Executive Summary
Fall Internship – Matt Barker
Introduction
This fall I had the opportunity to intern at Delta Development Group Inc., located in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. I worked under the Senior Vice-President Rick Rossi; he was also my supervisor during my time there. Delta Development Group has been in business for over 20 years and has made a strong impact in communities, companies, and individuals. This is mainly a consulting company that provides customized solutions to a wide variety of projects. Most of the company’s business is done with the local, state, and federal government. When I started my internship I set out three learning objectives that my supervisor approved for me to work on during my time there. The first one was to increase self-awareness and improve communication skills for interacting with co-workers and sharing ideas. My second learning objective was to increase knowledge of the IT consulting environment; what different products and services IT people sell, etc. My last learning object was to learn how Geographic Information Systems enhance the products Delta Development creates. While working at Delta Development Group I succeeded in accomplishing all of the objectives I have briefly outlined above.
Work/Projects
Working at Delta Development Group has made me learn many things through the projects I assisted with. I spent a lot of my time working on research and quality assurance testing. When it came to researching I was given a few different projects to work on. The first research project was to search and find what other IT consulting companies were bidding their projects at. Here I had to compile a list of companies and their bidding prices, along with a description of the job and hourly wages. Another research project I did was compiling a list of the commissioner’s in the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, and New Jersey. In addition to their names I was responsible for finding their email address, phone numbers, and titles. I had a couple of other small research projects as well, such as finding the head chairs of committees for the department of transportation. Most of my time at Delta Development was spent on quality assurance testing. In this area I tested applications and websites to find bugs and errors that would keep the user from accomplishing their task. Delta Development has multiple applications they provide to customers. One example of a project I worked on was their Patient Tracking System, which is used by emergency personnel during disasters. I did Quality Assurance testing on the website and their mobile application to ensure that there were no bugs or errors in them. Working on research and quality assurance testing was my main priority during my time at Delta Development Group.
Learning
I have learned many things while working at Delta Development Group. One of the main things, which had the biggest impact on me, was learning to work in an office environment. I worked as a carpenter since going into high school. While working construction there was no office presence, instead you got out to your job site and worked until you finished; at times I would be the only one working at the site. Working in an office was a completely new experience for me, and an excellent opportunity for growth and gaining confidence. This experience has taught me how to function in an office environment: working with co-workers in a professional manner, knowing how to dress on certain days, and learning how to amicably small talk with fellow co-workers. The office environment felt a little strange at first, however now I am comfortable in it and the way it functions. Another thing I have learned is how to effectively test applications. Sometimes there are scripts to follow when testing certain applications, other times you have to make your own script up. I had to do this quite a lot, but it made my testing experience better as a whole. I learned how to look for the tiny details that can affect the user’s experience, as well as how to properly report these errors and bugs. In addition, while working with Delta Development Group I have learned how to scan large amounts of data in order to find the information I need to accomplish the task. When I was researching the bidding prices of competitive companies I would have to go through reports that could be up to 800 pages long. I had to find the information as fast as I could, and yet still be very detailed in how I went about it, in order to ensure I did not miss any vital information. The first few reports that I searched through took me a little bit of time to do, however I soon learned techniques on how to scan for the information that I needed. The skills I have learned here will be very useful for any future jobs and tasks I have.
Future Plans
This experience has really helped me with my future plans for study and work. I came into this experience without much of a technical IT background. My supervisor recognized this, and worked to my strengths. Because of this, even though I am only a sophomore, I am going to take more technical classes; such as different types of programming languages and web master courses. As for work, this internship has opened my eyes to more fields I might want to go into upon graduation. One of these fields is the quality assurance field. I found that although it can be tedious work, I do enjoy it. I also became more interested in searching for technical IT jobs once I get more skills in those related fields. Right now I need to focus on my school work since I have over two years left of college, and am keenly interested in learning more technical skills related to the IT field of work. When I started my internship I wanted to acquire two competencies, these were to communicate effectively, and balance work with the rest of my life. I believe I have acquired both of these competencies. For communicating effectively, I have learned how to speak with my co-workers in a professional and friendly manner, expressing my ideas clearly. I am not afraid to ask for more clarification on a project if I do not know exactly what they are requiring of me. As for balancing work and the rest of my life, I believe I have done this very well. I have had a very busy semester, I swim on Messiah’s swim team, and I am taking 18 credits as well as working 15 hours a week. I have managed to do all of these things, as well as have free time to hang out with my friends.
Preparation/Recommendations
My major specific classes have helped me to a small degree; they were not of more use mainly because I have not taken most of the technical courses that would help me in the IT field. The one class I have taken is Computer Programming I, which has helped me to understand what is behind all the applications I have been testing. So, when I explain a problem with the application to the programmer, I can communicate in a way that they can clearly understand. If I was to recommend anything to my academic department, it would be to make sure that the students getting an internship in an IT field have more technical skills than what I had going into mine. My internship worked out great because they needed a lot of testing and research to be done, but I feel that if I had more technical skills I would have been used in a much more effective manner for them.
