GEAR UP!

Transcript: Raksha Doddabele: Welcome to the Gear Up podcast hosted by the Career Center. My name is Raksha Doddabele, and I'm here with a former Duke alum who is going to talk to us about his experiences. So I'll let you go ahead and introduce yourself. Serges Himbaza: Hi, my name is Serges, and I am class of 2017. I'm an entrepreneur, both in software development as well as in entertainment. Raksha Doddabele: That's awesome. Thank you so much for being with us here today. So first I want to just hear a little bit about what you currently do and how you found your way into your current role, if you could tell us about that? Serges Himbaza: I started off at Microsoft and loved that experience. I saw an opportunity to have a little bit more impact running my own company, so started a software development company as well as also an entertainment company, just because all my time at Duke, I'd always loved telling stories, loved creating. So I run those two companies. On the software side, we build solutions for businesses, so in insurance, things like that. And then on the entertainment side, we primarily work with really incredible top-40 artists, as well as we run a film project. We partner with film production companies, and we essentially run those projects. So I guess I'm a film producer as well in there somewhere. Raksha Doddabele: Wow. Serges Himbaza: So we have a couple of projects that just came out in 2020, and we have a few more products coming out in 2021 as well. Raksha Doddabele: That's amazing. I feel like that's a kind of a dream of a lot of Duke students, to make their way as an entrepreneur, but obviously it's not always an easy path. Serges Himbaza: No. Raksha Doddabele: So it'd be great if you could just talk a bit about the process of starting your own companies and the challenges that came with that. Serges Himbaza: Yeah. So there's no perfect way to do it. At least, I don't know of a perfect way to do it. I actually started helping clients in my off hours while I was still at work. I kind of pretty quickly, as I was working at the company, I knew that I wanted to at least try starting my own company. So anytime I had free time, things like that, was really dedicated towards building up a portfolio of clients. And then there's a point at which you have enough clients, there's enough work, that it makes sense to shift over, and you're able to build a team. I think one of the things that I did initially was I wanted to build the team first, and not necessarily have the work kind of lead that process. So yeah, built the team, got the clients, and then after that, moved on. And secretly throughout that whole process, was connecting with the film community out here in Dallas and just loving the work that's being put out, supporting projects that I could. And then that's when the entertainment side started really taking fruition. I saw a chance to really build something that's unique in this community, and that's just the opportunity for talented filmmakers to be able tell their stories, and specifically underrepresented filmmakers to be able to tell their stories. So those things, strangely enough, happened simultaneously, and I've kind of been balancing and trying to make sure that both get to see the light of day. So it's been a lot of fun. Raksha Doddabele: So how did your career path and aspirations change throughout your four years at Duke? Because clearly you started off going into Microsoft, but you really pivoted into owning your own companies now. Serges Himbaza: Yeah. Strangely enough, I was an econ major, which meant that I either wanted to be a consultant or a banker. It's kind of the stereotypical role. And really just talking with people about what banking looked like, I was like, "That's not for me. That's not interesting to me." So sort of thought about consulting as well, but I was just more interested in, honestly, the possibilities in technology, so that's where I went initiall

Transcript: Kira: Hi there. You're listening to GEAR UP, the Duke Career Center's student-produced podcast, showcasing stories and advice for campus and beyond. My name is Kira, and today we have two guests with us to talk about ways to design your best Duke experience. Hello and welcome. Katherine Jo: Hi, Kira. I'm Katherine Jo. I am an academic guide here at Duke. I'm a member of a new team within Duke's Undergraduate Education, and our team provides comprehensive academic support within the residence halls on West Campus. I attended Harvard as an undergrad, and I studied sociology there. Audrey Fenske: Hi, my name is Audrey Fenske. I'm a program assistant with the Duke University Career Center. I'm also a Duke alum. I graduated in 2009, and I graduated with Bachelor's in dance and also in psychology. Kira: So cool. I'm really excited to hear your guys' stories today. So, Katherine, could you tell me a little bit more about what exactly the academic guides do in practice? Katherine Jo: Sure. Overall we are there to help students pursue their academic excellence within the context of their overall wellbeing. But what that kind of means is that when we meet with students, we're really there to find out sort of what do they care about, what are their interests, what are they struggling with, and help them navigate the various decisions and challenges they face at Duke and to connect them with the resources that are at the University that are going to help them thrive while they're there. So, additionally, because we're assigned to specific residential halls, we're also there to help build an overall learning community that is going to support them in navigating their time at Duke and helping them thrive. Kira: Absolutely. Wow. That sounds so important. I'm excited that returning to campus, I hopefully can be an attendee at some of these events. Katherine Jo: We'd love to have you. Kira: Audrey, you had mentioned as an alum of Duke and the undergraduate experience, thinking back to your first year ... We're hoping that this episode is especially geared towards first-year students ... What do you wish that you had savored more during your first year of experience? Audrey Fenske: That's a really good question. The fact that all first-year students come to Duke from all over the world and they all go through some of the same experiences just right from the get-go all together. I'm thinking specifically about orientation week, which I know looks a little different in 2020, but there's still a great deal of programs and new information and things like that that first-year students all kind of get thrown into all together. So everybody's learning all together and growing all together. That coupled with just the thrill of being in college for the first time and riding the bus and introducing yourself to everybody you can on the bus and trying to meet as many people as you can and have as many new experiences as possible. I think at Duke, I think it's uniquely wonderful because Duke really knows that all first-year students are going through that same experience all together, and they tailor so much programming and so many events for first-year students. I loved taking advantage of all those as a student and as I've watched that kind of first-year programming grow throughout the years, there's even more for students now to take advantage of. So, oh, I wish I could go back to that time and introduce myself to 100 more people than what I did. But it was still so exciting at the time. Kira: I think the people are so special. Ultimately that's what, when you leave campus, that's what sticks around. It's not the building, it's not being in class, it's the people and the knowledge that you get to take on. So with all of that, especially for first-year students coming on campus and having so many different opportunities thrown at them and available, which is in my opinion ultimately a blessing but sometimes in the moment can feel like

