IMLP Intern Experiences - GE Capital

It’s a dark and stormy day in Norwalk, Connecticut—more fitting of March than June, where noon is as dark as 7 pm—but one young intern is safe and warm in the cozy confines of his cubicle. Mid-afternoon strikes, the storm worsens, and the unthinkable happens: the Merritt 7 GE Capital building’s internet goes down. Experienced employees go wild, and panic runs amok: except, not really. The veterans of GE take it in stride, find another path or alternate tasks to work on, and the busy, motivated but still casual environment continues as usual. It is week three of the internship, a Thursday afternoon, and my time with GE has been more than I expected.

Coming into the program as an IMLP intern, I really had no idea what to expect. I spent the months leading up to the start date wondering what parts of my college curriculum would be called to action in my first “real world” application of my IT studies. So for the last two weeks I have been working with a relatively new tool called the Google App Engine, a gadget which takes Java apps and hosts them to Google’s cloud. I already had some basic experience with Java, and some basic experience with Web Apps, but I had never used them together. Now I have. My experience with GE has been a pleasant mix of the familiar and new challenges and a push to make me develop new skills.

There are several aspects about the company itself I have learned in my short time here: people are hardworking and pleasantly (in my perspective) blunt. What I mean by this is expectations of employees are very clear: by the end of the first week, I had goals and objectives outlined. Many of my fellow interns have due dates for one of their deliverables in the near future or already passed. My assignment leader has been straightforward: “This task will be easy for you; this one will make you struggle. It will be a challenge, and we want to see how you will handle it.” A strong work ethic and excellent self-motivation are easily apparent in all employees, but so is a little lighthearted sarcasm and humor. Getting coffee with another intern, we were questioned by a GE full-timer, and as we walked away heard the loud, joking, exclamation of “COLLEGES! THEY GO TO COLLEGES! DID YOU KNOW THEY STILL HAD THOSE?”

Whether it was technical work in my cubicle or a networking experience with those around me—from asking for coding help or laughing about the off-balance dryer on the floor below whose spin-cycle reverberates to such an extreme it shakes stationary computer monitors—my time so far at GE has been a great learning experience. I have a feeling the rest of my weeks here will be just as good.

Dan F. is a summer IMLP Intern at GE Capital in Norwalk, CT. He is a rising senior from the University of Wisconsin – Madison with a double major in Information Systems and Finance with a minor in German. After growing up in Michigan, he has enjoyed his time on the East coast so far. In his free time Dan enjoys snowboarding, especially the cold weather, and soccer. His favorite movies are Dodgeball and Wayne’s World while his favorite bands are Dispatch, Ratatat, and State Radio.