It has been so great to hear from so many of our majors who have recently secured internships! Inspired, I decided it was definitely time for a new “Internship Ideas!” Today we are featuring Communication Studies senior (and recent Lambda Pi Eta inductee!) Rachel Babcock and her work at Zentraal. I was happy to feature Rachel because she is doing her internship at a high-tech software company, which is a bit different than many of our majors. Here we go…
COMS major Rachel
Q: Where do you intern and what do they do?
Rachel: “I’m interning at Zentraal, a small software consultancy based in San Francisco and Amsterdam. Zentraal provides software, training, and support to organizations such as Stanford University, USAID, and even USF! (Through the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences).”
Q: How did you find this internship?
Rachel: “I actually came upon this internship through a friend that used to work for the CEO of Zentraal. I was very fortunate to have her as a referral.”
Q: Why did you decide to intern there?
Rachel: “Initially I chose to work at Zentraal for the chance to further develop my technological skills by learning new computer programs and systems. However, Zentraal also appealed to me because they aim to serve organizations working within the public interest by providing them with the best web-based technology available.”
Q: What do you do on a regular basis at your internship?
Rachel: “The kind of work I do the most often at Zentraal includes creating and managing client invoices, editing client web pages and communicating with clients through email about the progress of their project. I also get the chance to stretch my legs by running errands for my boss, like trips to the Apple store to purchase computer equipment.
My position is really versatile, so what I do on a daily basis changes constantly depending on what needs to be done, as well as my performance on previous projects. It’s really nice to have that day-to-day variety.”
Q: What have you learned from this internship?
Rachel: “I’ve learned that working on a computer all day isn’t really that bad when you get to see the fruits of your labor on the website of a well-known and respected organization. I’ve also learned that the kind of behind-the-scenes work that I do is vital to the bigger picture for large organizations and institutions.”
Q: What advice do you have for other students looking for an internship?
Rachel: “Definitely use all the resources that USF provides for finding internships, but don’t hesitate to use your friends as resources too!”
Thanks, Rachel, for sharing your internship experience! For those of you keeping track, this is the third student we have profiled who found their internship through a personal reference. So, your family and friend connections can often pay off!
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