Author: eazrieli

While I still have several more weeks of my internship, I know the bittersweet ending is surely nearing as I am now working on my final tasks.

Reflecting on my experience, I now understand a crucial thing about the entrepreneurial environment: the only constant is complication. No matter how simple, small or inconsequential a Salesforce or Excel task may have seemed at a first glance, it always took longer than I could ever have expected. Due to the fact that every system and process was uncharted territory for EMA, everything required multiple iterations and everything took time.  Naturally, this changed how much I ended up completing versus how much I expected to complete. However, this does not mean I didn’t learn as much as I expected to. If anything, it forced me to find alternative solutions, rethink my approaches, and ask my advisors more specific questions than I would have had to if all went according to plan. I gained a far deeper understanding of the different software I worked with, and in this sense my internship was a huge success. I will surely be more confident going into a technical business role than before my internship.

 

The one goal I was unable to accomplish was being able to interact and speak with attorneys from EMA’s network. I did not have opportunities to speak with lawyers about litigating; however, I was able to speak with EMA’s in-house attorney and gain some insight into what it is like as a startup business attorney.

Overall, I would say I am most proud of myself for rolling with the punches. I was given tasks that I had no idea where to even begin looking, but I eventually figured out each task. I had to stretch my resourcefulness as far as it could go, and along the way I gained a working understanding of a software I had no prior experience with. I have finally gained the confidence that I can handle whatever is thrown at me, all I have to do is find a starting place.

This internship has clarified my career interests because I now know the kind of work I do enjoy and the work I don’t enjoy. For example, I absolutely loved discussing the pros and cons of one system versus another with my advisors. I really enjoyed talking about the customer experience and how we can tailor their website to be even more appealing. On the other hand, I wasn’t as fond of repetitive tasks like creating dozens of new entry fields. I learned that I derive a lot of satisfaction from working with people and brainstorming solutions to problems. This knowledge about myself will surely be useful when choosing what jobs to apply for and which ones to pass on.

EMA falls into two categories: a startup business and a litigation-based business. For any future startup interns, I have several pieces of advice:

• Your job description may say one thing, but you will need to wear many hats. Embrace the learning experience rather than fear the different kinds of thinking you may need to do.
• Simple is elegant. Extraneous pieces and details of a system will only serve to complicate your task as well as the business’ operations. Make a product or system as simple as you possibly can to suit their goals.

I also have some advice to any future EMA interns:

• Work closely with the in-house lawyers. While your tasks might seem much more on the business side, EMA is a litigation-based business so much of the business tasks are only there to best fit the needs of the lawyers in preparing client documents and litigating for clients.
• Your supervisors are very experienced and knowledgeable; don’t be afraid to ask them any questions that you are curious about.
• Visit their website to get a better idea of who they are and what they do. Their business isn’t simple so learning more about them will give you a much clearer understanding of what they may ask you to do.

Conducting my internship virtually has certainly introduced both benefits and hurdles, but overall I am extremely happy in the company where I am working. One of the hardest things about remote work is that, naturally, all communication and interactions has to be virtual. I have found this to restrict group problem solving; I can’t just pop into the office of a colleague or supervisor to ask them quick questions about the project, and I also try to avoid spamming their phone with emails every minute of the day. As a result, I end up having to condense a lot of my questions and comments into our periodic conversations. Also, being virtual means conversations have to be scheduled. Consequently, conversation about non-work related topics is slightly less organic.

That being said, virtual work has offered me a great work-life balance. Rather than being evaluated based on daily hourly dedication, I am evaluated on pace of completion. Although this distinction seems subtle at first, it does make a great deal of a difference in practical matters. In a normal office setting, it is considered odd and often unacceptable to simply not show up any given day. On the other hand, working virtually enables me to do a lot of work on one day and none on a day in which I have other matters to tend to. Orienting my internship in this way enables me to be both happier and more productive.

In addition, my internship has undoubtedly furthered me towards my goals to strengthen both technical and social skills. In academic contexts, I have total control over the direction of my papers, essays and projects. The success and failure is based purely on my planning  and execution of  tasks. This is not the case in my internship. My supervisors, my coworkers, and I all have our own opinions of how a project should proceed, so the outcome of any given project is driven far more on the ability of the group to coordinate their ideas and efforts, as opposed my own motivation of for any task I have for school. With this comes an entirely different set of skills. Rather than being able to quickly process information and arrive at a conclusion, much time is spent on articulating ideas and balancing concessions.

Additionally, I am finally becoming functional in Salesforce and Excel’s Power Query. It has taken a lot of trial and error, exploration, and informational videos, but I am now able to comfortably navigate and solve business problems on EMA‘s digital platforms. Given the nature of work in business and law, the technical and social skills I am learning will be crucial in any kind of work environment I may encounter in my future career.