Internship

Leitson STEP Internship Final Reflection

The purpose of my project was to learn about the construction industry and experience the day-to-day responsibilities of a project engineer. This would be the position or type of position that I would most likely be taking in the industry post-graduation. These responsibilities included dealing with subcontractors, handling submittals and RFIs, and assisting field staff/other project engineers on the team. I worked for a general contractor who is building a 200+ million-dollar company campus/office buildings in Columbus, Ohio. I was located on the CoverMyMeds campus project which will be completed in October of 2022.

Before starting this internship, I had little to no real constructibility knowledge or understanding. I have completed a majority of my major classes yet have not been able to picture some of the more intricate construction sequencing since I have lacked the field and industry experience necessary. Fortunately, I am beginning to understand this more by having the opportunity to watch and work on one project through an extended period. To further these benefits and this experience, I am continuing to work for Turner on this project throughout my last semester of college. My favorite part of this has been to see the building sequencing slowly coming together starting with the shell and overall basis structure and now focusing in on the finishes. It went from being just a hole in the ground to an actual building with windows, walls, and finishes.

One of my main responsibilities throughout this internship was to coordinate and communicate with subcontractors. The construction industry can be a little rough around the edges and a lot of the men in the industry can be intimidating or challenging to talk with. Throughout this internship, I have been able to practice having these difficult conversations and build these relationships. Now I feel more confident in my ability to speak with contractors. In addition, these relationships and conversation have been vital to gaining constructibility knowledge. Learning from the workers in the field is the best way to understand constructibility.  I will go up to the trader workers and watch them work while asking tasks specific questions to continue to gain better understanding and knowledge. This has made me feel more confident and prepared for a full-time position post-graduation.

This internship has been extremely helpful with the transition from being a student to working in the industry. I am currently working part-time and finishing up my last semester of classes. It makes me more excited to come to class every day because I can relate it right back/apply it to my project and the industry. In addition, the connections that I have made through this internship are invaluable. Due to these connections, I am going to be able to bring the Ohio State construction systems management club student to job sites throughout Columbus where they will also be able to see the industry and make some of those constructibility connections. I also help to continue to build these relationships and utilize them throughout my career as I figure out where I want to work post-graduation. I have not fully decided whether I wish to go to graduate school or begin working in the industries, but this internship has helped to open my options regardless of what I choose.

Mitch Morganti STEP Internship – Business Data Analyst, DHL Supply Chain

1. This summer, I was a Business Data Analyst Intern at DHL Supply Chain. My main projects were building a statistical model to solve one of the company’s problems and benchmarking their data analytics to other leaders in the logistics industry (and the world).

2. One view of mine that changed when completing the internship was the approach to solving data analytics problems in class as opposed to solving data analytics problems outside of class. The problems I do in class often use “clean data” as opposed to a company where data wrangling is a necessary skill. The internship brought me to realize the importance of data manipulation skills. The internship also brought to my attention the importance of teamwork skills. For my project I was closely working with my manager and another member of my team to solve the problems we had; the company placed a huge focus on helping other analysts out when we had the necessary skills.

3. The first “key event” in my internship related to both data gathering and teamwork. To determine what variables I wanted to include in the statistical model, I held a brainstorming session. This session included other data analysts, where we explored all possible features (including ones that may be impossible to get) that we could include in this model. This was helpful to me because it was good to not only work with other analysts but also to gauge how they approach problem solving at the company. This gave me a foundation for how to approach problems like this in the future.

The next “key event” was the data wrangling and initial running of the model. The way we wanted to transform the data was quite different from the original dataset, which required a lot of merging and cleaning to ensure the data became what we wanted. Usually in school, it only takes a few lines of code to get the dataset prepared (it is usually nice for the purpose of learning), but this task took a few hundred lines. This made me realize how important data wrangling skills are. Also of importance to me was using a company pipeline for data analytics projects. Instead of just using one program, I could see how their process works from getting the data, to modifying it, sending it to the proper place, and using it in the final product. This will be something I keep in mind for the future; it is another point that differentiates school from work.