Listen to Alicia talk about the summer internship process for first years and sophomores. Transcript: Stephanie: You're listening to Gear Up Season 2, where we bring you the Duke Career Center's own career advisers to talk about a variety of summer internship experiences. My name's Stephanie. And today, we're talking to Alicia, who works at first years and sophomores in the Career Center. Alicia: Sure. Hi. My name is Alicia Rhodes and I am a career adviser on the undergraduate team at the Career Center and my portfolio area is first years and sophomores. Stephanie: So kind of like just diving into that. So generally speaking, for first years and sophomores, how early do you kind of advise students to start looking for opportunities for the upcoming summer? Alicia: Sure. So what we advise students to become engaged with the career center as early as possible. So that could be within their first semester of their second semester. Um just because we want them to know all of the opportunities that are available to them and know how the Career Center may be of service to them. As far as first year's looking for summer opportunities, we tend to kind of frame it as a summer experience. And we talk to them about all the things that they could do throughout the summer, from taking summer courses to working a summer job, to possibly an internship or any of the additional summer programs that Duke may hold. Stephanie: Yeah, I think that's a really important distinction because I mean, I remember during my first year and even my second year, I did not have it really figured out and then didn't specify yet kind of what I wanted out of my summer. Stephanie: So for students that are kind of in that position and don't really know all the different opportunities, whether that be an internship or working as a camp counselor or whatever it is. Where do you usually point them as a good resources for seeing all of the opportunities that are available? Alicia: Sure. Alicia: So I would typically, if they come in for an appointment or now if they do Zoom appointment with one of us, or attend drop ins, also via Zoom, then we would probably suggest that they take a look at some of the summer programs that Duke typically offers. We also have CareerConnections with it, which is the Career Center's online portal and it houses the jobs the internship database. So we would suggest taking a look at there also taking a look into Duke list. Alicia: And then to be honest, we really, we really promote reaching out to alums as well, because those could be really good connections that they can start establishing and building those relationships. But also, it helps with the exploration of just trying to figure out what they may like or what they may not like and explore in different industries. I would also suggest joining or attending some of our employer events. Alicia: So we have an event specifically for first year called first contact and is help through I guess a webinar. And even before everything went to remote access that was being held through webinar so students can attend and they can listen to employers talk about what they do, how they got to where they are. And it's a really good way for students as explore. We also have something similar to that called sophomore conversations for sophomores. And it's more designed to be a more, I guess, intimate session because it's usually capped off or like maybe four or five students. Stephanie: Wow, yeah. Stephanie: So, you know, kind of like, let's say, students identify things that they may be interested in for the summer. And a lot of those, you know, whether it be an internship or a summer job or even DukeEngage something like that, require an interview process. And, so specifically for first and second year students who might not have a lot of experience under their belt, you know, maybe they did things in high school, but they haven't really had the chance to do things in college that

Today we're talking to Meredith, who specializes in business at the Career Center. Transcript: Stephanie You're listening to Gear Up season two, where we bring you the Duke Career Center's own career advisers to talk about a variety of summer internship experiences. My name's Stephanie. And today we're talking to Meredith, who specializes in business at the Career Center. Meredith Sure, hi, I'm Meredith McCook. I'm one of the undergraduate counselors within the Career Center. I work specifically with all undergraduate students, no matter of industry interest or major or anything like that. But I also serve more of a specialty area within business. So business overall finance consulting and marketing more specifically. But what that really means is that I'm in touch with a lot of employers in that range as well as student clubs and organizations, but still cross-training for all industries and such. Stephanie Yeah. So I guess kind of focusing on business for the most definitely feel free to bring in some, you know, other tips or experiences that you have. Stephanie How early do you usually start advising students to start looking for summer opportunities for the upcoming summer? Meredith So really, it depends on the industry that you're looking at to a certain degree and sometimes even more specifically the company that you're looking at. So if we're talking business at large and kind of marketing as well, you're really looking at potentially with the full year of depending on when a company is hiring. Meredith So there will be some maybe companies that are more we'll know larger companies hiring a couple hundred to thousands of summer interns that may recruit earlier because that process takes a little bit longer and they need the time and they need to go to those career fairs, things like that, because they have a lot of roles to fill. So you might see some of them early in the year in the fall, while then also you're going to see a lot of companies hiring in the spring, but they may have a few, fewer openings. So maybe it is a small local company that has the room for two interns total or one that has maybe 20. At that point, they're not necessarily going to do the national recruiting that a really large company would do, but they're still amazing opportunities. It's just the recruitment looks different. So for my students who are looking at businesses overall, so business operations kind of is corporate finance, marketing, advertising, different things like that really can run the range of the year. So having a strategy and knowing how you're wanting to go about it, who you kind of want to work with is really helpful in that point. Or just even being open to discovering who you want to work with throughout that process. Whereas with consulting students and those interested primarily in consulting, much of the recruitment is going to be in the fall. There are a few boutique firms that will still hire in the spring, but the majority of recruitment is going to be around like late, early to mid in the fall for that internship recruiting process again for these companies that are hiring. And what I would call a cohort model, they're bringing on a lot of interns at the exact same time nationally. Whereas those that are a little bit smaller don't have as many openings. You might see a little bit later in the fall, too, also in the spring semester and then for finance. And it's much more year specific. So with the other industries, I wouldn't really put it into a year category. But for finance, we're really seeing our sophomore year, spring semester and summer before junior year is the primary recruiting for internships. Meredith That is for the junior summer internship. And so within finance, that junior summer internship. And when I say finance, let me clarify that, I mean much more specifically investment banking and sales and trading. Meredith And those two divisions are the ones that

Listen to Laura talk about the summer internship processes for grad students in a range of industries. Transcript: Stephanie: Hi there. You're listening to Gear Up Season 2, where we bring you the Duke Career Center's on career advisers and talk about a variety of summer internship experiences. My name's Stephanie. And today, we're talking to Laura, who advises graduate students on a range of industries. Laura: Sure. I am Laura Coutts. I am a graduate career advisor in the Career Center. And I work specifically with students in the arts, humanities, environment, policy, and divinity. I have a broad portfolio. Stephanie: That is a lot. So generally speaking and then within each of those areas, how early do you usually advise students to start looking for summer opportunities? Laura: Sure. I think it really depends on industry. I would say for those students who are interested in nonprofit, the smaller companies, really, you can look in the spring. But if you're looking more for larger organizations, finance, business, things like that, a lot of that hiring timeline is going to be in the fall. So that'll probably be September, October. The first few months of a school year, you would start looking for an internship that would start that next summer. Stephanie: And where do you usually draw on students to find those internships? Like what kind of resources are available to them? Laura: Yeah, a lot of that, again, depends on industry. So thinking about some of our environment students, there are some really great opportunities there. Stand back, which is also run through the Nicholas School. Thinking about some of our other students. A lot of the time, too. I'll talk to them about, you know, what are second, third year students? What have they been up to and how have they found their internships? Because especially I think about like the arts and humanities, a lot of students are networking for smaller organizations. And so there's not necessarily one central receptacle. Laura: If you're going to this Web site, you will find everything listed, a lot of it in the nonprofit arts humanities is much more kind of networking based or conversations with people you're interested in. Stephanie: So do you usually connect students to older students or is there like good networking platforms? Laura: Yeah, I mean, part of it, too, is just asking people, do you know any second your Masters students? And they're like, oh, yeah, I live with one, right? Or they interact with each other regularly, but they don't think of each other as resources. And so part of it, we just talk about what their social circles look like and who else kind of what are their activities they do around Duke. And so sometimes those are really good opportunities. Otherwise sometimes we'll just do a really quick LinkedIn search, right? Or Duke alumni network, kind of. Who else has been in your shoes before? How do they navigate this situation? Stephanie: Yeah. So let's say students have kind of figured out a number of internships opportunities that they want to apply to. They're preparing for an interview process. Now, what kind of preparation or advice you get to students of things to really be looking to showcase during their interview process, depending upon whatever industry they're going to differentiate? Laura: Sure. You know, I think the biggest thing in interviews is really about self-awareness, right. It's not always about knowing the specific information that you need for that industry or they're not looking for you to be an expert. They will train you in any internship you have. I always joke around with people and say, like every job I've ever had, I've been trained for except for babysitting. And I probably should have had better training for that. So I would say even if you're at an internship and they ask you or an interview and they ask you like you know about the specific information, I say it's less about knowing the answer an

