During my sixth 50 hours as an intern at GFT I have had the opportunity to go on a company trip to California, learn about the correct protocols while out in the field, and how to map out a network using Cisco configurations.

The best part of my sixth 50 hours was easily going to California to tour and take an asset inventory of multiple sites at an electric water utility. For the trip they paid to fly me out all the way from Virginia to California where I got to meet just about everybody I have been working with remotely. We would start our mornings by doing a briefing on what was going on today and they would reiterate what appropriate behavior was in the field as well as what we were looking to accomplish in a certain time frame. Then during the day, we would be out in the field going through and doing an asset inventory of any device in the system that was connected to the network. It was very hot in California that week so being out in the field walking around all day was not the easiest thing to do. But being able to see so much about devices and their data showing on the network was incredibly educational and gave me valuable experience. Then on a couple of nights we went out to dinner where I got to interact with everybody and go over what we did that day.

A large part of the trip was learning the correct protocols of what should be done while out in the field. Some stuff was simple and told beforehand, like what kind of clothes you should wear. Other things such as what is an appropriate distance to stay away from devices and what is an electrical hazard were great to learn as well. I also got introduced to a lot of people who work at the electrical water utility, and they were really nice to walk me through what some of the devices do on a more micro level and how they ensure proper operations.

The last thing I did over the course of my sixth 50 hours was learn about Cisco configurations and how to document a network, and what devices are on the network using the configurations. To do this, we used an excel spread sheet where we labelled the device, what ports they use, the IP address, subnet mask, and VLAN. By making a spreadsheet of this data we are going to be able to draw a network diagram to see what parts of the network are secured and which ones need to be worked on. This has been very time consuming but incredibly beneficial to me since I had never seen or read Cisco configurations, so getting to interact with them and draw real data from each one has been great.

Overall, the sixth 50 hours of my internship have gone super well. I have gotten to take a trip and fly a plane for the first time, while gaining valuable experience for my field of work. Meeting everybody and getting to work with people in a professional environment has been joyful and an incredible opportunity. I even got offered the chance to stay part time while in school until I graduate with GFT to keep on gaining experience. This was a super big honor because it showed they still want me around and also will help me with having a part time paid internship while in school. Which will also add even more experience to my resume and make getting a job once I am finished with college easier.