The last “key event” was my month-long capstone project for data analytics benchmarking. This project was most important in terms of improving my teamwork skills. I was on a team with 6 other interns. We had to balance duties in terms of researching other companies, conducting internal and external interviews, and preparing presentations. I also had to learn how to provide constructive feedback. Lastly, I was able to improve upon group presentation skills as we practiced multiple times for when we would finally present at the company’s capstone intern event.

4. These transformations were important in relation to my academic goals, professional goals, and the future. I set out to learn as much as I could during my internship, and I certainly did so by completing a machine learning statistical model for the company. I improved upon my skills in R and learned new technologies as well. I wanted to develop my professional skills, which I was able to do by working with and completing tasks for other business data analysts. I have a better idea of what is expected in the workplace. Lastly, upon completion of the internship, I got a feeling of confirmation; I know that being a data analyst (and eventually a data scientist) as well as getting more involved with machine learning is something I want to do in the future.

DHL Supply Chain SCSC

 

My desk (when I wasn’t working remotely)

Summer Global Internship 2019 – Singapore

 

During Summer 2019, I spent 8 weeks in Singapore as part of an internship program at FedEx. In this 8-week period, I learned valuable skills that would help me forge a better understanding of the business world and what it would take to succeed in such a setting. Being located in a central location in Singapore also allowed me to explore the unique cultures of neighboring Southeast Asian countries.

 

Having never worked in a professional work space, or traveled to Southeast Asia, I was able to gain new perspective and valuable experience on the workplace and the world that you just can’t gain in a classroom. I believe that by travelling solo over to Singapore, I was forced to grow up in a way. For the first time in my life, I was truly independent. I couldn’t visit my parents on weekends, even if I really wanted to, as they were thousands of miles away at the time. Learning to be self-dependent, where I would have to be responsible to showing up to my internship at FedEx Asia and wanting to learn and contribute to members of the Project Management Department was something that I couldn’t have pictured myself doing a year ago.

 

During my time at FedEx, I learned a lot about personal responsibility and accountability. During my first two weeks at the internship, I came to realize that what I would get out of the internship what I put in. People in Asia work extremely hard, often managing multiple projects over very long workdays. That means that they often won’t have time to go out of their way to give the interns projects to do. I would have to go out and be proactive in building relationships with the rest of my coworkers and finding work that would be useful to me when I went back to America. Eventually, I was able to have a glimpse into what makes FedEx the efficient, operating machine that it is. There is an expectation in the company where everybody is expected to deliver on the quality promise on time, from the top of the company to the bottom.

 

During my time at FedEx, I was also able to develop my kit of professional skills. Working on many projects at the same time led me to becoming much better versed in the Office 365 kit. In addition to becoming more familiar with Excel and PowerPoint, I also got insight into SharePoint, Teams, and InfoPath. I was also given an introduction in how to use programs such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Microsoft Visual Studio, and Microsoft Azure. Additionally, being able to network with employees that came from France, Czech Republic, Vietnam, and Malaysia helped me develop better interpersonal skills and gain invaluable insight into each of their personal experiences and how they got into the position that they are in today.

 

In addition to my professional experiences, I was also able to travel and experience nearby Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam on weekend excursions. Each country had a rich history and exquisite culture that truly opened my eyes to how people lived, and challenged my initial thoughts to what each of these countries were like going in. The sprawling night market of Jonker Street in the seaside city of Malacca was unlike anything I had ever seen before. Bali had some of the most beautiful sights in the world, where I had the opportunity to hike an active volcano and watch the sun rise from above the clouds. Hanoi was a city jam packed with culture, nightlife, and history. Because of these experiences, I was able to gain perspective on corporate culture within Southeast Asia, but also regular, everyday people.

 

My experiences throughout these 8 weeks will forever change the way that I view Southeast Asia. During my time in Southeast Asia, I learned a lot about myself, and the people around me. My experiences at FedEx helped me become more knowledgeable about the business environment and what it takes to succeed in a place where work culture is taken as seriously as it is. However, my travels throughout the rest of Southeast Asia made me appreciate a world where people take pride in the heritage, who they are, and are not afraid to show it. Being exposed to both parts of these world of Southeast Asia gave me a more holistic view of what Southeast Asia really is. Because of this, I will be able to use these experiences to approach new job opportunities and future internships with confidence, as the personal and professional experiences gained through this Internship make me realize what it takes to succeed in the future.

