Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

My Reflection after a Short Chat with one of my Colleagues

This summer, I am interning at Soteria Networks, a start-up tech company based in Natick, MA as a business analyst intern. As a mentioned in previous homework, the small office allows me to interact with people from different departments. Last week, I invited David, the chief technician of the company to have lunch together. At the restaurant, I asked him a lot of questions regarding his role in the company and I learned a lot from that experience.

At the moment, I was working on an analysis report of a company that specializes in carrier tape, a packaging tool for various electronic devices such as electronic component, and LED. The company wanted me to research that company because the leadership would like to introduce its smart manufacturing technology to that company, in order to reduce the workloads and labor expanses. When I was working on the research, I got into a small impasse when I could not figure out an updated manufacturing technology. To find out answers to the question, I decided to meet David and ask for his expertise on this issue. After a long conversation that day, I finally understood how the new technology would realize manufacturing automation. This short networking lunch helped me not only got to know a new colleague in the company, but also solved a lot of questions at work.

Moreover, I also learned a lot about the career pass as a computer and technology engineer. David has previously worked at multiple firms, including giant companies such as Verizon and Microsoft. He explained why he decided to give up his chemistry bachelor degree and the decision to work toward a master of computer science degree. As an intern who goes to a business school, David gave me a new perspective on career development process and answered my questions such as what a typical day looks like working as a software engineer.