Week 2: Trial By Fire

Prior to this past week I never really understood why employers valued internships so much. I knew I needed to get internships to get a job, but again I never really understood why. After this past week the reason is now clear to me. I have learned more in this past week than I expected to all summer.

The week started off quite terrible if I am being honest. I walked in and learned that I would be programming in a language I had not learned, as well as using an operating system I was not too familiar with. For those not privy to computer science terms, imagine only knowing how to add and being asked to multiply. I was very flustered and overwhelmed at first, but then I took a step back and realized how much I was learning in the chaos. On top of that I realized I am doing what I always dreamed of doing when I was a kid, hacking into things. It was at that point I found a sweet serenity in the chaos.

By far the defining moment of my week was on Wednesday afternoon when I clicked to run my program and it was correct. I realized then that not only was I learning a ton and living my childhood dream, but that I could hang with the other interns who are much older than me. That moment gave me the confidence I needed to calm my nerves and bask in the chaos.

In regards to the future, I only hope I learn as much as I have this past week in the upcoming weeks. I have learned so much this week that I would have never learned in the classroom. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to gain these invaluable bits of knowledge.