_private/qwestly-private-docs/HR/Personnel/cohen/cohen.md

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Cohen (last updated 2026-05-29)

High school intern at Qwestly. GitHub: CohenRus

Overview

Cohen joined Qwestly as a high school intern in July 2025. Started while entering senior year, worked part-time through the school year, and graduated June 14, 2026. Mostly backend-focused, owns Dependabot resolution and testing initiatives.

Personal

Family

  • Dad — goes running with him, was helping with college apps
  • Grandparents — live east of Vancouver, Washington (2.5h drive from home)
  • Grandpa — passed away May 2026 (~May 12); Cohen was with family Friday-Sunday for arrangements; funeral/viewing timing uncertain as of May 18

Education

  • Entered 12th grade fall 2025
  • Graduated June 14, 2026
  • College applications completed as of May 2026

Activities & Sports

  • Cross country — ran for high school team year-round; season ended late Oct 2025
    • ~50 miles/week at peak during summer training
    • Coach tracked runs via Strava group
    • Hoped for faster times but had fun — "that's what matters"
  • Rock climbing — switched from cross country to climbing around March 2026
    • "I can put my energy into that instead of running, which is nice"
  • Summer camp volunteer — worked with 10-13 year olds (July 2025)
  • Music — was in band earlier in high school

Travel

  • Alaska (July 2025) — family trip, saw salmon running up rivers
  • Maui (Apr 2026) — full week Sunday-Saturday spring break, daily snorkeling and beach
  • Montana / Glacier (planned summer 2026)
  • Iceland (planned summer 2026) — with family

Personality

  • Thoughtful and creative — pitched applying Qwestly's AI interview concept to college admissions ("schools only know transcripts and essays, same problem")
  • Self-directed — enjoys figuring things out independently
  • Liked Qwestly's Code Bot so much he wanted to build a personal version
  • Creative with implementations (Dom encourages "don't feel limited")

Work at Qwestly

Timeline

Date Event
Jul 2025 Started internship; onboarding completed
Jul-Oct 2025 Summer availability (full-time-ish, started ~12pm PT / 3pm ET)
Oct 2025 Cross country ended, ~10 hrs/week during school year
Mar 2026 Rehired for spring; Dependabot ownership established
May 28, 2026 Last day (before graduation); early cutoff to avoid payroll extension glitch
Jun 14, 2026 Graduated high school

Key Responsibilities

  • Dependabot — owned daily resolution across all repos (public site, candidate app, Qwestly hire, API Python, candidate catalog)
  • Testing — built test plan for onboarding flow; owned unit + component test coverage
  • Backend/Full-stack — interview marks feature, persona tickets, button audit
  • Bug fixes — concurrency handling, LinkedIn username sanitization, auth issues

Skills & Growth

  • Languages: Java, C++ → learning JavaScript (promises, async, maps, JSON)
  • Frameworks: React/Next.js, MongoDB, Auth0, Cognito
  • Tools: Cursor, Code Bot, Vercel, GitHub Actions
  • Dom noted his growth from "2000 line local projects" to owning production-grade PRs with planning-first workflow

Notable Interactions

  • Proposed using Qwestly's AI interview model for college admissions (Oct 2025)
  • Built onboarding test plan from scratch using Granola transcripts + Cursor planning
  • Switched to planning-first workflow with structured planning docs before implementation
  • Asked to help with Code Bot — wanted to set up a personal version

Departure (May 2026)

  • Voluntary resignation to focus on graduating high school and preparing for college
  • Mutual appreciation expressed in final 1:1 — Dom: "It's been a pleasure… you're gonna do big things"
  • Dom's career advice: CS/engineering roles likely more AI-resilient than pure software development
  • Cohen expressed interest in following Qwestly's progress; joked about hiring Dom someday
  • Departure on extremely positive terms; Dom open to future re-engagement

Technical Setup / Accounts