This week will be the 6th in this 12-week internship, and I feel like things have just barely started. The last intern on my "team" or "project" arrived this Monday - the arrivals of all interns were staggered depending on when that particular intern's college started summer break. I started particularly early since I wasn't bound to any college, and I don't think any other project has such a wide spread of starting dates - but it has worked out well for us. I got the chance to immerse myself in the kind of data that I now am actually starting to analyze, before it started flying at me with the speed and volume of -- do elephants run quickly? If so, a herd of elephants. Maybe a few seconds in between, then I hear of another dataset where, if we process it in such a way, will end up being an Excel spreadsheet with 1.3 million rows - I almost wish I were kidding, but I'm not.
Don't worry, I don't have to tackle sets like that multiple times a day. They're usually followed by an email from the third intern, a programmer, who says "whoops, forgot to import them in columns, that'll be a ***** to organize - sorry about that! I'll have a better version in a moment."It's only his third day in, so he's not only doing what the rest of our team has been waiting for him to do (talk to this enormous database in the internet and get it to give us the information we want in a form we can process) but also has to understand all of the acronyms the rest of the team uses when we talk to each other, and then do all those first-week things -- get the stupid desk phone working, manage all of the passwords, find your way to the bathroom and lunch without managing to somehow go the least efficient way.
But since Monday, I swear, it's like we were building a rocket in the weeks leading up to this but I never saw the whole blueprint - I carried bits to the construction site, I hammered and sawed and welded just a bit (learning those things as I went) and then there was something on this launch pad but it was too big to see the top and it really wasn't perfectly finished yet. And then our last intern comes, and it's like there's sparks underneath the thing now - someone handed over the blueprint and not only that, but told us our destination --- and if I can continue with this preposterously dramatic analogy for just one second longer - I feel like it's my job to determine the flight path. One intern finishes the proper construction of our ship and makes sure the launch sequence operates properly, in the air and atmosphere it's my job to direct it, and the final intern makes sure that when we get to where we're going, we're in the right shape to land and report on our flight.
And given that I work for a company with such stringent security measures, I fear that's all I should say in this public form!
But quite a few things have happened this week.
1. I've learned what it feels like to try and fail, try and fail, try a much more complex approach and still fail and then have someone tell you that there's a better tool for what you want to do -- I didn't even feel silly or stupid when this happened. Rather, I felt relieved, because I had known there must be a way to do what I wanted. That being said, I don't know how to use that other tool yet (it's the statistical programming language R, with the ruthless and infamous learning curve), but I know it's there.
2. I was asked to be on a panel for a program that ViaSat hosted for schoolgirls going into 8th grade about women in mathematics and technology. When I got the email asking me, I almost jumped out of my chair, and I had a fantastic time talking to them. I can't believe I'm one of the people who gets to be on the stage at an event like that.
3. I've learned that there is so much data out in the world, in the cloud, in the whatever you want to call it right now. And I've learned that it is far, far easier to create data and store it in the cloud than to actually harness what you want and use it.
4. And, unfortunately, I hurt my hand during boxing. At least, I think it was in boxing. It's not the normal injury one would expect from a beginning person in a boxing class (I won't say boxer- I haven't hit anything except a bag yet, well, except for one other intern, but we were practicing various blocks so he knew exactly where I was going to hit him, so that doesn't count) - I haven't hurt my wrist or anything. I seem to have pulled a muscle right in the fleshy part of the hand, in the area between the thumb and middle finger (encompassing where the pointer finger meets the palm as well). It's an unfortunately pervasive injury - I can't do push-ups or downward-facing-dog because the pressing down of my hand on the ground causes it pain (and I could push through it, it's not excruciating, but I feel like it might get better if I don't piss it off more) -- but apparently, things that I never expected exert exactly that kind of pressure and tension in that hand. And it's my right hand. So, things like holding my phone in one hand to text, holding a carton of milk to pour it, twisting a key in a stiff lock, or wringing out a damn sponge! Ugh! It's been quite a few days and it hasn't gotten better - I'll have to figure something out.
And finally, tomorrow is the traditional (apparently) Carlsbad ViaSat Interns Beach Bonfire- in which much fun will be had, I am assured, and I (along with whichever other interns were silly enough to sign the waiver) will have a surfing lesson. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.
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