***Due to the policies of the company and the nature of a defense company, I was unable to take photos during my internship***
- Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project. Write two or three sentences describing the main activities your STEP Signature Project entailed.
From May 22 to July 28, I got the opportunity to intern at Northrop Grumman, an aerospace and defense company, at their Rolling Meadows, IL location. At my internship, I was tasked with adapting a code generation tool developed for Linux to produce reusable components for Windows applications. Essentially, I moved a tool that helps auto generate code from Linux to Windows, which allowed other products at Northrop Grumman that runs on Windows to access this tool.
- What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project? Write one or two paragraphs to describe the change or transformation that took place.
Before I started this internship, I was intimidated by an office setting as well as working for a defense company. I didn’t have a concept of how professional I should be during my internship since this was my first internship. On my first day, I wore business professional clothes and realized that most employees wore business casual clothes. Additionally, most of the emails and messages sent over Microsoft Teams to members of my team were not as serious as I expected them to be. Overall, I realized I didn’t need to feel intimidated and nervous about working as the atmosphere is a bit more laid back than expected.
I also thought it would be intimidating as an Asian woman to work in a defense company since most people working in this industry are white males. Almost everyone in my team where white males and the other people of color was one of the managers and a couple interns. I’ve heard stories of workplace harassment in the defense industry since women are a minority in this industry. However, after my first week there, I realized that everyone on my team was welcoming and always gladly answered my questions despite how busy they were with their own tasks. Although workplace harassment can happen anywhere to anyone, I realized that I shouldn’t assume the worst in new environments before setting foot in the new environment.
- What events, interactions, relationships, or activities during your STEP Signature Project led to the change/transformation that you discussed in #2, and how did those affect you? Write three or four paragraphs describing the key aspects of your experiences completing your STEP Signature Project that led to this change/transformation.
As briefly mentioned above, receiving emails and messages over Microsoft Teams helped me be professional but not overly professional. I used to go to my parents’ offices every now and then when I was little, and all the employees seemed stiff and overly professional, so I thought it was like this everywhere. Over the course of my internship, I learned how to act in a work environment, so I am better prepared for future internships and job.
My team members and employee resource groups (ERGs) also helped me feel welcomed in the company. I was given a navigator who is also an Asian woman, and she helped me settle into our team and the company. After I was introduced to my project, she helped set up points of contact for other members on the team who are more knowledgeable to help me. One of the team members she connected me with helped me throughout the whole internship. Although I couldn’t be added to any ERGs, I got to know about them more and was able to attend the dragon boat racing event the AAPI ERG participated in.
Additionally, every other week we would have Lunch and Learns where interns in my department got to learn about the different projects our department worked on while eating free lunch from the company cafeteria. It was interesting to learn what projects other interns were working on, and it helped me feel welcome in the company as all the interns were there.
- Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life? Write one or two paragraphs discussing why this change or development matters and/or relates to your academic, personal, and/or professional goals and future plans.
This change is significant for my life since it helped me narrow down what I want for my professional goals. Before coming into this internship, I was open to working in all sorts of industries that software engineering can be applied. There were some industries like defense that I was a bit hesitant to join, but I was still open to them. After this internship, I decided that the defense industry wasn’t suitable for me. There were a lot of restricted access areas and projects that were classified that I wanted to access or know about but wasn’t allowed. In addition, although it’s amazing that I was able to contribute to the national defense of our country, I don’t like the idea that my contributions can be used in war.