How an intern becomes extraordinary
by Joseph in Author Highlight / 02.16.09
The face of an intern
Hello loyal followers, authors, and students of the MindBites community! My name is Joseph Filip and I have just been brought into the MindBites team with the very official title of Intern Extraordinaire! Despite my pleadings that I be given a more realistic title, such as “Intern Better-Than-Average,” or “Intern Alright,” I will be working to live up to this lofty position. Many of you are probably familiar with the other regular contributors of the MindBites Blog, so let me share a little info about myself so we can start building that special bond between blogger and commenter.
Some background:
I was born in Tucson, Arizona. My family moved to San Antonio, Texas, where I went to school up to 6th grade when my parents moved to a little town called Seguin. I finished up high school in the town of about 24,000 and moved on to my first choice for college, St. Edward’s University in Austin. I was accepted into the honors program there, which means that my foundation courses are specifically designed around discussion and have a much different “flavor” than the classes most of the rest of the undergraduates experience.
I was initially a Computer Information Science major, but that idea died after a year, giving way for my current major: Digital Media Management. This major focuses around the kinds of business challenges that face the Music, Film, and Gaming industries in the digital age. As a current junior, I have loved every class I’ve taken and highly recommend it to any students who are looking at getting into one of those fields.
MindBites:
I have always been very interested in start up companies, as I have always considered starting and owning a business of my own one day. The opportunity at MindBites couldn’t be a better fit for what I’m looking to learn about the start up world as well as be a better place for me to try and flex my academic knowledge for a real world company.
Day One:
The first day on any job is a little chaotic. I would say that is an accurate rule to apply to my first day at MindBites. Lots of paperwork making sure I’m not an illegal alien, communist, towel, etc. Signing my name on the last form was nice, kinda like finishing your homework and getting to go play. Except that the game I was about to play had rules and I had to learn them. Cue a near information overload.
Links, tools, info was thrown at me in close succession. I was making bookmarks and writing down passwords and user names as fast as I could, while listening at the top of my multitasking skills. Nearly an hour later, we get done with the last bit of info for the day. As soon as we wrapped up and I closed my final bookmark window I had a premonition. I could see something. It was a question and it was coming. “So, do you have any questions?” It was funny given the amount of info I had just ingested. My brain was still processing, clicking away like an old Windows 98 computer that couldn’t quite handle the challenges that running Word ‘97 and Netscape Navigator simultaneously posed.
Luckily there was a brief pause in the action followed by a team meeting which I got to sit in on. It was very interesting to hear the qualitative actions that MindBites is taking to help grow the site. This is opposed to the kinds of abstract problems and solutions that I am familiar with in the classroom setting. While I was unable to contribute much in this meeting, due to me being almost wholly ignorant of most of the topics discussed, it was thrilling for me to think that I would hopefully be an integral part of this team.
Before I knew it, my time was up for my first day. I gathered my things and headed back to campus through eclectic South Austin. As I walked into my afternoon class, it was very cool to think about where I had just come from and the kinds of things I would be doing there. This internship is going to be far more important to me and others than my past internships and jobs.
I’m excited to be here and helping to make MindBites better. I hope that in my time here I can form some concrete relationships with the MindBites community and hope I can help you get the most from us.
Drop me a line at joseph [at] mindbites [dot] com if you have any questions for me or just want to chat!
Welcome! I always knew Jason had a soft spot for ex-Tucsonans. Looking forward to some extraordinary interning from you!