When I found out I was going to be doing an internship at UDI, I truly was not sure what to expect. I didn’t know what kind of tasks they would have that would be applicable to a new intern with minimal IT training.
What I did not expect was to be fortunate enough to meet a group of highly dedicated and kind individuals who would do their best to help me hone my skills in the world of IT, and help me find out which part of that world I would be interested in. In the brief time I was here, I was able to learn as much about the fundamentals of IT as I had in an entire school year.
The sheer variety of tasks to do in an IT environment is truly astounding. Everything from decommissioning old computers and setting up computing equipment to interfacing with switches and managing virtual machines is available. Case in point, when working in IT, figuring out what you want to do can, and almost certainly will, require a great amount of hands-on experimentation.
The people at UDI were instrumental in giving me opportunities to do that experimentation. It is thanks to these people that I can say I have a better grasp of what I would like to do in this field.
Another invaluable opportunity I was given was being able to see how IT personnel work in a business environment. I was given the chance to go to different businesses, and by doing so I was able to observe how to interact with customers. Learning how to communicate properly is something you must be extremely adept at when working in IT. However, it is a skill that is not often trained to the degree that it should be, such to the point that even those with the most experience, such as a senior engineers, constantly need to work on improving this skill. It is a skill that everyone needs to start developing as soon as possible. Getting to observe experienced individuals do this is something that will assuredly be invaluable to me in the years to come.
Lastly, I would like to give voice to the exemplary teaching given to me by both helpdesk and computing engineers alike. Their ability to deliver quality training even amid their already overflowing schedules cannot be understated, and removed any doubt of their tenacity from my mind. I simply cannot express my gratitude towards the impact they made on my life during my experience at UDI. This experience really was one of a kind, and is absolutely something I would be interested in doing again.