For the first time this year, LSA has partnered with Information and Technology Services (ITS) at the University of Michigan by participating in their annual summer internship program. ITS internships are full-time, paid positions that provide an opportunity for students to gain valuable experience while making connections in the professional field they are considering for a career. Interns have the opportunity to work on meaningful projects in a structured and supervised learning program. The program runs for 14 weeks, starting in May and ending the first week in August.
Working with the Web and Application Development Team
With the demand for experienced programmers far outpacing the supply, Dave Chmura from LSA Technology Services’ Web and Application Development Services team saw an opportunity. Instead of adding interns to supplement the team, Chmura proposed developing an entire program, focused 100% on training them, that would function as a kind of a bootcamp, training novices how to develop full scale web applications.
“It isn’t only about adding talent. By framing our mission on the instruction, we were also building an automatic review of how we approach building software. [Novice] developers don’t have the same assumptions or history that we carry. When we teach them how we do things we are naturally encouraged to re-examine the ‘why’ behind it. It both gives us an opportunity to explore if there’s a better way, plus just the act of explaining it deepens our understanding,” noted Chmura.
From the beginning, the plan was to create a dynamic and enduring program. He envisioned bringing in interns to teach them the framework used by his team, then hire them to work as student employees during the following school year, and hopefully invite them back the following summer to help train even more interns. Chmura was very intentional in how he wrote the descriptions for the internship positions, focusing on potential and enthusiasm instead of solely on acquired skills.
“They are not just learning to code and develop applications; they are learning to communicate effectively, to develop and structure lessons. We don’t just want to train workers, we want to coach leaders,” explained Chmura.
The two interns, Henry Teng and Debbie Shih, are working on a Ruby on Rails application that will provide a ”Dashboard” to track LSA’s applications. So far the experience has been fantastic.
Shih shared, “In previous projects, my process was always very unstructured and often disorganized. I wanted to observe a real developer’s process and way of thinking so that I could integrate it into my procedure. The fact that I’m actually passionate about the stuff I’m learning about definitely makes it ten times more fun. I often lose track of time when I’m working on my web application because I get so into it, which made me quite surprised. I’m grateful that I have a supervisor that puts up with my constant questions and team members that are always willing to help out.”
“I like being able to work on meaningful software projects for our school community, since I have really liked my time at U-M and would like to give back in my own way,” said Teng.
Working with the Technology Library Team
Sanam Arab from LSA Technology Services’ Technology Library also had a project that would benefit from the ITS Internship Program. Classroom support staff within LSA Technology Services use an internal database that shows not only what type of equipment is in a classroom, but also where the plugs are located, what kind of blinds are in the room, if the clock is digital or not, among other useful information. This database is used to help troubleshoot issues that come up in classrooms and is currently stored in FileMaker Pro. However, FileMaker Pro is no longer supported in LSA so there arose a need to find a new place to store this valuable information.
Arab sought an intern who could not only assist in researching different databases, but also someone who could truly understand why and how the current database is used to inform the decision for the new database.
“We weren’t too concerned about finding someone with strong technical experience. We were looking for someone who can pull good information out of interviews with staff through interviews and be able to see and decipher usage and needs, not necessarily from what they say, but how they go about doing their work,” explained Arab.
Brooke Hudson, a psychology major, is the intern working with Arab on this project. Through staff interviews and shadowing, Hudson is helping the team understand how the new database could potentially be used by a larger portion of LSA Technology Services, instead of just moving information from one database to another.
“For me, it wasn’t just, ‘I have a project I want someone to work on.’ I wanted someone where this could be a learning opportunity for them. They can learn about our organization and about contextual inquiry methodology—things they can take with them and use in the future,” said Arab.
Hudson said, “Working in LSA Technology Services has been a great opportunity to learn more about my capabilities as a User Experience Designer, network, and gain insight into working in technology services for higher education. Working with my mentor and supervisor on our project, as well as exploring the diverse roles on the team, has been a rewarding experience that has guided my career aspirations.”
Working with the Service Desk
Jaron Fox from LSA Technology Services’ Service Desk was interested in helping someone jump start their career in IT. Fox envisioned using the program to not only assist in a marketing project, but also to teach them the skills needed to be competitive in the IT market. He planned to use the first half of the internship to focus on the creation of posters that would be displayed in common areas around the university, showcasing the lesser-known services that LSA Technology Services provides. The second half of the internship would be fully guided by the intern—what area do they want to learn more about based on their interests?
The intern, Ethan Breuninger, did have a customer service background, but no IT work experience. Fox saw his potential and was thrilled to fully immerse Breuninger into the team. In addition to creating the posters as part of his project, Breuninger attends all team meetings and huddles, in addition to events held by the larger LSA Technology Services organization.
“[The internship program] has been overwhelmingly positive. It allows us to interact with people who maybe wouldn’t view IT as a career path. It’s also a great way to showcase the environment we have here [at LSA Technology Services],” said Fox.
LSA Technology Services plans to continue to sponsor summer interns in partnership with the ITS Internship Program and share our own expertise to mentor those interested in growing their professional network. Welcome to Henry, Debbie, Brooke, and Ethan and thank you for joining our team this summer!