Finance Internship in Portugal

I spent 2 months during the summer of 2019 doing something I never could have imagined before becoming a Buckeye, an internship abroad in Lisbon, Portugal. Living and working abroad with my fellow Buckeyes was an amazing experience as we immersed ourselves in Portuguese culture. The excellent food, wonderful nightlife, amazing sites and friendly people made Portugal an excellent place to spend the summer and learn about a culture, and more importantly ourselves.

Although going abroad for the first time was an amazing experience, the main focus of this STEP Project was my internship. I worked as a Finance Intern for a pharmaceutical company in Lisbon called Neutroplast. While at this company, I assisted the CFO in his daily and monthly tasks like financial reporting for upper management and creditors of the company. This was great experience for me as a finance major as I worked on a daily basis with financial data and analysis that will benefit me as I go forward. Of course, working in foreign doesn’t come without some obstacles. Despite most all of Portugal speaking excellent English, my financial statements and reports were often in Portuguese. This forced me to adjust to a whole group of people, and ultimately forced me to be adaptable in a way I’ve never had to before. Going forward, I’ll always be able to tackle difficult situations like this by approaching it with an open-mind and strong work-ethic.

While abroad, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel around to a few different places in Europe and within Portugal. Included in those destinations were Madrid, Paris, Porto and Lagos. The one thing all of these destinations had in common was they all had an entirely different reception of American tourists! In Paris, people were often rude and dismissive of us ‘clueless’ Americans, whereas in Porto, the glowing wine country in the north of Portugal, locals asked countless questions about our lives and culture. I would recommend weekend adventures like this to anyone going abroad.  Staying in hostels with people from all over the world is such an amazing way to learn about different cultures and perspectives. Reflecting on the charming receptions in Portugal and the less kind people from France, I realized that there’s no sense passing judgement because those different mindsets are what truly makes those cultures unique. Get off the beaten path of tourist attractions and take time to meet the people, because they’re truly what makes their countries special.

While in Lisbon, we had a guide who was from Portugal named Paulo. He assisted us in getting acclimated to the city with basic things like metro passes and getting to and from work. However, he helped us learn so much about his country. Paulo took us to the lovely Pena Palace in Sintra, about an hour from Lisbon. We learned so much about the history of the country while appreciating the beauty of the colorful castle and national park overlook the sea and western most point of Europe. On the last night of our trip, Paulo took us to dinner with his family and made sure we tried every last bit of Portuguese cuisine we may have missed during the trip. Wonderful seafood dishes, delicious thin steaks, and delicious wines highlighted some of the specialities that Portuguese people pride their country for. Having the opportunity to meet with his family and learn from people our age was a greatly valuable experience and has taught me to always seek to learn about other cultures, especially the food!

My favorite weekend excursion while on this trip was to Lagos, in the south of Portugal. This region, known as the Algarve, is famous for their beautiful beaches with stunning views of caves and rock formations. I went on a kayak tour of the caves and marveled at the natural beauty of the Algarve. So often, people want to see the marque European destinations such as London and Paris, but people so often forget to take time to admire the natural landscapes offered around the world.  After this experience, I’m going to ensure that whenever I travel I stay conscious of the natural beauty of these locations and spend time admiring them. This was my favorite part of the trip because we also met people from so many other countries who were also visiting Lagos to see the wonderful beaches Portugal offers.

This experience in Portugal is one I will never forget and other reason I’m thankful to be a Buckeye. This experience allowed me to grow professionally , establish cultural connections abroad, and learn more about myself. Employers greatly value international experience and the SGIP has certainly given me a leg-up on others while applying for future internships and jobs. I look forward to sharing my experiences with fellow Buckeyes and encourage them to go abroad and learn about other cultures.I feel this experience has given me new perspectives on personal relationships that will apply to my future career outside of Fisher College of Business. This experience fostered a love of traveling and I encourage all students at Ohio State to have a culturally enriching international experience.

By Reed Flynt – 7/25/19