- Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project. Write two or three sentences describing the main activities your STEP Signature Project entailed.
Over the course of 12 weeks this summer, I worked as a System Verification Intern at Shure Incorporated, an audio company. During my internship, I got to learn how to use Visual Studio, a software used to write and run code. I also learned how to code in the Python programming language so that I could complete my project, a log parser to reduce logging turnaround time.
- 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.
While completing my internship. I learned about the industry side of Computer Science. Before this internship, I had no prior experience or perception of what computer science engineers do in the real world. After this internship, I was able to see how my technical lead and manager work and learned what a day in the life of an engineer looks like.
Whereas before, I assumed engineers would do more designing and building products for the company, during my internship, I noticed that the people in my department mostly worked on their computer, creating tools to test current products. It was less hands-on than I was expecting. Since Shure Incorporated works on producing audio products such as mics, speakers, and headphones, I also got to work with hardware products, and I realized that I enjoy a lot of the electrical engineering work as well.
- 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.
The primary relationships that led to these realizations were with my manager and my technical lead, who guided me through my project and helped me stay on track. Talking to them about their jobs and shadowing them while they worked showed me what their day-to-day life looks like and what I liked and disliked about it. For example, I liked that it was flexible and they could work remotely most days of the week. I also got to sit in on a lot of their meetings and since they were working on two separate projects, I got insight into two different products that the company was working on.
Since there were many events hosted, I also became friends with other interns and realized how much I liked the company culture as a whole. For example, I liked that they hosted bring-your-child to work day and “eat to the beat” events where the intern band would perform and employees could bond. The employees seemed more like family than friends and almost everyone knew each other because the size of the company wasn’t too big or too small.
Finally, I got experience working with two different hardware products produced by the company, a mute button and a mic panel. I used these to test out my code and capture the network traffic that was being transmitted. I loved playing with these devices and seeing how they worked so I’m hoping to find a good balance between hardware and software in my future jobs.
- 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.
These realizations of what I liked and disliked will guide me in my career. More specifically, since I know what I like in terms of the type of work, workplace environment, and size of the company, I’ll be able to find a job better suited to my preferences. This will be extremely valuable when I’m job searching for next summer and post-grad. I can also choose future classes at OSU that will be geared toward the kind of work I want to specialize in. In terms of my personal goals, I gained a lot of confidence while presenting my ideas to my higher-ups. I also learned to network since I had to talk to the other interns and other employees in my department. Overall, this internship gave me both personal and professional skills that I will be using throughout my life.
