The year before, I had worked on the user interface for the demo of the project. It was a great experience, but I knew that now would be the time for me to learn and develop in different areas, and I was ready for it. In the beginning of the project, I asked if I could work on different kinds of tasks this year to get as much as possible out of the summer. My team respected my request, and I got to see first-hand how versatile the work there could really be. There is always something for everyone.
At some point, I learned that I never have to worry if there is something that I don’t know or that’s new to me. An important part of the summer would be to learn new things anyway. And so, it started. During the first week, we spent time learning about the tools and technologies we would be using in the project. To me, this was a fun stage that also prepared me to start the project with confidence.
The summer project surrounded cognitive orchestration in the cloud environment. We were researching how machine learning and AI could be used to optimize orchestration. Even though I didn’t have prior experience in machine learning, the team helped me and made it possible for us to work on the project together. Soon after, I got my first task to make a script that could utilize machine learning output to affect the platform. This felt to me like an achievable goal after I had spent the first week learning about the platform and how it worked.
After this first task, I had the opportunity to work on a number of various other tasks, such as writing and running tests, analyzing test data, and documenting the solutions and results. I quickly learned how the project was structured and what the goals were. Soon after starting the project, I felt like I was an important part of it. Working closely with the team made it easy to get quick feedback and help on any task I had to do. Everyone was good at different things, and it was easy to both give and receive help from others. Like the year before, I loved everything I got to do there.
Earlier this year, a friend of mine in a different field asked me if I really wanted to work within my field in the summer instead of trying something new. I told her then, and I still know it to be true now, that this was what I enjoyed and, so, what I want to do.
Seeing how much I have developed since the day I first came to Ericsson one year ago compared to where I am now, after this summer’s internship, I am happy to realize that now I am excited by not knowing what to expect next. I know I’ve learned a lot, although I still have much to learn, and doing these internships has been a giant steppingstone in my own development. Today, I’m happy with where I am, and I’m really looking forward to the future.
About the author
Name: Marina Massoud
Unit: Cloud - Research
Education: computer science at Aalto University
Location: Jorvas
Age: 21