My major internship goal and its importance to me

My major goal for the TNT Internship is to network with staff at Microsoft and learn about the work culture as a software engineer in a big Tech company like Microsoft.

During a meeting this week,  with our team mentors and coaches who are staff at Microsoft, they shared their experiences at the Company. In the meeting,  I asked them the reason why they chose Microsoft instead of other Tech Companies. One common attribute of Microsoft that attracted our mentors is the flexibility in the project teams at work where they are not afraid of making mistakes. The team members have no expectations of perfection and are willing to work on solutions to the mistakes made by other team members.

As Computer Science majors, we work on different team projects. It is crucial to understand that merge conflicts and other mistakes will occur during the project design process, and the way we react to the mistakes of our team members affects not only the team dynamics but also the product designed. Working in a team with no pressure of trying to be perfect, embracing others' mistakes, and working on solutions is a crucial aspect of software development careers.

Additionally, our other coach, who transitioned from a non-tech field to Microsoft, mentioned how the support provided by the other team members greatly influenced his decision to stay at the Company.

In the Computer Science career, it is easy to keep working on individual group work without taking time to support other team members. However, even in-class assignments, it is crucial to be supportive of others through rendering support to explain a particular concept or reaching out to a team member who did not finish an assignment to inquire if everything is okay. It is such behavior that distinguishes us from robots.