Internship Blog 10: Week Four

The prompt I chose: 5. What advice would you pass on to future interns? What are the most important skills for a student to be successful at his/her internship? How could another student develop these skills prior to beginning internship?

Well, I'd start by saying "I hope you chose wisely." Three and a half weeks doesn't fly by as most think, so choose your internship wisely. Make it something you love doing, and can keep you busy with more than just busy work. And also be sure on your site visit, you get tot meet some of the people and get comfortable with them. Because if you put yourself in an uncomfortable environment, it's going to be a looooong awkward 3.5 weeks. I'd also suggest trying to find your own internship, like through your parents or relatives. If you and someone you're close to knows who your mentor is, it's more comfortable for all of you. And pick one you LEARN something from. I picked this internship because it was something I was interested in, and I've never done it before. Sure, I could've picked the easy options and made a movie or do some stuff in Photoshop, but I wouldn't learn anything new from it. Don't be afraid to try new things.

Internship Blog 9: Week Four

The prompt I chose: 7. How do you feel about returning back to classes next week? Do you anticipate a different experience of school now that you have been immersed in a work place? What are you looking forward to about coming back? What are you going to miss about internship?

I feel fine about going back to classes. I won't have to reinvent the wheel just to get back into the swing of things. I think the only thing I won't miss about internship are the hours, 8-5. I look forward to regular hours. Some of the things I will miss though is going off site to set up computers, opening computers up without being questioned, and spending entire days on photoshop just to work on projects. DAYS. That's like a dream to me. But, I digress. I don't think there will be much of a difference in the classroom when I come back from internship, aside from good memories and funny stories to share (specifically ones that involve blue tape. Go ask Sofia Flores about that. :) )

Due to the fact my blogger app isn't so user friendly, I'm posting my pictures below.

Internship Blog 8: Week Three

The prompt I chose: 6. What are you thankful for in your internship experience?

I am thankful for being comfortable in the environment. Being comfortable is important, because if I wasn't around people who talked like me, have the same interests, I think it would be awkward. I'd just be sitting in a corner doing my work, and nothing to socialize on. It's nice being able to talk movies, video games, food, and weekend trips with the guys at my work.

I am also thankful for learning something new. I now know how to call businesses and address everything I want from the call in my first sentence, so they don't have to ask. I understand how systems (such as ConnectWise and LogMeIn) work, which is very crucial to know, because most businesses are moving to cloud computing (which is what CW and LMI are, cloud-controlling programs.) Another reason I'm thankful to learn something new is because I wanted a challenge. I could've picked "make a movie on an iPad," but I already know how to do that. So what would I be learning? Not much. Here, I am learning important, valuable skills.

Internship Blog Post 7: Week Three

The prompt I chose: 5. Who benefits from the work that you do at internship? How and/or why?

PCG, as a company, will benefit from my presence and project. What I have done is scraped through the entire PCG company and employee records and cleaned them up. Cleaning the records is needed, because they need to know who's working where, and if a business is still active. This way, when a client emails PCG, their email doesn't go into a sandbox full of emails. It goes where it needs to go, and the client gets a response quicker. Also, the client can use our "customer portal" to send repair tickets, eliminating the need to call or email PCG. In addition, if PCG wants to send an email to a vast majority of clients, they don't get hundreds of automated emails saying "Email invalid." The other half of my project is creating a tutorial on how to use our customer portal, because most of PCG's clients are unaware of it.

What is this "portal" I speak of? This portal allows clients to send in repair tickets AND monitor what work has been done so far. Think of it like a sheet of glass and expo markers. You write your problem on the glass, and you can watch the people on the other side fix the problem.

Internship Blog 6: Week Two

The prompt I chose: 2. How do you see yourself growing or changing over the course of your internship?

Well, as I said in my last post, I came here to learn. To learn vital skills such as calling/answering phones, to understand different kinds of software, and to compose myself professionally to clients in person. I knew those were the skills I needed in todays' world, and I decided it would be best to learn something I'd use rather than pick an internship that was fun. I feel like these skills will make me a better person to deal with people, and it will help me get a better job being trained to deal with workaday tasks as such.