Listen to Stacia talk about the summer internship process for Masters students in STEM fields. Transcript: Stephanie: Hi there. You're listening to Gear Up season two, where we bring you the Duke Career Center's own career advisers to talk about a variety a summer internship experiences. My name's Stephanie and today, we're talking to Stacia, who advises graduate students in various science areas. Stacia: I am Stacia Solomon and I am one of the graduate student advisors here in the Career Center. I have a few areas of outreach that I specifically oversee, and those include social sciences, engineering and physical sciences, and computational in quantitative areas. Stephanie: So kind of generally speaking, across all those areas, how early would you say that graduate students that you work with should really start looking for summer internships? Stacia: So my initial answer to that is it really depends on the area. There are some programs that we have here at Duke which require their students to have an internship. Those are Masters students in particular during their first summer following their first academic year. So for those students and particularly those are students in the mid areas, in some of the stat students as well, they need to start looking around, you know, in the fall for the next summer. So it's a pretty, you know, really quick turnaround for those students in a lot of those opportunities are taken away pretty quickly. But for other areas, it really just depends on the discipline and the rhythm. Some of them follow more of the professional year and pattern in terms of internships, like there may be more internships opportunities around a certain conference or things that may happen at different other pivotal times during the year. So it really, really depends on the discipline. But I would definitely say, you know, by February, March, pretty much true for all disciplines, you should have your internship site set or be narrowing down what your final selections are. Stephanie: And so in terms of kind of finding those opportunities or knowing where to look for them, what kind of resources do you usually recommend to students for identifying those. Stacia: Yeah. So a lot of the research that we use is typically the same as, you know, identifying that final job. So we use a lot of the bigger or we refer a lot of the bigger job posting areas such as LinkedIn and umm Indeed, The Muse is also one of the job boards just for it in general that we would refer to students. And there may be some more specific ones depending on the discipline in the industry that might get more specific for some of those areas. But we definitely encourage students to have their online presence in tact. In this day and age, that's something that's really, really critical and really important for students. And we also encourage them to personalize their documents as much as well to help them to stand out for those different internship opportunities. Stephanie: So, I mean, this is a very broad question for so much of the different industries that you work with specifically. But in terms of kind of like skills or qualities that students who are going into these industries should be trying to showcase when they're beginning the interview process, you know what kind of advice do you usually give to students or what should they expect to be asked about, in the interview process? Stacia: Yes, so hard skills are really big deal, especially for some of the more technical areas, like really knowing those programing languages and different statistical software packages and all of those hard skills are methods of how to research a certain thing are is really, really critical. And I think a lot of the students know that. And as Duke students, they're getting that. That's just comes with the Duke package. But some of the things that the students may not really think about that they really need is those interpersonal skills that I think in

Listen to Monique talk about the summer internship process from an employer perspective. Transcript: Stephanie: Hi there, you're listening to Gear Up Season 2 where we bring you the Duke Career Centers own career advisers to talk about a variety of summer internship experiences. My name is Stephanie and today were talking to Monique, who serves as a liaison with employers for the Career Center. Monique: Hi I'm Monique Turrentine and I focus on building relationships with new employers that recruit at Duke. I am on the Employer Relations team in the Career Center. Stephanie: So from your perspective of working on the employer relations team, what do the employees that you work with usually recommend for students when they should start applying to summer internships? Generally speaking. Monique: Good question. I would say that when I talk with employers, they mention that students can apply from beginning of summer all the way up until March or April. And that's coming from employers that I work with across various spectrums, you know, around the world. They have anything from positions in finance to positions in science. But I would say to narrow that down, most industries are looking for students to apply for their internships during the latter half of summer. So anytime between that late August all the way up until the latter half of October or early part of November is when a majority of employers are looking. And the smaller companies, though, they're the ones that leave their opportunities open or wait until I would say the February timeframe to start posting their internships. So I think students can, if they're looking for the opportunity, go on out to that website and go and see if it's available and go ahead and apply. Stephanie: That's a great transition. to my next question, which is what kind of resources, where are employers posting these opportunities? Where should students be looking to find and connect with employers? Monique: Initially, the students should look on the employer's website. Their website would give the most updated information, the most detailed information about what the internship will consist of, as well as the deadline's and the materials that the students need to use to actually apply. The next place, of course, will be the CareerConnections, the site that we have through the Duke Career Center, and there are other resources around campus from the Duke I&E newsletter to, DEMAN resources to the Alumni Job Board. And when students work with their own departments and faculty members, I'm sure they have a listserves as well. But the first place would be to check that company's website. Of course, if you don't see it in CareerConnections and then check CareerConnections. Stephanie: Yeah, definitely. So this is, you know. I'm sure differs so much industry to industry. But are there any specific skills or qualities that you feel that employers voice to you they're looking for in students when starting the interview process? Monique: Of course. Employers are always looking for students to be well-rounded. And of course, that's when you all have Duke students are very well known for being so diverse that having a diverse skill set, so, they're looking for the students to have to be well-rounded in their ability to think on the spot, and their ability to use their critical thinking skills to work collaboratively, collaboratively, and to work as a team member to utilize the creativity and innovative skill sets as well to be problem solvers. Oh, my gosh. I probably say that the most because employers, regardless of the position that you're gonna be in. Employers are gonna want you to be able to address the issue that's going on within the task that you're doing. Be able to solve that problem, be able to offer recommendations and other ideas and to be able to communicate that. So you have to be able to communicate well, rather, whether in written communication or verbal communication, t

Transcript: Stephanie: Hi there. You're listening to Gear Up Season 2, where we bring you the Career Centers' own career advisers to talk about a variety of summer internship experiences. Today we're talking to Jen, who advises STEM jobs at the Career Center. Jen A.: Hi, I'm Jen Agor. I am one of the undergraduate career counselors here in the Career Center and I focus on STEM careers, energy and environment as well. Stephanie: So within your career area, you know, focusing specifically on summer internships. When do usually advise students to start preparing, looking for summer internships for an upcoming summer? Jen A.: Pretty much in any of the areas that I work with. It's all year long. So if I'm working with tech, it's goingto be a little bit closer to the fall for the big companies. But the rest of the time, for startups and other positions, it's all year. And then engineering, certainly same kind of thing. It's most people don't get started until the spring. So I would saythat's probably the best time to start looking for stuff that's going to be available in the summer. Stephanie: And so what are, I guess just a we're alike on the same page. What are some like examples of students who have done X internship that you've advised within engineering within STEM? Jen A.: Well, I had a student go to iRobot a few years ago, an ECE students. Well, we have students that go to like Boeing and aerospace companies. We have some students at GM and other automotive companies, G.E., some of the energy stuff. We have students who do Stanback fellowships or we also they go to all kinds of government positions. And then some of the other sciences, when you're talking research positions like that, they go to the NIH, they go to the CDC and all kinds of different places like that. Stephanie: So what are some resources that you usually tell students or places for them to start looking for these internships either online or here at the Career Center.Jen A.: Yeah. So with engineering, I would say that their biggest resource honestly is the North Carolina State Engineering Fair. Every fall it's two full days and both days have completely different employers and it's strictly geared towards engineering. So it's a really great resource. If students can get over there and they can take advantage of that in the spring it's one day, but it's still a huge amount of employers. So I think that's a really good opportunity. And then outside of CareerConnections and the career fair here, professional organizations, if you're involved with NSBE or SWE or SHPE or any of those organizations, they all have job boards and conferences, which are a great place to network. And then, you know, when my portfolio area is so broad, so I'm trying to answer for everything but things like biopharma, or biotech and pharma and things like that. North Carolina Biotech Center has a great job board that focuses on jobs around here. But there are all kinds of job boards like that for places all over the country. Stephanie: So, you know, let's say students find positions that they want. They go into the interview process. Are there any specific skills or qualities, you know, broadly speaking, for like STEM, for engineering that you think students should be looking to showcasewithin interviews that you think employers are looking for specifically? Is there more technical skills required, I assume? Jen A.: Well, I think across all functions of what I do for a portfolio area, critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, some data and quantitative skills are usually pretty helpful when you're doing research or trying to figure out projects, stuff like that, being able to track them and really focus on that data piece is important. And technical skills. You know, I see a lotof students who use a lot of Matlab, SolidWorks, any coding R and Strata. Again, if you're going into research and then Python, Java, all that kind of stuff, if you're in tech and honestly sometimes with

