Coffee or tea?
Coffee
Early bird or night owl?
Night owl
What’s one app you can’t live without?
Spotify
Internship Experience
Tell us about your internship role and what a typical day looks like.
I work as a Network Software Developer intern for the ITS Network Infrastructure team. My work is remote, allowing me to set my own schedule and hours. Typically, I wake up and plan to start work at 9 a.m. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., I attend PD, set my calls up for progress meetings with my supervisor, meet with my mentor, work on my cohort project, and have lunch. From 1 to 5 p.m., I work on my personal assignments.
What’s one project you’ve worked on that you’re especially proud of?
I’m currently working on a tool called Netbox for U-M. U-M has a large network, and managing information across all our devices, servers, and hardware is a lot of work, as this information is decentralized and often handled by different departments. Netbox aims to address this by serving as a single source of truth for representing our current network. Currently, I’m creating automation scripts to migrate some of this decentralized data into Netbox.
This tool will be very useful for providing up-to-date information on the status of our current network and can be used by a lot of departments, so the work I’m doing feels very impactful, and I’m proud of it!
What’s been your favorite part of working with ITS so far?
Meeting other interns and being able to have insightful, interesting talks at PD sessions with ITS Staff who have worked in the industry and have a lot of experience.
What skills have you gained or strengthened during your time here?
Effective communication and time management (between handling intern work, PD, cohort project, and meetings with supervisors and mentors).
How do you think this experience is shaping your future goals or career path?
Computer Networking is a field that I have recently become interested in, and it’s been something that I’ve gained a lot more knowledge about during this internship. Having been exposed to my work and other career options through talks and conversations I’ve had with others, it’s given me a lot to consider in the future.
People and Culture
Who has been a standout mentor or teammate for you, and what have you learned from them?
My mentor, Aaron Hudeck, has been helpful and supportive in making sure I’m doing well in my internship. From providing resume advice to discussing standard industry practices and skills required for specific career options, to recommending national parks to visit, he has been a very supportive mentor for me during this internship.
How would you describe the ITS culture in three words?
Empower, community, robust.
What’s something that surprised you about working in tech at U-M?
The work that goes into maintaining the tech at U-M. Everything, from hardware to software, to security, and more. There’s a lot of thoughtful input and work done by a lot of people, and it’s very motivating to see.
Personal
If you could instantly master any tech skill or tool, what would it be?
Getting good at containerized development and tools like Kubernetes and Docker to run applications at scale efficiently. A primary goal that many industries strive to achieve.
What’s your dream job title someday?
Principal ML Infrastructure Engineer
What’s something totally unexpected or fun you’ve learned since starting here?
Learning GoLang in my free time has been interesting to me as it’s used in one of our tools.
What’s your go-to way to recharge after work?
Playing a sport at the IM.
Wrap-Up
What advice would you give to someone starting an internship at ITS?
Be open, ask questions, make the best effort you can on a given day, and remember that everyone wants to see you win and is always there to help you.
