Intern Interview — Anthony Stephens
Interview by: Terry Lee
OweYaa has the pleasure of working with the nation’s finest servicemen and women as well as their spouses. One of these servicemen, who has trusted OweYaa to provide him with further career development opportunities, is Army First Lieutenant Anthony Stephens. He was matched to a project with Florida based robotics company Zulubots. Stephens is a 2014 graduate of the United States Military Academy and majored in Mechanical Engineering. Learn more about Anthony and his experience with OweYaa below.
TL: What was/is your job in the military? Tell me about your experiences.
AS: I’m an Army Engineer Officer. I’ve been stationed at Joint Base Lewis McChord for 2.5 years. I was a Sapper Platoon Leader for 14 months, and I am currently working on battalion staff in the Operations office.
TL: How did you learn about OweYaa?
AS: I learned about it from a facebook page called USMA Careers and Networking. I signed up on OweYaa as well as other sites. I wanted to look into opportunities in the civilian world so that I am prepared when it’s time to leave the Army. I don’t currently have a plan for when I get out, but I figured that doing an internship with OweYaa would be something valuable to have on my resume in addition to my Army experience.
TL: What OweYaa directed learning have you completed?
AS: I haven’t completed any yet. Based on my experience as a Mechanical Engineering major, I had enough of a skill base in coding and Computer Aided Design (CAD) to be placed directly into an internship.
TL: What internship have you been matched to? Tell me about your assigned project and experience there
AS: I work with a robotics company called Zulubots, based out of Florida. They make small machines for the purpose of assisted living and to be used in hotels and the hospitality industry. Generally the device is to help lift heavier objects and/or baskets to help with a specific task. To start, they gave me the programs they use, and a few weeks to get familiar with it. During our second meeting they asked me to make a particular internal component of their device. Other experiences with Zulubots include looking at different industries and examining their demographic information to assess if their software would be useful for one of their products.
TL: Has your past military or civilian experience been of help to you during your internship?
AS: It hasn’t helped me with the technical work on the project. The need for communication in general within the Army has helped me to communicate efficiently with the Zulubots team and to continue the flow of information.
TL: Would you recommend OweYaa to others? Why?
AS: I would recommend it to others that want to gain more experience in the civilian world, but don’t know exactly what their desired civilian career path is. OweYaa tracks your experience and interests, then matches you with an opportunity similar to your desires. It didn’t match me to exactly what I had in mind which ended up being beneficial because it broadened my outlook on other opportunities that I didn’t previously consider.
The discussion with Anthony shows the true effectiveness of the OweYaa program. Anthony came to OweYaa with a desire to improve his future career prospects as well as decide what his next career will be. OweYaa used the information he provided to match him with a robotics project to broaden his experiences. If you are like Anthony and want to explore experiences in the tech industry before making a decision on your next career, sign up with OweYaa today!
