Integrating Skills: Mikayla’s Journey Applying Computer Science to IT Internship Success
At Skillsoft, we recognize the significance of a successful early career, which is why our internship program provides opportunities to gain hands-on experience and apply your skills in your area of expertise. Mikayla Humiston, a Computer Science major at Framingham State University, attests to how she’s been able to contribute productively and efficiently to projects as our Digital and IT Intern. From learning new applications to optimizing our resources, Mikayla has implemented her computer science insights into her role this summer.
Let’s dive into Mikayla’s career path and how she has excelled in her internship thus far!
Could you introduce yourself and describe your role as an IT intern? What initially drew you to this position?
“My name is Mikayla Humiston, and I am an intern in the digital and IT department on the enterprise data and analytics team. I study computer science at my university, and I’ve been pursuing some personal projects in data analytics. Before I started this internship, I did a personal project analyzing customer reviews at my previous job, and now that’s what I’m doing here — analyzing customer reviews on Skillsoft’s assets.
I liked that Skillsoft’s headquarters are located nearby in Nashua, as I live in Massachusetts, but I was also drawn to the remote setting. It seemed like something that could be flexible, and the internship description aligned with my interests. There were a lot of perfect aspects for me!”
Outside of work or studying, what hobbies or interests do you enjoy? How do you balance your personal interests with your internship?
“For hobbies, I enjoy cooking a lot. One way that I have been balancing this interest with my passion for data analytics and programming is by tailoring my personal projects to my hobbies. Currently, I’m working on a project outside of the internship to build a database for my recipes and develop applications to keep track of my pantry and the ingredients needed.”
What were your initial thoughts when you started your internship? Has anything surprised you so far?
“I think it’s probably some of the same things we talked about in our meetings — despite the fact that it’s all remote, everyone seems connected, and there is a cohesive and friendly work culture. During almost all of our meetings, everybody likes to have their cameras on, so I feel like that creates a higher degree of connection in a remote setting, which is not something I’ve seen in a lot of other environments.
The one thing that took me by surprise would probably be the amount of training material that we have access to. I didn’t see this coming, but I’ve definitely been taking advantage of that, using all Percipio and Codecademy resources.”
Can you share a project or task you have been involved in during your first weeks? What challenges did you face, and how did you approach them?
“I’ve been working on a project analyzing our five-star rating reviews from the Net Promoter Score Survey results, which are based on the courses on Percipio. Some of this work has been familiar to me but we are using a lot of tools different from those I have used before. So, there have been some challenges with learning to use these tools, however, the resources they have available to us have been helping a lot.
To expand, we have been using Microsoft Azure Databricks which is not something I’ve used before. Initially, I was doing a lot of the analysis manually, writing out entire SQL commands by hand. Then, in a recent meeting, my mentor pointed out features in Databricks that automate much of this work. Since this conversation, I have been looking at the tutorials, courses, and videos to learn how to use some of these features, which has been making my project go a bit faster and more smoothly.”
How have you been adjusting to your role and learning about Skillsoft’s infrastructure and operations? Could you share an example of a moment where you felt a significant learning curve?
“I found the Lunch and Learn sessions to be really helpful. Learning from experienced professionals at Skillsoft has given me a better idea of the infrastructure and the different teams and departments, including how they work together and the processes they use.
I encountered a learning curve last week when communicating with my mentors and team members about a project. We realized that initially, we were not on the same page with some details and expectations regarding my project, but multiple members of my team were readily available and very supportive. Through discussion, we easily clarified this confusion, and they gave me guidance on using various tools and resources for this project. By communicating more, things have been going smoothly this week.”
What specific skills or knowledge areas do you hope to develop during your internship? Is there a particular area of IT or professional development that excites you?
“I’m looking to grow and develop my data analytics skills and data engineering knowledge, as this wasn’t taught deeply at my school. Most of what I knew before going into this internship was from personal exploration and projects, so I am going to use more tools and learn different things in a corporate environment. That is definitely my primary goal going into this internship.”
Drawing from your recent experiences, what advice would you give to someone who is just starting as an intern in a similar role at Skillsoft?
“Advice that I would give to somebody else is to go out of your way to update everyone you are working with on things that you are doing. Even if it seems like you have already done it many times already, let them know anyway! In my experience, there were certain times when my team did not realize we were not on the same page, or they were wondering why I didn’t have certain details on my project because they thought I had been added to the Jira. A simple conversation quickly resolved this, and I was quickly caught up.”
We hope you found Mikayla’s experiences at Skillsoft insightful and enjoyable! As our summer internship progresses, we will be interviewing more of our incredible IT interns, so make sure you stay tuned!
