I had such an amazing experience interning with Dell Technologies in Austin, Texas this summer! I received this internship at the Society of Women Engineers Conference (WE23) in Los Angeles, California. SWE Conference is the world’s largest conference for women in engineering and technology. UTK SWE provides funding for about 20 members who would like to attend the annual conference, and I would highly recommend UTK SWE to everyone! At WE23, I was able to attend many keynote speaker events where I was able to learn from inspiring women and attend networking events where I was empowered by those who share the same passion as me. I also attended the Career Fair, where many amazing companies were recruiting, including Dell Technologies. I ended up speaking with a Dell representative there, and I was then invited to interview with them and attend their networking dinner that night. At the networking dinner, I was able to talk to some women who work at Dell. I interviewed with them and then was called with an offer for a Hardware Validation internship about a month later! Both attending the conference and having the opportunity to network really made the difference in me finding this opportunity!
During my internship, I was able to write an automation script that would be used to test the connectivity of devices. I had never coded in the Python language, so scripting was very new to me. During my internship, I was incredibly grateful to have such amazing mentors and a fantastic manager who taught me about the technical parts of my project as well as how my project would fit into the Dell business. They even gave me the chance to disassemble and reassemble both a desktop and laptop. I had a collaborative project, so I got the chance to meet with many different experts. I was able to finish the project and then create a presentation that I gave to different levels of leaders at Dell. I increased the efficiency of that specific testing process by 41% through my script!
Overall, I had an incredible time at Dell. Outside of learning so much through my project, Dell did a great job at having interns interact with one another. I made such great friends through different Dell events, including the golf tournament, paintball, and various volunteering events. My favorite thing about interning at this company was all the people I met and the amount of support that I felt while completing my project. From my mentors to the other interns, I am so thankful for this opportunity and how much I was able to grow during it.