Week 5

With this week ending I see that the summer is going by so fast and that it is half way over.  I've been going at a steady pace, but now I realize that I need to start doubling my pace these last few weeks.  This week I've went to two conferences.  One of them was dealing with National Security.  It was called Tech Titans and National Security.  The other was with this information technology firm called Eagle Tech.  I learned a lot with laws, encryption, and expectancy for privacy from the Tech Titans.  From the Eagle Tech I added some new connections on LinkedIn.  Each was a great help for me.  Also this week has been a huge wake call for me for my professional development.  With only a month left here in D.C. I have to make good on the time I have left.  In only a month my internship is over and I must return home.  I wrote before that I am going to double the pace that I have been going.  Double might not be enough, I may need to triple the pace.  I want to make the best of the time that I have left here and that is what I am going to do. 

Glorious Week 4

This week I have gotten access to the private database.  I was able to finish my training and I can now start making queries in the data file.  My team and I were given 19 counties and we must extract information from the database and compare them to each other.  I learned about our different data extraction tools.  Also, this week I've been working on improving my self outside of work.  I went to a event to learn a new programming language.  The program was called Javascript, and its good language for developers.  I've decided that learning this new programming language would be beneficial and I intend to get better at it.  On Thursday, I watched this webinar explaining trading of cryptocurrency.  Trading cryptocurrency could be a good business opportunity, but you must be careful.  In next two weeks I will make a visit to the White House and I'm really excited about that.  I will let y'all know how it goes.  Thank you for reading. 

Week 3

My third week in Washington D.C. has been a very productive one. In my third week in working in the area I feel that I'm getting out of my shell and starting to connect more.  My first two weeks here I might've been acting reserve and not embrace the opportunities of the city.  I started talking to my mentors at National Science Foundation about my goals and how to achieve them, and one of them told me she had some connections to the government agencies I might be interested in.  I made some great connections on LinkedIn this week and I went to a tech conference.  

Throughout this week I've also realized on some things that I need to work on professionally.  My mentor told me throughout this summer, she would help me with my professional development.  She brought me some good conferences that was in the area that I could attend.  She gave some good pointers on how I should do my resume.

Week 2 of my Internship

This week I had officially met my mentor and started my internship at the National Science Foundation.  My mentor explained to me the specifics of my job and my role in the team.  I've met everybody who I would be working with daily and everyone seemed friendly and helpful.  I wasn't given a big project this week but my mentor asked me to do some data mining on spreadsheets that was already been cleared, but she just wanted to see if I would come up with the same results as the rest of the team.  I admit I made a few errors but everyone was willing to help me correct them and explained to me on how not to make the same error twice.  I am working in a teamwork friendly environment.

With the help of mentor I also have been able to build up my networking portfolio this week.  The first day I met her, she asked me about my major and what was my career goals.  With the information I gave her she was able to think of people who were able to help me in the future.  The best part about it was they were working in the NSF building.  I wasn't able to meet everyone this week but it's nice to know that they are within walking distance.  She even told me of scholarship opportunities if I wanted to continue my education.  I feel that working for NSF will be beneficial to me.