Work Term 4
Picton Investments - Software Development
MCP
OAuth
Claude
Internal Tools
Frontend Development
Summer 2026 ยท Second work term at Picton Investments
INTRODUCTION
During the Summer 2026 semester, I continued at Picton Investments as a Software Developer Intern for my fourth co-op work term and my second with the company. Returning gave me the opportunity to follow the projects I had started through to their next stage, especially bringing our portfolio management MCP server over the finish line and making it available across the enterprise through Claude connectors.
This term also took me into internal tooling, marketing website development, and a few initiatives outside my usual development work. From working on a centralized management dashboard to starting a company book club, I had more opportunities to contribute to both the software we build and the connections between the people building and using it.
EMPLOYER
Picton Investments is an investment management firm where software supports portfolio management and the teams working around it. As part of the software engineering team, I contributed to the tools that support these workflows. My second term gave me a broader view of that work: alongside our portfolio management product, I worked on an internal administration application and helped with the transition of marketing website development to our team.
GOALS
Building on my first term, my main focus was to carry the MCP server through to enterprise availability. I wanted to deepen my understanding of what makes an integration ready for people to use, including how they connect to it and authorize access. Working on Claude connectors and OAuth support through our internal portal gave me practical experience with that part of delivering a product.
Another area I wanted to keep developing was my ability to build useful interfaces and work with people outside engineering. The internal dashboard and the marketing website initiative gave me opportunities to approach frontend work from different perspectives. They reinforced the importance of understanding the people using an application and communicating clearly about what they need from it.
I also wanted to take more initiative within the company. Starting a book club and organizing a system design session gave me concrete ways to support social connection and knowledge sharing. These experiences helped me practise bringing people together, a skill I want to keep developing alongside my technical work.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Bringing the MCP server to the enterprise
My main project continued from the previous term: an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for our portfolio management product. It connects the product's capabilities to AI tools, allowing users to access them through those tools. This term, I focused on getting the server over the finish line and available to our enterprise through Claude connectors, with proper OAuth support through our internal portal.
Following the same project across two terms was especially valuable. My earlier work focused on how to represent the product's API through MCP. This stage made me think more about the complete experience of connecting to and using it. I came away with a better appreciation for how closely integration work and access management are tied to whether people can actually use the software we build.
Centralizing feature flag and tenant management
I also worked on an internal dashboard application for managing feature flags and tenants across our different instances in one central place. Feature flags control which features are enabled, while tenant management helps organize the customers or groups served by an application. This work gave me another perspective on product development: the internal tools that help a team manage its applications deserve the same attention to clarity and usability as the applications themselves.
Helping bring the marketing website in-house
My manager asked me to help transition development of our marketing website from a third-party developer to our in-house team. This was an exciting opportunity to spend more time on frontend work and collaborate with the marketing team. It broadened my experience beyond internal product development and gave me practice connecting technical work with the priorities of another department. It also reminded me how much I enjoy the combination of interface development and working with people to understand what they want to communicate.
Making room for connection and learning
Outside my project work, I started a company book club to encourage more socialization between departments. We read Yesteryear and met weekly to discuss the book. Having something to talk about outside our day-to-day responsibilities created a regular opportunity to get to know colleagues from other parts of the company.
Within our software engineering team, I organized a system design session to give people with domain expertise an opportunity to share their knowledge. Organizing it helped me appreciate the value of making time for those conversations alongside project work. A fun highlight of the term was also getting to tour the TSN office with the other interns, a memorable chance to spend time together outside our usual setting.
CONCLUSION
My second work term at Picton Investments gave me the opportunity to see earlier work become something available to the wider company. Bringing the MCP server through enterprise integration was a meaningful continuation of my first term, and working on the dashboard and marketing website broadened the kinds of problems I could contribute to. Much of my learning came from doing the work: connecting a product to the tools people use, thinking through administrative interfaces, and collaborating across departments.
I am also proud of taking the initiative to start the book club and organize a system design session. Those experiences made the term feel more connected to the wider team. Going into my next work experience, I want to keep building on both sides of this term: following technical work through to practical use and helping create an environment where people can learn from and connect with one another.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to my manager and the software engineering team at Picton Investments for their support and for trusting me with new responsibilities this term. I am also grateful to the marketing team for the opportunity to collaborate, to everyone who joined the book club and shared in our weekly discussions, and to the colleagues who contributed their expertise to the system design session. Thank you as well to the people who made the TSN visit possible and to the other interns who made the experience so enjoyable.