This summer, through my internship, I gained a whole new perspective on the Media and Entertainment industry, as well as most industries that employ digital technologies to operate their businesses. Through the many assignments such as competitor research, research memos, and weekly industry reports I learned two major things: 1. Structure – how to present (and market) these documents in a way that is easy to read and attract attention, and 2. Key Points – I learned the main information to consider when analyzing companies, technologies, and events in this industry. I believe this will serve me greatly in the future, especially when I am looking for employment and getting ready for an interview. I will know exactly the things to research and prepare before the interview, and this way, I will know how to best position myself and the skills that I would bring to the company, in a way that will convince them that I would be a valuable addition to the team.
Furthermore, this internship endowed me with a rather rare opportunity to learn the inside happenings of the media and entertainment industry: to learn the leaders of the industry, their plans and upcoming projects, and finally, the direction this industry is taking.
As the CEO told me at the end of the internship, we now know more than 99.9% of the people about the present state of the M&E industry. Thus, now that I know the important players, the relevant journals and magazines, as well as most of the technical terms and acronyms, I plan to keep myself updated about the progress of the industry throughout the next year, and use it as a unique leverage to apply and negotiate future jobs in the technology industry. I have learned that the knowledge and skills I gained this summer are very valuable, and rather rare for a college student, thus I definitely plan to take advantage of it.
To anyone interested to work with IRIS.TV, or in the automated video programming, and data analysis industry, I would recommend to keep your mind open and be ready to learn on the spot as much as possible. Unfortunately, they don’t teach any of this information in school, because it emerges and changes so quickly, so don’t be afraid to feel like a “baby” when you enter this industry, because you probably won’t understand much at first. However, use the main tools you learned in college, such as being able to learn, gather and process information, and think critically, and in time you will begin to be more fluent in this industry. The effort will be worth it, as it is a fascinating industry, one that will undoubtedly grow and influence our lifestyle on a large scale. Good luck!
Finally, living in LA for the summer has been an experience in itself. I highly recommend it. This city will keep you busy every day, even if you don’t have anything to do. It has a very competitive vibe to it, even finding a parking spot becomes a competition. It’s a great, big hub to meet important people and make valuable connections, thus I greatly recommend it to anyone looking to challenge themselves personally and professionally.