Kicking off with our first episode of Season 2, featuring Career Center Assistant Director Catherine Allen. Stephanie: Hi there. You're listening to gear up Season 2, where we bring you the Duke Career Centers on career advisers to talk about a variety, of summer internship experiences. My name is Stephanie and today we're talking to Catherine, who advises computer science, jobs at the career center. Catherin: Sure. My name's Catherine Allen. I'm an assistant director here at the Duke Career Center, where I primarily focus on computer science students at the moment. That is sort of my area of choice. But also I will meet with any student. So there's no umm there's no guidelines that I only have to meet with computer science students. If that makes sense. Stephanie: Yeah, absolutely. So I guess for this, we'll focus mainly on computer science students. But if you have like other examples of students you've met with, then feel free to definitely add those in. So for computer science students I know there's like a wide range of internships, within that hat students are usually interested in. But generally speaking, how early would you say that your students start looking for summer opportunities? Catherine: Sure. if you want to work in a big with a big five tech company? Say, you know, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook, you're going to want to start looking for internships early fall. And that really means you've got to have your personal materials ready by over the summer. Stephanie: And that's true for every year. Like yeah. Catherine: Oh, yeah Stephanie: You know sophomores. Catherine: Mostly because fall is the biggest recruiting season for larger tech companies. And if they get all their positions filled in the fall, they won't be back in the spring. And more, more and more years, we see them getting what they need in the fall. So you really have to be prepared to hit the ground running in August. With that said, though, there's plenty of students who have no interest in working with the a big five tech company and that landscape changes things a little bit. Fall is still a popular time, but you have more flexibility and you'll see more opportunities throughout the academic year. So if you're ending December and you haven't gotten any offers or you haven't seen the opportunity coming across it that like you really want, don't panic! Because there's going to be a ton of opportunities available for you again in the spring. In fact, you will see opportunities pop up even towards the end of the spring semester. So just be patient and know that it's a process. But if you're really going for a competitive internship, especially if it's your junior junior year fall is is the time. Stephanie: So during the fall or even I guess at the end of summer, what kind of like resources are available to students for finding internships? Like where should they be looking for those opportunities? Catherine: So it's going to be multi-faceted and you're going to want to pull in a lot of different resources to help. Really, I always recommend as a first solid stop is our CareerConnections umm platform. Everybody has an account. You just log in with your net ID, but there on the left hand side is going to be a jobs and internships section and there is a lot of different filters you can apply. But you know, start broad to see all the options listed there and then start to narrow down because obviously the more you narrow down, the fewer options you're going to see. But also go ahead and get your your search saved on that platform so that when you're in the throes of the fall semester, you got to do is log in and just see that saved search. You don't have to reapply everything all the time. Once you get familiar with that platform, I also recommend LinkedIn.com slash students. If you if you have a LinkedIn account and you log in and you search jobs there, that's great, too. But I would say start with Linkedin.com slash stud

Listen to Divya (2020) talk about her internship at Bain & Company this past summer. Stephanie: You're listening to Gear Up, the Duke Career Center's student produce podcast showcasing real students summer internship experiences? My name's Stephanie and today, we're talking to Divya who worked at Bain and Company this past summer. Divya: Yeah, my name is Divya Juneja. I'm a senior majoring in economics and public policy. Stephanie: And where did you work this past summer? Divya: I was working at Bain and Company in the Boston office. Stephanie: And how did you find out about that position? Did you go through the formal consulting recruitment? Divya: Yeah. Yeah, I basically went through it like the way Duke sets it up. So they all have info sessions, in the beginning of fall semester and then sending resumes, cover letters, networking, all that good stuff and then getting whichever interviews and going through that process. Stephanie: So I guess let's start there because I know it is such like a specific sort of process. Right. So I guess, how did you like start doing like case prep? Like what did that all look like for you in terms like preparation? Right. Divya: So the summer before my junior year, I did a little bit in terms of just kind of like listening to what a case even sounds like because I had never done anything like that before. So I just needed to know what it sounds like and what are the different types of questions you could be asked and things like that. So that's kind of what I did with some are not that much I skimmed. Case in point a little bit. I know people say to read that I didn't find it that useful, but I think honestly, the best practice is just doing live cases with people. So then starting in the beginning of fall semester, I had a friend and she was also going through consulting, recruiting, core recruitment. And so we basically had like set dates throughout the week that we were like, okay, we are gonna meet up in case each other. And so it is like three or four times a week we would meet and like I would give her one and she would give me one. And that was like honestly the best practice in terms of just like practicing cases over and over again and also setting one's up with other people that have already been through it or people that, you know, that are working at these companies now and doing that maybe once every two weeks, just leave their practice with different types of like case givers. But yeah, I would say the best practice for me was just doing a ton of live practice cases. Stephanie: And how did you find people who had like worked there. Like upperclassmen who had already like the company. Divya: Yeah. So what worked really well for me was that I had like one or two friends that had done it this summer before. And so I was able to meet them. And then they would be like, oh, I have these friends that also did this and like meet up with them. Or there's also a lot of. Because this was my junior junior year. There was also seniors that had been through it before and we're going through it again and wanted to have practice with it. And then I think a lot of times, like at info sessions and stuff or just like networking wise, you meet other people that work at the companies now. And so reaching out to them and saying, hey, would you be down to run a practice case with me is also very helpful. Stephanie: So then what was the actual like interview process like? Divya: So for me and for Bain, at least, it was uh you get a few like behavioral questions. So like experience wise. Like, why do you want to do this? Things like that. And then it was mostly a case then. And so it was two two of those two 30 minute kind of cases for the first round and then the second round list to forty five minute cases and kind of similar setup of like behavioral questions in the beginning and then the case afterwards. The first ones were live or were in person, and that was at the career

