Pravalika Pulmamidi

Describe the steps you took to obtain your internship.

I have started my internship search journey from January 2022. I have been applying through LinkedIn and individual company websites, and attending career fairs conducted by the College of Engineering.

How far in advance did you prepare and begin applying for your experiential learning opportunity?

A year in advance I have started to explore summer internship opportunities. After a long wait and struggle, I have got this internship opportunity in August 2022.

If you used any Career Center services, resources, or events to obtain your internship, what were they? How did they support your application process?

Career Center has reviewed my resume and I attended the COE career fair, where I got to meet the recruiters and I applied through the links which they have provided.

Describe some of your responsibilities or duties during your experiential learning opportunity.

My responsibilities include setting up project structure for Strategic Operations project portfolio which includes creating file architecture, defining Milestones, Creating project charters and participating with general project management within the portfolio of projects.

What was a typical day like "on the job?"

Typical day looks like having a meeting with the manager and categorizing the tasks need to be done for the day and week. Working on the tasks , going to the production floor if necessary and seeking help of colleagues if needed, and concentrating to complete the tasks assigned. Building relations with the other team members and getting to know about different areas of the company.

What are some major takeaways from your experience? How will these help prepare you for the next step after graduation?

Major takeaways in this journey are 1) Communication is the key for all the problems. Just communicate and let the team know what you want to do and how you want to proceed then they open up wide pathways to explore the task. 2)Making mistakes, and not knowing things is perfectly fine. We came to learn and we learn by making mistakes and getting to know things slowly that is what the experience is. Never be afraid of making mistakes and making mistakes tells that we have tried many different methods which don’t work out. 3)Building relationships and getting to know about other areas of the company. We don’t know where we can get chances from in the future, what our interests will be, and where we will want to see ourselves. So building relationships with other teams lets us know about different areas to explore and we get to know about the things which we were not aware before but fascinates our interests after knowing about it. By all these I now know how to start my work in a new job and how to accelerate the work within no time. That’s a huge learning which builds my confidence and gives strength to attain anything in the future.

Did this experience help clarify your career path? If yes, how so?

Yes, it definitely clarified my career path. Though I am from a pure technical background, exploring Project Management role has told me that I can dive into different areas which I am not familiar with but I can ace it if I work hard towards it. Taking challenging roles and putting heart and soul into it would definitely increase my capabilities and widen my knowledge. This has prepared me to take up any new challenge thrown by this competitive, innovative, and emerging world and to tackle it with style.