward.

How do you stay motivated and productive during remote work?

I believe it is my responsibility as a person to contribute to the open-source movement. Everyone should contribute in any capacity, big or small. I would like to see a future where the fundamental blocks of technology are decentralized and open in their nature, rather than a few of them controlling everything. It is similar to how we all have a shared responsibility towards a sustainable and green Earth. I see my work at ONLYOFFICE as just a small part in a bigger picture. This is what drives me to work every day.

Skill development and motivation

What tools or skills have you picked up that you think will be useful in your future career?

I’ve picked up quite a few skills, but one that will stick with me is building a Claude workflow. After multiple iterations, I’ve created a system for myself that acts like a second brain for my workflow at ONLYOFFICE. It takes in all the input, cross-verifies it across websites, and generates the output I desire, while constantly incorporating my feedback along the way. I believe this skill will be useful in any domain I work in going forward.

How do you stay motivated and productive during remote work?

I believe it is my responsibility as a person to contribute to the open-source movement. Everyone should contribute in any capacity, big or small. I would like to see a future where the fundamental blocks of technology are decentralized and open in their nature, rather than a few of them controlling everything. It is similar to how we all have a shared responsibility towards a sustainable and green Earth. I see my work at ONLYOFFICE as just a small part in a bigger picture. This is what drives me to work every day.

Become an ONLYOFFICE intern

Want to start an internship at ONLYOFFICE and contribute to documentation, assist in PR tasks, localize templates, or build custom AI functions? Send us your CV and cover letter using “Internship + Your Name” (or the position you’re applying for) as the email subject.

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