Listen to Sydney (2022) talk about her work as a summer camp counselor this past summer. Stephanie: You're listening to Gear Up, the Duke Career Center's student produced podcast showcasing real students summer internship experiences. My name's Stephanie. And today, we're talking to Sydney, who worked as a camp counselor this past summer. Sydney: My name is Sydney. I'm a sophomore. I'm studying psychology and planning to minor in education. And I want to eventually be at elementary school teacher and work in the education field. Stephanie: Very cool. So what did you do this past summer? Sydney: This summer, I was a camp counselor for Head First summer camps and I worked primarily with kids three and four in a traditional day camp setting. So we did arts and crafts activities and science and sports and music and swimming. And each week had a different educational theme and that was supposed to teach them a certain socio-emotional skill like resilience or optimism. And so my job was to keep them safe and go through the activities and make sure they had fun at the end of the week. Stephanie: Cool, that's important. So how did you find out kind of about the camp, about the position? Where was it located? How do you know about it? Sydney: It's right by my house. But I saw the job posting on Indeed.com and was just looking for. Stephanie: I love that website. Sydney: Yeah, amazing. I was looking for different summer camp opportunities. And then I had seen I think I must have been in high school, tutored some kids that maybe went to that camp or something because the the logo was very familiar looking to me. So I've been looked into the website a little bit more saw that it's a national camp that has a lot of different local branches of it. And then I think the one near my house opened four or five years ago. So it's relatively new in the grand scheme of things. And then just applied from there. Stephanie: Yeah. And so had you had any experience doing that kind of thing before working with kids or going to camp or whatever? Sydney: All through high school I worked with kids, there kind of like my favorite group to be around, my favorite type of job. And so I was a camp counselor in high school through my temple. Also with three and four year olds and I was a swim coach over the summer and have tutored elementary school kids. I had a lot of different experiences with kids, but this was my first time being head counselor. Primarily in charge as opposed to just kind of supporting and getting to play with them. Stephanie: Be responsible for them that way. Sydney: Disciplining them. Stephanie: So what was like a normal day? I mean, I know you said it changed a lot. What time would you usually get there and how did the day kind of play out from there? Sydney: We would get there at around seven forty-five and thenwe have a staff meeting of all the counselors at the camp at around eight to go through kind of the day, the schedule. Any notes that parents have left--good, or criticism that we needed to work on. And then we would start. We'd have, we'd have drop off which is a big ordeal. We had to get trained on it because they wanted everyone in and out as fast as possible. So we had to like get all the kids, bring them to the rooms, make sure they're entertained. And that took about twenty-five, thirty minutes. And then you we'd have an all campmeeting with the kids too where they would run the story line of the week. So if it was a penguin themed, they'd talk about penguins a little bit and introduce the story and then I would my group would go to swimming. Then you would have music then lunchtime, sports, arts and crafts, snack time, nap time, goodbye time. Stephanie: That's a packed day. So what time did you end most days? Sydney: Camp ended around two thirty, I want to say. After pickup was done, it was three. And then we'd have clean up and have our end of the day meeting where we talked about things that

Listen to Selena (2021) talk about her internship in graphic design at Pew Research Center this past summer. Stephanie: You're listening to Gear Up, the Duke Career Center's student produce a podcast showcasing real student summer internship experiences. My name's Stephanie. And today I'm talking to Selena, who worked in graphic design at Pew Research this summer. Selena: Hi, I'm Selena. I'm a junior currently at Duke and I'm doing a interdepartmental major in visual media studies and computer science. Stephanie: And where did you work this past summer? Selena: I worked at Pew Research Center. Stephanie: What were you doing specifically? What was your your role? Selena: Yeah, I was the official title was Digital Design Intern. So basically I was working on their graphic design team, making all kinds of data visualizations and other types of visuals to go along with their articles and reports and be published online. Stephanie: How did you find out about that position? Selena: I don't remember exactly, but I think I was either looking on LinkedIn or Google or something and looking for a variety of different design related jobs. And it popped up. And I knew about the center previously because I because I'm in journalism and I do do some work for the Chronicle here. And at my high school newspaper, we used Pew Research Center's statistics a lot. And so when I saw that they had internships, I was really excited about that. And so I applied. Stephanie: And you got it. That's cool. So what kind of stuff were you actually doing day to day? Were you working on projects mostly or... Selena: I basically was functioning like a full time staff member. And depending on what was being published that day, I was either working on social media graphics or I was working on graphics to accompany a report or they have blog posts that are called for their facthink blog. And so those all need those, all need data visualization graphics as well as everything that gets published gets a featured image. So I was also looking through stock photos, getting images and that kind of thing for photos to go along with the reports. I would say I had a few larger projects, I worked on. I worked on I was on a trusted science report and that report was over 60 pages long. Most of them were actually done by the researchers because they had they have like a template that they used to make some of the simpler graphics, but then for the more complicated ones, they go to the design team. And so I was working on some of those and working on another report about machine learning. That was pretty interesting. I got to learn a lot from the researchers about what they were working on and that was really cool. Stephanie: So do you kind of have to read the like the reports to know what graphics you need? Selena: Yeah, I definitely had to read through the reports for context. I think a lot of times the researchers already kind of knew we want to show this or we want to show this particular trend in a graphic. But sometimes there were times, especially when I was looking for featured images or trying to create featured images, that was a time where I needed to read through and figure out what's the gist of the report or the post. Stephanie: And so did you find it interesting? Was it cool getting to do that? Selena: Yeah, it's definitely really cool. I think it was especially interesting for me in learning more about how the whole process works, because you see that the center publishes so much information and so much content. And it was really cool to get to see how that happens. Stephanie: Was there anything that you kind of weren't expecting before you came to this position like. Did it kind of match the expectations of what you thought you would be doing day-to-day? Selena: As far as expectations. Well, I expected that I was going to be working on graphics and doing that kind of thing. I thought I didn't know that I would be looking for photos

Listen to Noelle (2020) talk about her internship at Universal Studios this past summer. Stephanie: You're listening to Gear Up, the Duke Career Center's student produced podcasts showcasing real students summer internship experiences. My name's Stephanie and today we're talking to Noelle, who worked at Universal Studios this past summer. Noelle: Hi, I'm Noelle. I'm a senior here. I am a Psych and VMS double major with a French minor potentially, if I can pull it off. Stephanie: I'm a French minor, too. Noelle: Aye! Stephanie: Where did you work this summer? Noelle: So this past summer, I worked at Universal Content Productions, which is the television studio in NBC Universal. So I was in Los Angeles on the Universal Studios lot. It was pretty cool. Stephanie: That is cool. How did you find out about the position? Noelle: So I did the Duke in L.A. program sophomore spring, which was where I got my first internship in L.A. and then just through really incredible Duke alumni I met there, I stayed for the summer and ended up working on the Universal lot and then loved it so much that I kept in touch with all the alum and kind of circled back and went back this past summer. So all thanks to Duke alum. We love them. But yeah, that's kind of how I found out about it. I reached out to Lisa Katz, who is co-president of NBC Entertainment, who I've formed a pretty good relationship with over the last year. Stephanie: She is a Duke alum? Noelle: She's a Duke alum. Stephanie: That's cool. Noelle: Yeah. So many Duke alum high up in the entertainment industry you never would know. But I've kept a pretty good relationship with her the last two, two and a half years. And I was like, hey, I'm really interested in doing this. She sent my resume to the right people and a few interviews later here we are. Stephanie: So what exactly were you doing day-to-day, I know nothing about the entertainment industry. Noelle: Umm most people don't. Day-to-day it was different for me because I was lucky that I got to work, I like alternated departments for days. So Monday, Wednesday, Friday I worked in Current Programing and then Tuesday, Thursday I worked in Development. So the difference is kind of Development is bringing in new projects, new IP, which is intellectual property. So like if a new book came out, I'd read that and like write coverage or like analyze the book and see like, would this be a good television show? Like, what demographic would it reach? How did I feel about it? Stephanie: That's cool. Noelle: Yeah, because I mean, the main demographic they're aiming for is basically people our age. So having somebody in the office that is 21 and like, would you watch this? And if I said no, then obviously they're going to take that into account. So that's kind of what I would do in Development. And then Current Programing was more kind of working with people who were on the shows. And I mean, I got to work with everybody who was writing like the last season, Mr. Robot and like Homecoming with Julia Roberts. It's very, very cool stuff. Stephanie: So it's very production oriented? Noelle: Yes, very much about production. Stephanie: Did you get to meet the people on the shows? Noelle: Some of them. Some people would just randomly walk in the office like Morgan Freeman came into the office one day and I was just sitting at my desk and I heard like, I feel like I hear God's voice. So I like walk into the lobby and Morgan Freeman's just standing there, he's like, hi, how are you? And I'm like, hello. Oh, hello. Stephanie: You were like I'm the intern here. Noelle: Which is just so obvious, honestly. But I loved it because I didn't really do a lot of like intern work is what I would call it. Like sometimes, like if they were really swamped, they'd have me like, go get the president's coffee or something. But it wasn't like all Excel spreadsheets and copy and paste this and clean the kitchen. It was very different.

