Every week as an IT Consultant for the CS Systems group is a new set of responsibilities. Over the past year in my internship, I have taken on a wide range of assignments, including troubleshooting faculty computers, conducting Zoom meetings, and even repairing coffee machines. Each task has presented unique challenges, ensuring that no two days are ever the same. Within my most recent 50 hours at CS Systems, the main tasks I focused on included work projects, introducing myself to new team members, and overseeing our troubleshooting inbox. I believe each of these tasks challenged me in unique ways, pushing me to adapt to my environment and contributing to my personal growth.

In CS Systems, all Consultants are required to do work projects. There are several work projects ranging from networking, windows and Linux administration, and web development. Similar to an assignment for a college course, consultants are expected to use time management skills to complete and submit their projects before the deadline. During my last 50 hours of work, I worked on and completed my project on containerization. The containerization project required me to build a small web container infrastructure with Docker and share all images and configurations in our isolated Git repository. This project presented several challenges: I had to conduct extensive research to understand containerization, balance the work alongside school and other tasks, and troubleshoot a layer 7 firewall rule that blocked me from pushing materials to the repository. Throughout this project, I identified two key weaknesses that I need to work on. First, I need to improve my time management skills to allocate sufficient time for my projects while balancing other responsibilities. Strengthening this skill will help me avoid late night work sessions that leave me feeling burnt out. Second, I need to become more comfortable asking for help instead of trying to solve every issue on my own. This became clear when a firewall block stalled my project; I could only move forward after my supervisor revised the settings. Had I asked sooner, I likely would have completed the project more quickly. Despite my struggles, I was able to complete my project and submit it within the deadline.

Beyond the containerization project, my last 50 hours of work exposed me to new situations that required me to adapt to the workplace. With the fall semester starting off, we introduced our next wave of new hires. Now that I’m no longer the “new guy,” I feel a responsibility to guide our new consultants, which reflects both my growth in the company and my effort to overcome my tendency to stay in my shell. Out of the three new hires we have, I feel like I’ve done a good job with connecting with one in particular. His name is Phillip, and I found it easier to connect with him because of his maturity, which comes from both his age and experience in the Air Force. However, I still find it challenging to connect with the two younger, more reserved hires. Once their schedules are finalized, I’ll be making more of an effort to connect with them to ensure we can work as a team efficiently.

The last situation that required me to adapt was the new responsibility given to me by the head of our department. At CS Systems, we are very adamant to have quick response times for our troubleshooting emails, or tickets. For context, when a student or professor in the CS department has an issue, they’ll create a ticket by emailing us at root@cs.odu.edu for help. However, some of these requests tend to go unanswered for long periods of time. To ensure we maintain quick response times, our department chair assigned me weekend hours to oversee and respond to any emails that come in. Since nobody else works during the weekends, I’ll be the first line of defense to answering issues and ensuring they are resolved when we return to business hours. While I see this as a sign of my growth within the department and their trust in me, I now need to adapt to the added responsibility of carefully monitoring emails over the weekend.

In summary, my last 50 hours of work at CS Systems have been productive and provided good learning experiences for myself. Working on the containerization project was a harsh but necessary reminder that I’ll need to efficiently manage my time in order to keep up with all of my responsibilities amidst the fall semester. Working with containers expanded my knowledge of web development and added a valuable skill to my resume. I also recognized the importance of building relationships with new hires to support their transition, which reflects both my growth in the company and my own maturity. Finally, taking on weekend tasks required further adaptation, as I can no longer treat my weekends as casually as before. It’s reassuring to see results and growth within the department after a year of work. It is more important than ever that I continue delivering results throughout the remainder of the semester.