Throughout this internship, I hope to develop my skills both socially within the workplace and practically, learning new software and techniques that are applicable to many areas of life after university. I hope to make lasting connections, both with my fellow saltire scholars and my colleagues here at Edrington. My final desire is to use this time to the fullest, diving into the American culture and experiencing everything life in New York has to offer. The first day I met my supervisors, who are all lovely, and started setting up our accounts post lunch with the team! The rest of the week was completing this as well as training courses that all staff do. I were given a lovely tour of the office, listened to some important meetings, and got introduced to Power BI (the software they use to analyze data).
I started the week with two meetings, making sure everything was set up and running as it should, and received my first project to work on in Power BI. I received my first time-pressured project, collating various staff data into one excel file, using a system called VIP to fill in missing data and make sure all is correct. There was a real sense of community and welcoming, never mind the tasty dinner.
I was a little worried about not connecting with everyone prior to arriving but everything is going swimmingly.
Reflecting on my progress thus far, I have completed a project in data whilst also working on a couple new ones, mainly using excel. My proudest achievement was the biweekly meeting I presented. It went really well and everyone was impressed by the presentation.
The impact of the projects is clear to see. From streamlining data to using a new barcoding system for the office inventory, i can see how my actions fit into the wider company objectives.
In terms of cohesion between us scholars and our colleagues, I travelled down to Boston for a weekend where we met a few of the Saltire Scholars, we had a blast! Washington scholars came to visit and they were also lovely. Our work had a beach cleanup day which we took the ferry down to with some colleagues and returned with another offering to drive us back which was very sweet and great for making connections. One weekend we were shown a food market by a colleague of ours which turned out to be incredible.
Regarding questions at work, whenever we are unsure on how to proceed with a project, I ask the appropriate person and their feedback is always understanding and helpful. This makes me feel comfortable and more confident in the working environment which is great for my personal growth.
The most rewarding part workwise would be our colleagues’ reactions when we complete the tasks they have set us, as they always seem impressed at our speed and thoroughness.
