My next goal is to continue to study Graphic Design along with Computer Science, and try to get more of a grasp of the Tech Industry. I am extremely interested in Graphic Design and it seems to be a skill that I have taken to quite readily, and creating design pieces or other forms of art is fun, and I am always learning new things. Overall, this internship has been a real wake-up call, giving me an opportunity to really choose what I want to do with my life, and my primary interests. I think the path I have chosen is something that I want to do, although I am still leaving it pretty open, just in case I change my mind.
My main project during my internship was making advertisements for the Google Adwords campaign I set up. I created several ads of various sizes, and submitted them to the campaign along with some text ads aimed at certain market segments. I had a lot of fun doing these image ads, and I became quite proficient in the use of Photoshop and Gimp. I believe my ads act as a great supporter of their marketing department, and I use Google Analytics to gauge the response to my ads and send reports to my mentor and myself. I learned a lot about the use of these Google products and even more about Graphic Design.
This internship made me think a lot about what I want to do with my life, and what I should study and pursue for a career. It really outlined the skills required for the jobs that Cari.net and other tech companies offer. I have a greater understanding of what my strengths are, and what field I can really get interested about. A lot of the people there were working on degrees or taking classes to improve their skills, and some of them are only a couple years older than me. My confidence has grown considerably and I hope to pursue the skills that I have shown to be skilled at during my internship.
Early on in my internship, I wanted to be a programmer, then I learned how hard that would be, so I looked around and decided I wanted to do Graphic Design. I'd been having a ton of fun with that, but I felt I needed to explore more of the company. So I talked to my mentor, Mike, and he got me helping out with some of the guys in provisioning. They were a bit more relaxed in attitude, but the work was more physical. I restocked shelves, sorted out faulty motherboards, and took pictures for documentation. It really brought to light what it's like in a "Information Technology" environment, versus a "Computer Science" one.
Day Five. I was getting more comfortable with my internship, and I got my ID and Handscan for getting in the building. I started doing a facmon, or facilities monitor. I would have to go around the the campus and make sure nothing was exploding, flooding, or on fire. It was required to do it every three hours, and I was able to do it three times a day, which seemed like it took a load off of the other guys shoulders. I was glad to help, and the facmon was not that hard. I started delving more and more into graphic design, and it was really something that interested me,
I'd been working a lot in the marketing department, and I kind of wanted to explore the other departments of the company, so I talked to my mentor about helping out in the Customer Support and IT departments. He directed me to one of the managers, and he set me up helping out. I labeled cables and wired up server cases, along with checking over support emails and providing a different perspective for problem solving. I was having a ton of fun and the IT guys were very relaxed and interesting.
It's been pretty hectic. When I first looked at what I wanted to do for my internship, I thought that programming was going to be my expertise. However, when I arrived at the company, and I talked to all of the resident programmers, I knew I was out of my depth. I guess I expected it a bit, that I wouldn't really be able to contribute to the programming side of things. After hanging out with my mentor for a day though, I had a good idea of what I could do to help. My mentor is the Vice-president of Sales, in a department of two, so he knows a pretty good deal about sales and marketing. I took one look at all the problems they were having, and I suggested that I could make advertisements. Mike was pretty happy with that idea, and my first draft or two looked pretty good. I don't know if they were as good as some of the ones the web-designer made, but I liked them, and so did my mentor, Mike. I started in on making the banners and other ads, and Mike gave me an account to an video tutorial website. I completed the Google Adwords training and browsed some of the cool Photoshop and Logo Design tutorials. I was pretty happy with the progress so far, and I think the skills I have learned can already be applied to other aspects of my life.
When I was dropped off, it seemed just like a big old office area, with tan walls for about 500 feet in either direction. When one of my contacts came down to let me in, I felt a bit less nervous, and it only got better after that. We walked through a reception area that was being renovated, into a open space office area with computers everywhere. Most stations had 2 monitors, but some had 3 or 4. It was a cool introduction into the tech-savvy world of networking. All the people I met and introduced myself too were nice, and all looked very interested in their work and the computers in front of them. When we got to the area I would be working in, Mike took me around the entire building on a little tour. They had a break room with a pool table and arcade machines, and a lot of empty space. Then we checked out the 6 server rooms they have, which all have raised flooring and giant AC and Power generators. When we got back, we set up a workstation for me, and I started to browse their website, looking for things I wanted to know, or things that didn't look quite right. With that list, some of the web designers fixed a couple of tiny bugs and changed some of the colors of the page. I was kind of worried that I wasn't doing enough to help, or that I didn't have enough knowledge about networks to really help out. Then again, I'm pretty tech-savvy and I'll probably be able to contribute at least something to the company.
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