Time to Review Your Summer Internship!

As the beginning of the next academic year is creeping closer and closer, summer internships are drawing to a close. Some people might happily be receiving full time offers, some people might be leaving knowing what they do not want to do with their life, and hopefully all of us are leaving with a better understanding of what to look forward to when we graduate.

A great way to wrap up your internship is to reflect on the various things you learned throughout the summer. Not only will you (hopefully) have a better appreciation for your new experience, but you'll be set to go when you're asked about it during future career fairs and internships.

So here is what I learned this summer! Maybe it'll help you organize your thoughts about your internship.

What I Like

One of the best lessons you can walk away with is knowing what you like in your work, your workspace, and your coworkers. Do you like to be surrounded by people? Would you prefer a job where you can work from home? Can you see yourself doing the work you've done this summer for a lifetime? Internships are great in that you can figure this out before applying for a full time job.

I spent my last ten weeks testing software - i.e., playing and working with the software to make sure all of the functionality works properly before it's deployed. I came into this internship with little experience in software testing, and am leaving having learned that I absolutely love this aspect of the software development life cycle. Beyond the jokes of how I'm getting paid to crush the hopes, dreams, and egos of developers, I've found out a few things about software development that isn't really taught in class. Developers are given a piece of the software that they are in charge of coding. Testers have to not only understand how all of the pieces work together, but how it fits into the business that the software is providing for. Testers need to understand the bigger picture. I absolutely love that. I love understanding the ins and outs of everything and why aspects might have to be adjusted or completely redone.

And yes, I did rather enjoy getting to break things.

What I Don't Like

Just as important as knowing what you like is knowing what you don't like. Maybe you've realized you can't handle working in a cubicle. Maybe you now know that you don't want to work in the city or town your internship was in. This is good to know! It will help you narrow down your choices for applying for full time careers.

After spending a summer where my manager, mentor, teammates, and I were all located in different states, I learned that I don't like being completely on my own. Not only was it a little lonely having no one in my office that could help me with my work, but I had a couple of "fun" experiences trying to figure things out. Sure, I was able to ask around to get help working the fax machine for the first time, but trying to figure out how to join a telepresence on my own when everyone has already left for the day was an experience I'd rather not repeat. However, the experience taught me to look for jobs where the teams are all located together. I also have a few funny stories added to my arsenal, so that's something.

Learning the Business

Learning about the business you're working for can go beyond knowing whether or not you "like" or "dislike" the business, although that too is important otherwise I wouldn't have made the first two sections. When you work for a company, especially a big one, you're not working in a vacuum. Everything you do is going to affect the company. That's why it's important to learn what business issues you are solving, what competing companies are doing to solve those same issues, and keeping in mind issues that your new solution might be causing in turn. Having a great understanding of these aspects and being able to express them in a comprehensible manner is a great skill to have, and interviewers will appreciate that you think about the bigger picture. Just make sure not to share information you're not supposed to!

I unfortunately can't share too many details here, but I can say I've learned more about dispatching and legacy companies than I could have ever imagined ten weeks ago. As I mentioned earlier, I love learning the bigger picture, so I really enjoyed learning all of this!

Getting Responses: "Politely Pestering"

There are a lot of little nuances about working in an office and/or with other people that you don't really learn until you've been thrown into the center of it. One of the most important little skills I learned this summer was how to "politely pester".

Let's be honest- sometimes it's really hard to get the responses you need. Especially when you're only way of contacting someone is through email and instant messaging, it can sometimes feel like you're talking to a brick wall when you need answers or something done. I use the term politely pestering to refer to that balance between overly persisting for an answer to the point of coming across as rude or annoying (which can often make people less likely to respond) and not persisting enough.

Since most of my contact with people was through instant messaging, I found what worked best for me was waiting about twenty minutes. If I got no response, I would explain again what I needed and why it was important to get a response as soon as possible (usually because my work was on hold until this situation was resolved). I made sure to reread my message two or three times to make sure I came across as polite and not passive aggressive, and always thanked them for any help they could provide. Most of the time, it turned out my receiver got distracted and forgot to respond to me, and immediately apologized for taking so long. If they were too busy to work with me, they were almost always happy to refer another person or two who could possibly help me.

In short, don't offend or provoke the people you work with. It reflects poorly on you, and you're just making it harder for yourself to get the help you need. Remember coworkers might have different priorities in their day's work than you do, so you need to respect that your problems do not always come first.

Things Happen. Just Breathe.

I had a technological black cloud following me around this summer. I got kicked out of the HR system my second week, my hard drive was fried my third week, I was given the wrong telephone number so no one was able to contact me for a few weeks. The list goes on. Things happen. Things go wrong. It's not an "if"; it's a "when". One of the biggest lessons you can learn is that not everything that happens is within your realm of control. Sometimes, you just need to learn to go with the flow. So take a deep breath, accept it for what it is, and do what you can. However, taking it out on the helpdesk is only going to reflect poorly on you. Take a walk, get a stress ball, do what you need to. Just remember to breathe!


Hopefully this list of mine has helped you think about what you learned during your internship.  Enjoy your two weeks before the semester starts, and I hope you had a great summer!