Morgan Woods made the most of her summer to channel professional development. Woods, a Slippery Rock University senior computing major from Pittsburgh (Baldwin HS), spent the summer as a data management intern at the First National Bank Corporation headquarters in Downtown Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
In the corporate office, interns preview the realities of post-grad life in the tech industry environment. For Woods, this meant arriving on site before her coworkers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a morning person, but I liked to be there early,\u201d Woods said.<\/p>\n
FNB gave seasonal interns the responsibility of handling real member data. Woods\u2019 first task of the day was routinely merging duplicate records using a series of complex coding instructions, populated into grids.<\/p>\n
The process pinpointed errors that may have surfaced overnight, leaving the data manager to repair any discontinuities that could hinder company procedures further down the line.<\/p>\n
Woods\u2019 concentration in information technology led her to a data visualization class at SRU which she took during the summer term. The class equipped her with the skills needed to generate \u00a0the grids of account records performed at FNB. Completing a voluntary internship in tandem with the required course was a chance to immediately apply skills.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the nature of FNB\u2019s fast-paced culture quickly led Woods to form connections with her coworkers and fellow interns. The input and advice of \u00a0FNB staff bolstered her confidence in her ability to do her job well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called them my \u2018work besties,\u2019\u201d Woods said. \u201cThey made every day easier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woods also made connections with another intern, \u00a0and together contributing to a project that required the interns to find solutions for efficiency drawbacks in data reporting and monitoring software. The project culminated in a two-hour-long group presentation, given before FNB\u2019s IT directors and chief information officer.<\/p>\n
Woods said that while the presentation was a daunting task, it was rewarding to receive detailed feedback from high-level executives.<\/p>\n
FNB\u2019s summer internship program highlighted the classroom learning Woods was familiar with and contextualized it among the experience of a workplace in the tech industry. Woods saw firsthand what it was like to implement the insight she gained from her favorite professors and courses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved my database systems class\u2014this is something I want to do in my future,\u201d Woods said. \u00a0\u201cI had no clue it was an actual thing I could do,\u201d but once I came into this internship, I realized I literally can do this every day of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n