Listen to Cameron (2020) talk about her internship as a staff reporter at a local newspaper this past summer. Stephanie: You're listening to Gear Up, the Duke Career Center's student produced podcast showcasing real student summer internship experiences. My name's Stephanie. And today we're talking to Cameron, who worked as a reporter this past summer at a local newspaper. Cameron: My name is Cameron. I am a senior and a political science major with a policy journalism and media studies minor. Stephanie: And where did you work this past summer? Cameron: I worked at the Asheville Citizen Times, which is the only daily newspaper in Asheville, North Carolina. So it's in the western part of the state and it's a USA Today paper. So we're under the guise of Gwinnett, which is a massive newspaper company. They own a ton of newspapers across the country and they also own USA Today, which is a nationally syndicated version. And so I was just a staff reporter like anyone else. It wasn't really an internship. It was just more like I came on staff for three months. So I did breaking news reporting, education reporting, all sorts of all sorts of stuff. Stephanie: And how did you find out about this position? Cameron: I had a professor of mine in the PJMS department reach out to me and asked me if I wanted to do the internship. He knew that I had come to journalism kind of late and hadn't had much newsroom experience. And so he graciously offered me the position and connected me with the editor at the Citizen Times and from there it was history. Stephanie: That's cool! What exactly were you doing day-to-day? Like if you just walk us through a normal day? Cameron: Yeah, sure. So it's hard to walk anyone through a normal day in journalism because it's different every single day. Some days I'd work from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and some days I'd work half days. But basically a normal day I'd come into the office at like eight thirty and I'd get in there and we'd have a staff meeting. So our editor would call us all together and each of the reporters would keep the newsroom appraised of what they were working on. So we had one reporter working on a big corruption trial that was happening during the summer. There was a big murder trial that was happening that I helped out on. And so for the first few weeks, I was just kind of listening to what they were saying. And then I eventually started pitching my own ideas. And we didn't have an education reporter over the summer. So I did a lot of education reporting. So half about half way through the day, I would be I'd usually be gone doing some kind of interview or walking around trying to see if I could find pick up stories, talking to people, and then I'd come back to the office and write my stories with my editors right by my side so it was easy to just get their attention and have them look over my story. A little bit different if I was working the breaking news beat. I'd come to the office at 6:45 a.m. , 7:00 a.m and I would go through all of the arrest warrants and search warrants from the night before in the police office, and then I'd write up any of the interesting ones. So it really depended on the day. But that's how journalism is it's always different. Stephanie: Yeah, which is nice. Honestly. Cameron: It's so nice, it never it never was boring. Stephanie: So how did you like kind of the culture of working in a newsroom of your coworkers? It seems like a very specific sort of company culture, so it totally is. Cameron: It totally is. Yeah. I mean, it's very different from your typical corporate company culture. And even like working in an NGO, I think it's different. I've worked in a few NGOs. It's a very communal place. You are always talking. It's never quiet. I can't imagine a time when people aren't talking whether that means talking on the phone to a source or just talking to each other. It is so much fun. Everyone loves goofing off and having fun and talking abou

Investment Banking (Barclays): Listen to Angela (2020) talk about her internship in investment banking at Barclays this past summer. Stephanie: You're listening to Gear Up, the Duke Career Center's student produce podcast showcasing real students summer internship experiences. My name's Stephanie and today, we're talking to Angela, who worked in investment banking at Barclays this past summer. Angela: Hi, my name's Angela. I'm currently a senior at Duke, majoring in environmental science and minoring in finance. I'm originally from Seattle. Spent eight years, ten years growing up in Beijing, before coming to Duke. I wanted to be a scientist. When I first got to Duke to join a lab and everything and I decided that it wasn't the right career path for me. So I start looking at other opportunities around. So sophomore year, junior year, summer, I was at Barclays in the investment banking group specifically covering the media and communications industry and I will be going back full time. Stephanie: Oh wow, congratulations. So let's focus, I guess, mainly on your this past summer, but if you want to bring in stuff from previous summers too that'd be great. So how did you find out about this position at Barclays? Like what was kind of the way that you ended up getting it? Angela: Yeah, for sure. Investment banking recruiting and finance recruiting in general is very structured. So, you know, coming in as early as sophomore year and freshman year, that what positions will be open and which firms are hiring? So I learn about Barclays probably sophomore fall. Back then I was already recruiting for other bulge bracket banks in terms of sophomore internships. And there are some alumni who are working at Barclays who come down to campus, talk to people specifically in organizations that I am part of and I just kept in touch. Stephanie: Awesome. So what was the interview process like? Angela: Yeah, for sure. I went, I got my internship through a program actually called a Sophomore Springboard, which is designed specifically for diverse individuals and people of different backgrounds. And you have an earlier interview schedule and I got my offer pretty early in May of my sophomore year. Stephanie: Wow! Angela: So the interviews consist of a phone interview at the beginning where it was a Duke alum who actually interviewed me over the phone. It was casual conversation about my background, behavioral stuff, about why I'm interested in finance, why Barclays specifically. And then I had a super day in New York, which consisted of two, three interviews back to back, each one around 30 minutes long, a mixture of behavioral and technical interviews. Stephanie: That's cool. So what exactly were you doing day-to-day at work? Describe a normal day. Angela: For sure. Normal day you usually come in around 9:00 a.m. You answer a lot of emails from maybe the night before. You look at what, you have a good sense of where you might be doing for a day. It really varies a lot day-to-day, depending on the projects that you have. Usually when you have a project, it's a lot of work on PowerPoint, Excel. It's a lot of especially as the intern is usually a lot of turning over iterations of comments on PowerPoint. So The managing director would like scribble a bunch of comments and how the PowerPoint looks and then you go back and make all these changes or they would get they would give ideas and be like it would be great to have a slide on this. And then the Vice President, the Associate, your Analyst who you're working with will help you draft that what that slide looks like and you might be in charge of creating the initial draft. Still, it's a lot of PowerPoint iterations. It might also involve research and gathering data on different industries, different companies. It also involves sitting in a lot of meetings maybe with the senior management of the company, maybe just internally, maybe, maybe just your group and a few other groups withi

