As students all across the country prepare to head back to the classroom, some will reflect on the real-world experience they received as the result of a summer internship.
That’s exactly the situation for Bellevue High School Class of 2010 alum, Jonathan Hung, who will wrap up a software development internship at Siemens Corporation in Mountain View, Calif., before heading back to classes at Stanford in mid-September.
The internship, which Hung started in June, has enabled him to apply his studies in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) in a hands-on learning environment.
Hung found out about the internship as a result of winning a Siemens scholarship during his junior year of high school; the company contacted previous award winners to apply for the position and Hung was selected for the Mountain View campus. Hung said he decided to apply for the position because he’d never worked for a large company before, and he saw it as an interesting software opportunity nearby to where he would be living this summer.
Even before Siemens contacted him, he said he was looking for a computer-related internship that could offer him some professional experience.
Although Hung said he took a computer sciences class as a student at Bellevue High School, he didn’t decide to pursue a career in computer software until taking classes at Stanford his freshman year. The college senior is majoring in Electrical Engineering.
Hung said he didn’t know what to expect in regard to the full-time summer position, but he’s learned a lot about the corporate world.
As a software development intern, Hung is working on re-writing code for the company’s online database and customer service center. While Hung said he’s done a variety of coding previously, he is learning a new technology and new a new coding language at Siemens.
“It’s been difficult to pick up some things I’m not familiar with,” Hung said.
Hung said the internship itself hasn’t changed his career goals much; he has wanted to get involved with computer software since he started college.
“The biggest difference [from school] would be that, when you work for a company there’s a lot stricter schedule,” Hung said. “It’s easier to work when I want at school.”
Hung said it is nice that once the work day is finished, he doesn’t need to worry about work. But he said the position at Siemens has been a great experience and that he plans to apply for other internships in the future.
His advice for other students looking to be successful in obtaining an internship?
“Take as many courses in the field you’re interested in,” Hung said. “You’ll never know how what you learn in school will be applied – and taking as many [courses] as possible will help you to be ready.”
