Name:Savio Kay

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Maryland Auto

Position Title: I.T. Analyst

Major(s)/Minor(s): Information Systems (Master's)

Work Term:Summer 2018 - Spring 2019

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.

The Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund (Maryland Auto) was created by the legislature of the State of Maryland. At Maryland Auto, I am currently in the Cloud Service & Business Intelligence department. My day to day responsibilities involved in creating, managing, and maintaining various Business Intelligence projects as well as participate in a project involving the development of a natural language processing unit led by AWS to help create a chatting application for the insurance company. This application is meant to facilitate in helping to address various queries from the customers about their policy and insurance. We believe that post development and testing phase, the final version would be proposed to use in the Maryland Auto’s live website for regular use in the near future.

In addition, I was able to use various project management tools and techniques to create and manage project schedules, identify milestones and involve in strategic project planning. Moreover, I was involved in preparing business analytical models & identifying key customers issues and create better business project strategies.

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?

Maryland Auto is a prominent partner of the Career Center and has recruited many interns throughout several years. The Company has made many strides in the financial sector. Being new to the discipline, I was eager to join the company to acquire more knowledge about the business furthermore corporate environment.

I spoke to a couple of seniors who previously were residents at the company, visited the career center for advice and to get my resume approved, contacted Maryland Auto and had a phone interview with their management. Along with a technical meeting, there were a phone and an on-site interview. After a thorough review of my options with my advisor, I was on my way to Maryland Auto for my internship.

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?

I enjoyed practicing what I studied from my Graduate courses to my work, almost directly. This gave me a further real-time outlook of the practical implications of theoretical concepts acquired in class. I also had multiple occasion to communicate and coordinate with cross-functional team members in a dynamic corporate environment.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

I believe that my work in the Natural Language Processing & Cloud Services department will assist with servicing customer policy requests for residents at the company far more efficient. The project deployment is in the upcoming updates of the company systems. It enables the company to entertain more customer request while maintaining proper customer service. While sustaining an efficient workflow, it also utilizes individuals to their maximum potential.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

I believe there is a lot to learn from any internship experience. Other than your own personal learning goals towards the internship/co-op, you get to learn more with various activities on and off projects and also with and without team members. I would really advice being open to learning new things from the internship as the environment is vastly different from the school experience. The last thing I would want to say is Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen.

I am always open to your additional queries regarding internships and converting it into a co-op.

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Hey everyone! If you’ve been paying any attention, you know that UMBC’s Spring Career Fair is this Friday. And if you haven’t, now you know. It’ll be from 11:30-3:30 in the RAC. Be sure to stop by dressed in business professional and with a few copies of your resume. If you want a longer guide, check out my post from last Fall on what to do before, during, and after the fair. . But this time I’m going to talk about something a little different: why each and every one of you should come to the Career Fair.

If you want a job or internship the answer is kind of obvious. Come apply for jobs! But before you do, make sure you have a good resume. We have online resources on our website, or you can come in and see us in person. Make an appointment or come to drop in hours any weekday from 2 pm - 4 pm. Also look at the Career Fair directory online and decide which companies you want to target. The day of the fair, make it a priority to go to their booths first.

If you have a job or internship look at the Career Fair as an opportunity to practice networking with very few repercussions. You don’t have to worry about getting a job, so a lot of the pressure is off! See it as a chance to talk with hiring managers and professionals in your field, although be sure to tell them that you aren’t looking for employment at this time. And of course, stop by our LinkedIn head shot booth so your picture looks as good as your experience.

If you don’t feel qualified for a job or internship you’re probably wrong (and I mean that in the nicest way possible). Internships are designed for people with little to no experience. If you’re worried that your resume doesn’t have enough content, come see us at drop-ins! We’ll help you showcase what you have. If you feel like you haven’t learned enough, that's okay too. Most employers don’t expect interns to know much at all! You’ll spend a good portion of your time as an intern learning both technical and professional skills. Come to the fair and check out the employers that will be marked “Freshman Friendly.” They are open to people with less experience and happy to take on an intern and train them to do the job right!