Listen to Monica (MEM 2020) talk about her internship experience at an energy consulting firm this past summer. Stephanie: You're listening to Gear Up, the Duke Career Centers student produced podcast showcasing real student summer internship experiences. My name is Stephanie, and today, we're talking to Monica about her internship at an energy consulting firm this past summer. Monica: Hi, everyone. My name is Monica. I'm a second year in MEM Masters of Environmental Management student down at the Nicholas School of the Environment with a concentration of energy and environment. And here, I'd like to share a little bit of my summer experience at an energy consulting firm. Stephanie: And where were you located, at this consulting firm? Monica: So I was at the Northern Virginia area. So in the DMV area. Stephanie: And what were you doing specifically or what position did you hold there? Monica: So my position was called a commercial energy intern. So basically how it works was each intern was assigned to a specific energy specialized team. There was an intern that's in the electricity markets team. I was at the natural gas team. So that was a fun experience. And this exposure was really good to not only the energy sector, but from a more consulting perspective, which is pretty unique in my personal opinion. Stephanie: Yeah. And how did you find out about this position? How did you become aware that it was available? Monica: So I found out about this position during an event held by which is a joint event down at Duke. It's called Energy Week. So Energy Week, it's actually coming up. So the company that I was interning at was there at the career fair and they were also there at a coffee chat. So aside to a fair, there's this separate event where there are coffee chats happening. They occur for about 15 minutes, five students per room. And then that way you can actually have an intimate conversation with the company and really learn about what they do. So that is where I built momentum. I personally introduced myself. I expressed my interest. And that was after that was pretty much a snowball effect of, well, the cliché, quote unquote, networking. So that's how I found out about it. Stephanie: And so what exactly were you doing sort of like day-to-day in the office? Monica: So I think it will be easier if I just walk through my life from the beginning of my day to the end of my day. So I would arrive, let's say, at 9:00, 9:30 a.m. and then grab a coffee and then check my emails. So my team was pretty small, was cut like in the office. There was like four people and we also had offices outside the country. So we would, I would have a check in with my manager and see if there were any ad hoc tasks that I had to do, because the thing is being an intern. So this is a real, really unique internship experience because each intern had their own individual intern project where they had to work on for three months. And at the end of the internship, you present it in front of the whole floor, which is pretty much intimidating, but that was a really good learning experience. But as I said that you also have ad hoc tasks like tasks on the fly, like Monica, can you like write a quick summary of these policies. Can you do a quick Google search of what policies are what changes are happening in the markets? Like just see what's happening on the news, synthesize them into points. So that was like, I would say a 30 percent portion of my day-to-day tasks. And once that's done, like there is also flexibility and fluidity. Like if I could tell my manager, like I kind of want to focus on my intern project today. So he would understand and kind of like limit those ad hoc tasks. So, um, a day-to-day, like maybe if I had time and I was kind of bored of doing my project, I would say, do you have anything for me to work on? So he would give me these tasks of even just editing. Or maybe like can you check out this blog post draft and see

Software Engineering: Listen to Regan (2021) talk about her experience in software engineering at Amazon this past summer. Stephanie: You're listening to Gear Up the Duke Career Center's, student produced podcast showcasing real student summer internship experiences. My name is Stephanie and today we're talking to Regan, who worked in software engineering at Amazon this past summer. Regan: My name is Regan and I am a junior right now at Duke. I am studying computer science, doing a minor in visual media studies. I'm really interested in the intersection of design and software development, so I'm really interested in front-end development. Stephanie: And where did you work this past summer? Regan: So this past summer, I was interning at Amazon in the San Francisco Bay Area. I was a software development engineer intern. Stephanie: It's a fancy title. Regan: I know. Stephanie: And how did you find out about that position? Regan: Yeah. I think that I found out about it either through D-Tech or through my own Googling of like software engineering internship and then enter whatever company name. Did a lot of that, throughout the internship, internship search. Stephanie: So did you just apply and it worked out? Regan: So it was actually a very weird process. So, it was not very normal. I applied for this position in October and I heard radio silence literally nothing until March. So finally five months later, I hear back and their like, hey, we want you to do this coding assessment. It was an online challenge where they send you something. So first round, they sent me multiple choice questions and then a second round they sent me was their coding challenge to actually solve this problem by writing code. And then I had a final round interview which was talking video, phone interview, coding and talking to one of their software engineers. And that all happened in March. Stephanie: And then you got, it all worked out. Regan: Yes. Stephanie: So what exactly were you kind of doing day to day? Were you working on a project overall, or were you like you just kind of doing day to day tasks? Regan: Yeah. So I pretty much the whole summer worked on one project. But within that project I worked on lots of different tasks. So we had an Excel spreadsheet that had over a hundred items that needed to be done. So each day we would just go through and try to check off as many as we could. So we were working on one product within Amazon and then within that I was doing a lot of front end stuff. So I worked very closely with the designer to make the website look really nice. And then also I worked closely with other engineers to see how we would get our data from API's and make everything display really nicely and clean. Stephanie: This is like a foreign language. Regan: Sorry, it's basically making things look pretty. Stephanie: So like the website and stuff. Regan: Yeah. Stephanie: The Amazon website. Regan: Not the actual Amazon website. So I actually was working with AWS, such as Amazon Web Services and Amazon Web Services has a ton of consoles. So a console is essentially a web application or like a website. And so mostly developers use these quote unquote consoles. And we were working on one of those consoles. And and basically it's a tool for developers to improve whatever they're doing. And so we just wanted to make like a product that has a really easy to use user interface so that they could get the information they need quickly and efficiently. Stephanie: And so did you already have all of these skills going into this? Was there anything you had to learn? Regan: Yes. Oh, my goodness. Yes. So, I mean, I had to, again, you know, Comp Sci 201, which is kind of the standard for software interviews of what they expect you to know. But I had to learn completely new languages. So I learned React and JavaScript, which I hadn't really done a whole lot of. I had done a Coursera course that included HTML, CSS

Listen to Zack (2020) talk about his experience as a Legislative Intern in New York City council member Helen Rosenthal’s office this summer. Stephanie: Hi You're listening to Gear Up the Duke Career Centers student produce podcasts showcasing real students summer internship experiences. My name is Stephanie Mayle and today we're talking, to Zack who worked, for New York City, City Council matter this summer. Zack: Hi there, my name's Zack Guffey, I’m a senior here. I am studying public policy. I have a minor in music. Stephanie: Oh that's cool. Zack: Yeah, I've played the trumpet since the third grade, but since getting here I've started pursuing public policy. Stephanie: And where did you work this past summer? Zack: So this past summer, I was an intern in New York City Council member Helen Rosenthal's legislative office. So I worked directly with the legislative director. My primary responsibilities were memo writing. I attended a lot of committee hearings and I did a lot of research for the council member when she was making decisions on votes and policy issues. And I even got the opportunity to write two opinion pieces that were since published on issues that were important to the council member. Stephanie: What issues were they? Zack: The first one was on the city's, in my opinion, broken procurement process. So basically New York City subcontracts a lot of its human centered work, which includes homeless shelters, food pantries, some of the most vital services for the the city and the city is very, very bad about paying those subcontractors, which are often nonprofits on time. Zack: And so what these nonprofits end up doing is they end up going to banks and getting loans to cover their costs that are growing and mounting. As New York City is late to pay its bills. And so it's a burden on organizations that are in New York City trying to do good. And so that was one opinion piece. And I think I remember the other one was, oh, well, it's big news now in New York City. The New York City Council just approved the borough-based jails program. And so that includes closing Rikers Island and opening up new modern community-based jails in each of the boroughs. And one very small subset of this issue is what to do with the women. As chair of the Committee on Women in Gender Equity, my council member was pushing for a women's only facility in one of the boroughs. So that was the other opinion piece that I wrote on. Stephanie: Also important, so how did you get connected to this council members specifically and kind of find he opportunity to work for her? Zack: So I actually was of the belief that I didn't want to run to DC as quickly as possible and work in some congressperson’s office. I really thought that it was my day to day would look like for them would be picking up phones and replying to emails and stuff like that. And so I was not that excited to pursue that for my summer internship. And so I for personal reasons. My family is from New York. I'm from New York, wanted to be in New York City during the summer. So there are only so many public policy options in New York City, and one of which included the mayor's office and the city council. And so I started poking around on the city council's Web site looking for council members that one have internship programs and two are sort of interesting. And so obviously not many people know about like the internal functioning of local New York City politics. But council member Rosenthal is running for city comptroller in 2021. This is her second term as a city council member, and she's fairly influential and chairs the Committee on Women and Gender Equity. So I reached out to her. I had a phone interview with her former legislative director, Ned Terrace, and we hit it off and here I am. Stephanie Yeah, I am one of those people that does not know the inner workings of New York City Council. So, I mean, how many people are also working very like what was the

