Paying Internship Forward
When you open a door, you cannot be sure what adventure awaits you on the other side.
When you shake a person’s hand for the first time – or elbow bump, these days – you cannot know if you’ve just met one of your life’s true friends.
I believe the same idea of the unknowable adventure applies to Internships.
I believe, that no matter where you are in your career, whether you are a high school student, a college student, a graduate or an experienced professional an internship can lead you on an adventure which can be a powerful way to expand your knowledge and experience and benefit you professionally and personally.
To help you understand what I mean, I’d like to share some thoughts about the 3 ‘Internships’ that I’ve done and show you the effect these experiences have had on my life.
In my first internship, as a high school student apprentice potter under John Macomber of Greenleaf Pottery, I learned the value of paying close attention to detail, the joy of working independently and, later, the basic mechanics of running my own business.
In my second internship, as a Computer Science Engineering student, I learned that my university studies gave me the power to bring value to the business world.
My third internship, a 1.5 year stint as a Work Study Exchange student in Regensburg, Germany I transformed from simple New England boy to a citizen of the world.
When I was 15 years old, I had my first internship experience was as a pottery apprentice with John Macomber, the owner of Green Leaf Pottery in South Windsor, Connecticut. After the months long apprenticeship, my deepened interest in pottery led me to start my own pottery business, Red Bean Pottery. I ran it for 3 years until I graduated high school. I worked for myself year round and travelled from New Jersey to Massachusetts to sell my work at craft shows and at home to private customers. I learned how to work independently without supervision and how to reach out to other potters when I needed help. I relied on myself to fail and succeed and appreciated the immediacy of results.
Pottery helped develop a crucial skill, ‘attention to detail’. I learned this during hours of deep concentration executing the intricate pottery processes that John had painstakingly taught me: clay and glaze formulation, mixing and storage; proper kiln packing and firing; complex techniques of piece formation on and off the wheel; and the proper drying and finishing of mugs, bowls and lamps.
I had my second internship experience as a ‘Co-op’ student – a cooperative between University and Business – with Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in Middletown, Connecticut. This was after my sophomore year as a Computer Science Engineering student. At ‘Pratt’, I learned the most valuable lesson a student can learn – my knowledge gained in engineering school had high value to business. In one situation my boss, Mary, explained to me an in-memory data management problem one of her teams had been struggling with. “Why not ask the new guy? Why not ask ‘the kid’?”, she had said jokingly, “Let’s see what ideas he’s got.”
I listened carefully to team describe their problem. I realized that ‘pointer arithmetic’ could solve it. I asked them if they had tried pointer arithmetic and they said they hadn’t. So, for 10 minutes, I became the teacher. I gave the team a short lesson. I stood at the white board and drew diagrams. I explained what pointer arithmetic was, how it logically worked and, most importantly, why and how it could be applied to their data management problem. They liked the idea and set off to solve their problem. The confidence I developed at P&W was foundational.
Finally, just before my senior year in college, I had my final internship experience as an exchange student with the Fachhochschule Regensburg in Bavaria, Germany. I worked Siemens and studied at the University. During this period my cultural awareness expanded. Prior to my exchange program, I had never even considered traveling to Europe. But very soon after arriving in Berlin to study German (“Ja, ich spreche immer noch schlechtes Deutsch!”), I quickly began to view myself not as an American but as a world citizen.
After summering in Berlin and moving to Regensburg, I would eventually travel to 7 other countries. My travels were highlighted by cycling trips across southern Spain and a tour from Regensburg through the Czech Republic and Slovakia to Krakow, Poland. Most importantly, however, I became part of the Regensburg social fabric. I attended a friend’s wedding, joined dance and ski clubs, shared Christmas with my best friend and her family and even learned that a colleague’s son was named after me!
And on the day before I left my adopted European home, my boss and best friend, Ulli Mader, along with our 40 person department made me perform for them: dressed in my Lederhosen, I danced the Schuhplattler with Hans; I translated phrases of the Bavarian dialect; I answered questions about Bavarian history and politics; and finally, I professed my undying love of Bavaria – all tongue-in-cheek, with smiles on everyone’s faces. This resulted in one of my life’s greatest honors, an Urkunde zur Einbuergerung, declaring me as a ‘Naturalized Bavarian’.
In addition to paying homage to my mentors John, Mary and Ulli – who shared a desire to help me succeed – I am sharing my experiences to encourage to you to pursue your own ‘internship experiences’.
We at Red Sky Research are an international collaborative team of technologists, business professionals, mentors and students. Each of us has benefited from Internship in one form or another in our careers and at the core of Red Sky is our desire to pay internships forward by posting short research, analysis and development projects and provide guidance and mentorship.
Currently, we are offering Mentored Projects in Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies.
If you have interest in collaborating please don’t hesitate to reach out to me via my email address below.
Are you ready to open that door, and see what adventure awaits you?
Are you ready to shake that hand or bump that new elbow, and join the Red Sky team?
If so, let us know! – you may even make a friend or two along the way…
Tom Whitehill
tom@redskyresearch.com
