Tech Comm Intern's Path to Success

By Brittany Bailey, Intern to Louellen Coker, Content Solutions

Before becoming an intern, I wondered how internships give students the experience they need to be able to succeed in their careers. Who could have thought that being an intern could provide me with so many door-opening opportunities? My internship has given me the chance to win photography awards, publish by-lines, make connections, and build an amazing resume.

I started working my sophomore year of college as an intern for Louellen Coker, owner of Content Solutions, a communications firm in Denton. For a college student, this was a dream job, the chance many students aspire to and admire. I am a photography major, with an advertising journalism minor at the University of North Texas (UNT). The programs, the techniques, and the creative abilities I have learned since I began as an intern are much more than any teacher has taught me in any class.

The three years of classes behind me—including English, Design, Drawing, History, Computer, and Photography classes—helped me to get this internship. The two more years of school ahead of me will only continue to give me more knowledge I can use toward my internship, and future career advances.

Classes may offer the technical aspects of communicating, the hows and the whys, but they do not teach what the internship experience with a technical communicator can. When I walked into my interview for this internship, I was shaking, and didn't know how to answer any of the questions. I seek to grow from being an intern, to be able to walk into an interview with the confidence that I know I have the skills that companies are seeking. My intern experience will give me the confidence to know the questions they ask so I won’t shake. I look forward to designing graphics, taking photographs, building Web sites, and learning more about communication design. This internship with Content Solutions is giving me the courage to go to future interviews—the courage and the belief that I can reach my goals, and that I can achieve my future dreams. Everything I’ve learned in my classes takes on a new perspective when applied to actual experiences.

The experience and knowledge that I have gained from this internship will help me to succeed further down the road. So far, it has taught me the importance of deadlines. Clients demand their project to be done when they want it, even if it means staying up until 10:00 pm to meet the deadline. When you add the demand of your instructors to the demand of a client, then you definitely have a busy schedule; but, it is all worth it in the end. Managing the client’s expectations is a skill that cannot be taught. It is something that can only be learned by experience. I have learned the importance of consistency, in conversations with clients and in designs.

Organizational skills are something that every teacher spends hours trying to ingrain into students' brains; the connection never worked until I was in the environment that required it. The environment of an internship does not allow you to lose files or forget about tasks. Creating a successful schedule and planning tasks are key aspects in maintaining the organization skills needed in a workplace. To me, one of the major pererequisites of a technical communication internship is learning the computer applications needed to succeed in this field, how to write code for websites, and knowing the tools within each application and when to use them.

The learning curve that comes with your first job in any field is only one of the obstacles to overcome. Louellen helped me overcome most of the obstacles I have encountered while working as an intern for her and her company. Just because I have a boss rather than a teacher, does not mean I don't have my homework. The internship requires you to do your fair share of research and homework. If you are given a project during the day that you honestly have no clue how to start, you have to go home and do your research, so you’re prepared to start the project the next morning. You won’t survive if you rely solely on a boss. Going home to do research and training was not a negative thing to me. I felt like I had a chance to learn something that other students didn’t. I jumped at the chance to be ahead of the game, and ahead of my fellow class-mates.

At Content Solutions, I not only have a boss, I have a mentor. My mentor teaches me what a class never could. She helps to guide me where I need to be when I graduate college. The internship is more than just a job. It is a life-changing experience, that when given the opportunity, I would recommend jumping at the opportunity. Louellen looks over my shoulder, not to monitor my activity, but to monitor my growth and ability. As the year has gone by, the quick year that it was—I have noticed that she peeks over less and less. To me, that is a sign that I have learned what she has taught, and I have effectively learned from this experience. The mentoring Louellen has given me has made me who I am today.