And provided I get better form, it will change me physically too.

Internship Blog 5: Week Two

The prompt I chose: 7. What has surprised you most while working at your internship?

What surprised me, and didn't surprise me, is how, well, boring it is. The work I have is going to each contact in each company, and making sure it is 100% correct. It's repetitive clicking, and all I really do is stare at the monitor. However, I wasn't surprised I didn't get the cool fun jobs of fixing computers because I'm not a qualified technician, and I don't doubt that the company would be scared of me doing such a job. So, they gave me grunt work/work they've been putting off because they have more important tasks. Do I blame them? Not really. I'd give me grunt work if I were in their shoes. But at least I learn valuable skills that I know I will need in the future and that's why I'm here. To learn.

Internship Blog 4: Week Two

For this blog, I chose: 1. What is the biggest challenge face at your internship?

The biggest challenge I face is talking on the phone. Sure, it sounds easy, but I have to call well over 100 companies to verify if our information of their company (employee records, namely) is correct. It's a little daunting, and a little out of my comfort zone. It especially doesn't help when the person on the other end has the potential to not understand me or why I'm calling. In fact, my first call I spoke with a woman who refused to help me (rather rudely,) didn't know what company I was from, didn't know what I was asking for, and I was unsure what to do.

Internship Blog 3: Week One

The chosen question for this post is: 6. What are you most surprised by during your first week of internship and why?

I was surprised at how relatable my coworkers were and how casual they all were. When no one was on a call, we'd crack jokes, talk about cars, etc. No one is out of control though, we still do all our work in a timely manner. I was also surprised they could keep me busy. Most the work I've received is grunt work, yes, but I'm surprised because most the other jobs (ie: fixing computers, giving support to a client, maintaining a server, etc,) require some sort of training, and that's most the jobs right there. I'm surprised they could give me a job to do. I'm also surprised by the number of ways there are to say "turn it off and back on again." (True Story.)

Internship Blog 2: Week One

Of the questions given, I picked question 5: Describe the company culture at your internship, including how people interact, communicate and work together.

The company (to me) is very comfortable. I can relate to just about everyone there, and the environment is just how I like it. Quiet, with nothing but music in the background. But that might be because they let me listen to my music through my headphones, which are by no means subtle. I was surprised that on day on they had me joining them along for push ups. It seems that we all get bored of working too. We all powered through our boredom with push ups and crunches and got back to work though, not bad for IT guys.

The communication there is casual, even with the occasional talk of what movies are good and bad. It's a bit tricky though, as IT guys, they're always on their headsets talking to customers. So timing is crucial when to talk and ask questions, but we seems to work through it. On my first day, I can just about guarantee nobody in my class would understand what to do, except me. Everything here just clicks for me.

Internship blog one: Prethoughts

In a preliminary post, please describe your hopes, dreams and fears for internship. Please make sure that your blog entry covers all three. Along the way, please consider your job description, your project, your coworkers, your internship site, your overall experience and how it could fit into your education, your life or your family.

Today is the day before my internship at Palecek Consulting Group (PCG) and I have to sit back and wonder hat it will be like. I know a bit about it, such as it is an IT company, focusing on fixing computers (both software and hardware.) Obviously, they aren't going to entrust their new intern with fixing a clients computer. So, I'm not keeping my hopes up for doing that. I expect nothing more than probably calling clients. But, what I hope I get to do is learn how an IT company fixes computers from so much as going to a client's business, to not leaving their chairs to help. I'd dream of helping them, but I'm not going to beg. I think the most fearful thing there is potentially messing something up extremely bad. Because this isn't like, take apart a computer for fun, it's repairing computers that businesses rely on daily.

Now that have what's needed, I want to answer a question of my own. Which is "Why of all the places you could've picked, you picked an IT company?" The answer is simple. I picked this place because it is a hard business, but a very important one. Nowadays, most people rely on computers for just about everything. Every once in awhile, you need to get something repaired, or looked at. Most of all businesses today need an IT company for help. Yet, when I signed up for interning, this wasn't an option. For such an important business, wouldn't you want it offered? I seeked out this company on my own, and I took an important job. That is why I picked it.