Seattle IT’s 2024 summer interns talk about their experience

This is a guest post from Jaye Cheng, a summer intern assigned to Seattle IT Communications as part of the Seattle Youth Employment Program.

This year's SYEP internships at Seattle IT are almost over! Before our time was up, I sat down with a few of my fellow interns for an in-depth interview discussing what they are taking away with them, the key projects they worked on, and where they plan on going from here. While I only got a chance to speak to three of the Seattle IT SYEP interns this summer, let's recognize and thank each of the interns for their amazing work!

[Link]First meeting of the 2024 SYEP interns[Link]First meeting of the 2024 SYEP interns[Link]Jaye Cheng hard at work[Link]Seattle IT staff and 2024 SYEP interns at the 2024 SYEP Intern Showcase

Amy Cheng has been working with the Infrastructure Tools Team in the Security and Infrastructure Division at Seattle IT. She is studying computer science at the University of Washington and plans to actively search for and apply for jobs in the technology industry soon, in fields such as such as software development, application development, and UX design.

Cheng felt accomplished and proud of her internship this summer with Seattle IT. "I came in with no IT knowledge, and I built up my foundations by watching networking videos, asking questions about tasks, and soaking everything in like a sponge. All in all, I was completing the same work as a full-time employee," said Cheng. Through this work, she learned how to monitor networks distributed across the City and work on projects such as configuring the device properties for over 200 SolarWinds devices.

Thanks to her initiative to shadow different members of her team, each with their own role to play, she also had the opportunity to expand her horizons on what IT does. In terms of advice for future interns, she has one helpful tip: "Documenting everything you do each day allows you to better understand the timeline of the workload," said Cheng.

Fun Fact: Amy's favorite Columbia Tower lunch spot is the Asia Express, especially their kimbap!

Rodas Tekle has been working with the Client Engagement Team (CET) in the Client and Community Engagement division at Seattle IT to design communication flows for large teams. Rodas Tekle is currently a rising junior at the University of Washington studying computer science. She hopes to finish her degree while continuing to gain practical experience in the tech industry. To achieve her goals, she also hopes to pursue additional internships and take on more projects that will enable her to grow in her skills.

One key takeaway for Tekle was realizing the importance of self-accountability and good communication. Tekle shared, "As my supervisor Laurence Chen likes to say, communication is key to successful teamwork and project completion." To Tekle, this internship meant having the opportunity to learn hands-on from experienced professionals and grow her skills in Power Automate, Excel, Forms, and SharePoint.

When asked about the highlights of the internship, she was excited to share. "I was one of the first people to be introduced to Rob Lloyd, and something he said that stuck with me was the need to take digital hygiene seriously, such as making documents clean and organized," said Tekle.

Fun Fact: Rodas' favorite drink is boba, and she says Seattle's Best Tea is the only one that consistently tastes amazing!

Eirwen Too is currently studying Arts, Business, and Technology at Seattle Central College and has been working with the Resilience and Service Delivery team to develop a SharePoint site for the Security and Infrastructures (S&I) Division. Her future plans are to finish up her Associate of Arts degree while also looking to participate in more internships to get a better idea of what major to pursue.

Too mentioned that the internship was quite a good learning experience for her and that she appreciated the opportunity to connect with people in various technology fields and programs both on a personal and professional level. "It is meaningful to interact with people after having a virtual internship previously and years of online school where I didn't get to interact with other people very much. I learned about what people's career dreams were and why they chose their jobs, which gave me more insight into who other people are and helps me think about my own career path and opportunities I can explore," said Too.

When asked what advice she would give to future interns, Too confidently said: "Learn more with others and connect to as many people as you can. These experiences will allow you to gain confidence in your communication." To make the internship even better, Too also advises that there should be more opportunities for career exploration.

Fun Fact: Eirwen's favorite snacks of all time are ramen snacks from GGE (specifically the spicy flavor) and Baby Star!

I'm Jaye Cheng. During my time with the Seattle IT Communications Team, I got the opportunity to publish not only social media posts, but also professional articles and blogs for newsletters that went out to both the public and internal staff.

Coming in, I felt quite nervous and intimidated, but now I can confidently say I am more than capable of being a part of the communications team at Seattle IT. This is all thanks to the wonderful Communications Team and so many other Seattle IT staff members I got to work with.

Everyone was incredibly kind, knowledgeable, supportive, and encouraging. This internship provided me a chance to not only learn more about the different aspects and teams that make up IT, but also a personal insight as to what kind of work I would like (or perhaps wouldn't want) to do in the future!

Here is a graphic I made to encapsulate all my takeaways from this internship!

Special thanks to Amy Cheng, Rodas Tekle, and Eirwen Too for sharing their internship perspectives.

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