I am a sophomore at the University of Central Florida majoring in Information Technology. Prior to starting my summer internship at Yellowstone Landscape, I had no experience in the field and was uncertain on which area of IT to focus. However, after exploring different options I learned about Yellowstone Landscape through a close friend, who referred me to Lisa Hall, their Internship Coordinator. Lisa shared with me the opportunities this internship offered, helped me with the interview and application process and has maintained an active role during the entire internship. From weekly intern meetings to email-etiquette and professional development exercises, Lisa has shown that she really cares about the interns at this company and I am thankful for that.
When I began my internship in May, I was a little nervous to work at such a large company, but at the same time I was excited to learn what it meant to work in IT. I came into the company with limited skills but with each week I became more proficient with networking and programming and gained vital communication skills from the IT team. As a Help Desk Intern, I was given admin permissions that other employees don’t have access to. These permissions include the ability to install software, modify the active directory, and remote into different computers across the Yellowstone network.
Everyone at Yellowstone Landscape is friendly and there is a great working environment. My mentors; Erik, Melody, and Gabe gave me the knowledge I need to be successful in the IT field. Erik taught me a lot about network & system troubleshooting as I learned from him that all problems have an answer and during the entirety of the internship I haven’t seen a single issue go unresolved. I also assisted Erik with moving the network from an old branch location to their new facility. Melody has shown me how to work the “Help Desk” and Active Directory. The biggest lesson that I learned from her is that you are expected to fail, and it is important that you learn from your mistakes and apply that knowledge to future challenges and assignments. Gabe has shared many programming techniques and has taught me that if you can’t figure something out then one of the best options is to research it.
Working with the IT Department has been a great experience and taught me a lot during the time I have spent in this fast-paced department. This internship has been a great opportunity for me to get hands-on experience in the Information Technology world, and I am excited to apply these new skills to my classes next year and my career after graduation.