The Final Week

My internship experience is coming to an end. I just can't help to feel that it happened so quickly. I can still remember my first week here as it happened yesterday. But I guess it's time for me to get back to my life in Alabama. This will be my final school years, and I'm expected to graduate in the Spring of 2019. Interning here at NSF I've have gotten a glimpse of what it would be like in the workforce. Being here has prepared me more for the next chapter of my life. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything else in the world. This past week I spoke at a panel in Baltimore, Maryland on my experience as computer science major and my plans for the future. At NSF I kind of been getting everybody contact information trying to stay in touch with everybody when I leave. The office threw a going away party for me. We had ice cream cake and they provided me a going away present also. This week at NSF I had made presentation about the work I did in my office and the research project I've been working on. My research project was involving trends of the diversity of African-Americans in Cybersecurity. I'm coming up on my last couple of days here in the DMV area and its been fun.

Week 9

Throughout the week I have been preparing for my presentation. The date has been moved up earlier than I had originally thought, but it does not matter. I’m feeling confident about my presentation. I started on it two weeks ago and I’ve just finalizing everything. I believe it has enough information, but I think I will talk to my mentor about adding more because I keep finding interesting and useful information online. The conversation that kept coming up this week was if I was planning on getting my Ph.D after I finish my Master’s. This week I’ve had conversation with two NSF employees about furthering my education with cybersecurity by going into my Ph.D. It’s currently just a thought process, nothing has been decided, but I wanted to know what having my Ph.D. could provide me that my master’s can’t. The two things subject that came up academics and research. I received a lot of information for funding while I’m getting my Ph.D. I can’t say getting it is really my goal right now, but I can’t predict the future. I went to Baltimore this weekend to talk on a panel for QEM. The panel had professors from HBCU institutions, who asked us interns who are computer science majors and went to HBCUs, questions about the internship and how we feel HBCUs could better the stem field. It was a great experience, I met professors from Florida A&M, Winston-Salem, Alabama A&M, and Tuskegee. I plan on reaching out to everyone as soon as possible. This upcoming week will be my final week in Washington, D.C. for the summer internship program. I’m going to be happy being back and seeing my family, but I’m also going to miss the DMV area. If you want to make it in cybersecurity, this is the perfect area to live. It kind of ended quickly.

Week 8

This week has definitely been one of the most eventful and exciting week at NSF. On Monday the summer scholars and I attended he NIST headquarters. We did a tour at the headquarters and learned about what NIST does. It is a a metrology laboratory, and a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce. Its mission is to promote innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into laboratory programs that include nanoscale science and technology, engineering, information technology, neutron research, material measurement, and physical measurement. We saw equipment they had that makes scientist from all over the country to come and use. I’ve met one of the scientist there and ask her about the possibility of interning at NIST next summer. Wednesday we finally were able to do the white house tour. It was a fun experience. Since I’m about to leave in a couple of weeks and I don’t know the next time I will be in D.C. I was happy to go. It was definitely something to tell my family about when I get back home to Alabama. Thursday I went to event called “Engineer’s on the Go!” I wasn’t an engineer major but I decided to go anyway, thought I might get lucky. Strangely I did meet a company that needed computer science majors. I might someone from an IT consulting firm that says they will be looking for new graduates next year. We exchanged LinkedIn information and emails. I might another person from Metro who says that are also looking form information technology specialist. It was an event worth going to in my opinion. I would have to say that the most exciting day I had was Friday. I don’t know the specifics on why it happened, but there was an evacuation at the NSF building. When I got off the metro trying to go into the building they said that no one was allowed in. The Department of Homeland Police were at the scene and they brought the k-9 unit. But as I said earlier I don’t know the specifics of what they was looking for, all I know it was a day I’m not going to forget this summer.

Week 7

This week at NSF, the other summer scholars and I learned about a fellowship that will help us pay for the continuation of our education. Tuesday there was a meeting, where NSF staff told us about the Graduate Research Fellowship Program. This scholarship supports graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields who are pursuing research based Master’s degree. Wednesday was kind of a disappointment. We had to reschedule our visit to the White House. But my mentor was able to look at my resume and LinkedIn profile to give me some pointers on how to make it better. She helped me decide what to keep what to delete and how to reword it. During this week I was able to learn about a new programming language called ruby and javascript. I visited a code academy school where within 15 weeks, you can be a certified programmer. The school gives you a career coach to help you find job as a soft-ware engineer. I gave some serious thought about joining the academy when they told me it was also an online program. This could be a great to learn a new language and hone my coding skills also. The week wasn’t all work. I did make some time for fun. I went to AMC for $5 movie Tuesdays and saw the new Purge movie. Tuesday be the perfect night, cause any other night the movie would be $16.

Week 6

During this week at NSF all of the summer interns had visited capitol hill.  We all went to visit the senate building and had tour guides to show us around.  It was July the 4th this past Wednesday, so we had a day off from work.  On the July 4th we had all visited Dr. Toldsons and had a great time.  We had some good BBQ, music, and drinks.  It felt just as if I was at home celebrating with my own family.  From the rooftop you had a fantastic view of the fireworks around the city.  Another great thing about going to Dr. Toldsons cookout was that I made a connection with someone in the cyber security field.  We are at the halfway point through our internship and I have to make these last couple of weeks really count.  They are going to fly by real quick, so I'm going in extra hard.  I have added more people on LinkedIn account.  I've asked my mentor to introduce me to more people in the cyber security field.  I believe I am making progress professionally. 

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.