Listen to Alec (2021) talk about his internships in data science, at DataPlus, the past two summers. Transcript: Stephanie: You're listening to Gear Up the Duke Career Centers student produce podcasts showcasing real student summer internship experiences. My name's Stephanie Mayle. And today we're talking Alec, who worked in data science this summer. Alec: Yeah, my name is Alec Ashforth. I'm a junior studying economics and math, and I'm from Raleigh, North Carolina. Stephanie: And what did you do this past summer? Alec: This summer, I was working at Data+ the summer program research program at Duke, studying data. I worked with a company named Tether Energy, and I was helping them create a database for them that would help them trade on the California electricity market to help them minimize risk from extreme events. Stephanie: Now, that's important work. How did you find out about that position? Alec: So I had done data+ the previous summer as well. I really enjoyed it. So I decided to look for a different project for the following summer. And so, I looked through all the different projects over like winter break. And I found that one would be the most interesting topic for me. That's why I decided to do it, apply for that specific topic. Stephanie: Cool! And what exactly where you doing kind of day-to-day for work? Alec: Day- to-day, so I was mostly working on a computer with one other person. Me and her had an amazing time working together. So, what we did, for the first part of that, we're trying to figure out, OK, how do we classify what an extreme event is in terms of California electricity prices? So, we determine a specific cutoff for both time of day and for time of year. And then after that, we were looking up different news events in California during the time period that we were looking at and trying to figure out, OK, which of these seemed to be like a cause of the extremely high or extremely low electricity prices in California. Stephanie: Cool. And so, you did that all summer the project? Alec: There was a lot of news articles in that we were able to automate some parts of the process. So, for example, California, the electricity markets have a database or they have a bunch of tables on their website that have like here the list of all the different generator outages that could cause extreme high to low energy prices. And so, I was able to make a python algorithm to scrape all those different tables that we can get, like, okay, which of these which are the electricity prices on a specific day may have been caused by a generator outage. Stephanie: So did you already have to know how to do a lot of those things before coming into the position, before working at the organization project? Alec: Not at all. I had already so I had already known how to code in Python. However, that was not required at all under the previous summer with Data+, I had not known anything about how to program at all, so I had. And then so I learned how to program all on that previous summer. But I didn't need to know Python at all. And I was able like I didn't know how to web scrape with the jury. I didn't think at all before. And so, I got there just quickly looked at online like, OK, how did how to web scrape with Python? And then slowly learned, okay, this is how I would do it. Now this is how I apply it to that specific area. Stephanie: Okay good! So what did you. Was there anything that you liked or didn't like about the experience about working and Data+ and both summers? Alec: Overall, I really loved the experience because I'm from Raleigh. I was able to live at home, then drive up to Duke every, which is really nice. One specific aspect that I dislike a little bit more was that with the news article searching, it can be very monotonous, like okay, looked up this specific day. Look up the California electricity, California, whether it felt like a bunch of different search words that I can get pretty monotono

Listen to Daria (2020) talk about her internship working at the Cincinnati Zoo this past summer. Transcript: Stephanie: Hi, you're listening to Gear Up, the Duke Career Center student produced podcast showcasing real student summer internship experiences. My name's Stephanie Mayle and today, we're talking to Daria, who worked at the Cincinnati Zoo this summer. Daria: My name's Daria Patterson-Smith. I'm a senior at Duke and I'm majoring in Evolution Anthropology. Stephanie: And what did you do this past summer? Daria: This past summer, I interned at the Cincinnati Zoo in their Primate Department. So I was just a general animal husbandry intern there. Stephanie: Now, how do you find out about that position? Daria: So this is it wasn't like I went through any avenue or anything. I just looked up best zoos in America and the Cincinnati zoo came up as the greenest zoo in the country. And I thought that was really cool because a lot of zoos, I've never heard a zoo really trying to be green. They aligned well with my values and whatnot. So I applied there. And it ended up being that some people, the Lemurs Center knew the Primate Director there, because pretty much all the lemurs in the zoos in America come from the Lemur Center. So I volunteer at the Lemur Center. So that is just good connections all around. Stephanie: Yeah. So was that kind of your primary experience? You know, doing that kind of work was really the lemur center. Daria: Yeah, I volunteered at the Lemur Center doing general lemur husbandry. And then I also used to volunteer at the Animal Protection Society of Durham. Also not really doing cleaning there more so doing like dog walks and trying to train them before they go into their homes. So the people, they'll be more adoptable if they're more trained. So yeah, I sort of was doing all these things because I was on the fence about becoming a vet and it was pre-vet. So I figured it all helped me decide. Stephanie: And what were you doing day to day at the zoo? Daria: Yeah. So my day started every day, at seven. Stephanie: That's early. Daria: Yeah. But pretty much I would get there and wait for the head keeper to come down because they get there probably five in the morning. So then they would come down and sort of give me the task for the day. But day-to-day it was just cleaning all the big behind the scenes enclosures for the animals, cleaning up all the old straw that we would put out because they make their little beds out of the cleaning up of the poop in the bed. And then setting those up so that when they come inside, there's food and like new straw and vegetables and greens. Yeah. It all depended on the animal. So for the tiny marmosets, they sitzmark a lot. And if you wash their sitzmark every day, it will stress them out and they'll just lose all their hair. So it's like things like that. It's like take into consideration every day for each animal. Stephanie [00:03:08] So did you like it, doing that kind of work? Daria: I sort of went into the internship wanting it to be a decider. Do I want to be a vet or not? And ideally, I would want to be a zoo vet. And so I sort of used it in that way. And so I liked being around a lot of the animals a lot. But it sort of became a little monotonous because there's a 14 week internship. I didn't love that part about it, but I did love being around the animals. And the vets are in their own department. They're not necessarily around us all the time. So I actually got to shadow them a couple of times, which was really cool. Unfortunately, we had to put down a little penguin who had bumble foot who couldn't walk anymore. And then he liked walked me through a necropsy of the penguin, which is cool and something like I'll probably never, ever see again. And so I got to shadow at the vet hospital that the zoo partners with four big surgeries, which was awesome. So I liked it in those regards, but it made me realize the type of job that I need needs