Marie Anselmi

At AUP we believe that the process of searching, applying, interviewing, and selecting and internship is an important learning opportunity that prepares students for their life after graduation. The Internship and Career Advising team is available to support students throughout the entire process, but our students are the drivers of their own professional development path.

In this issue of AUP Intern Profiles, Marie Anselmi tells us about her internship with Trekea Mobile. She explains her internship search process, and gives some advice from her own experience. Marie says that students should start looking “early and everywhere”.

Tell us a little bit about your background.

 I was born in Maryland, grew up in Colorado, and then moved to Paris for school at AUP.

Which company/organization are you currently interning with?

Trekea Mobile, a company that markets Mobile and Web software for both Enterprise and Consumer applications.

Where is your internship taking place?

I work in Paris, France.

When is your internship taking place?

Summer and Fall 2018

What is your job title?

Blockchain Crypto Token Research and Integration Intern

What types of responsibilities and/or tasks do you have in your internship? What's a typical day for you?

My role is to research the technical aspects of integrating the use of blockchain into our product. I read everything I can get my hands on about a topic and consolidate it to guide my superiors in making informed business decisions. Whenever I can I also do some light programming to get a better understanding of how something is working under the hood. Occasionally I also attend conferences to further my understanding or consulting meetings with the company executives to progress my understanding.

What are the biggest challenges and successes you’ve experienced during your internship?

The biggest challenge thus far has certainly been coming into the position knowing little to nothing about blockchain and cryptography. I had to go from 0-100 my first week. I came in knowing only the bare basics of what blockchain is, and by the end of that week I had to be ready to present to the CEO on different platform options.

My greatest success though was that at the end of that week I had a high quality presentation that I had worked hard on. I also made sure that I understood everything about the information that was included, so when the CEO asked questions I was ready to answer them without any trouble.

What language(s) are you speaking/using in your internship?

English.

Tell us about your future goals/aspirations. Is this internship relevant? Do you think it will help you along the way?

Currently my interests and goals are in working in research and analysis positions back in the United States. This internship is much more relevant than I thought it would be before I started, as research, analysis, and clearly communicating my findings is the entirety of my job. A young woman working in my area of interest once said, "If you like to think, think about what you're thinking about, and then write about what you're thinking about, you'd be good at this job." That's exactly what I do in this internship, so it's great preparation for what I want to do as far as soft skills go.

The technology I'm learning about is also becoming incredibly popular, and will continue to be in the future. So if my interests change in the next year I'll be in an excellent position to continue in this high demand area of my field.

Anything else to share?

My internship search process became a lot easier when I got comfortable authentically marketing myself. When I focused on being honest about who I was and what I had or hadn't done, a lot of the stress disappeared. If I didn't get the position it just wasn't the right one for me, and I didn't try to overstate my abilities or gloss over my lack of experience. A company should want to hire me for what I can bring to the table, which is more than just one technical skill or ability.

My concrete advice is to start looking early and everywhere. I wanted an internship starting on June 1st, so I met with Darcee [AUP Internship Coordinator] before winter break, had my first interview the second week of February, and made a goal to have something nailed down by April. Trekea made me an offer after my first interview in mid-March. This approach takes the pressure off of finding something because you have time and can be more selective, and it communicates that you're conscientious. Even if you don't find much in the beginning because companies aren't hiring that far out, you're getting experience interviewing and applying that you'd otherwise be missing. Also apply for everything you might even be remotely interested in/qualified for, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I applied solely to data science positions before submitting my resume to Trekea, and what I'm doing now is better than anything I could have expected.