By: Sean Nasi, DePaul University digital cinema major ’15
DePaul Diaries is a day-in-the-life blog series written by DePaul students. The series unveils DePaulians’ experiences as interns in their field of choice. Students share their honest thoughts about their experiences, what they learned as an intern and advice for students who are interested in the same field.
After attending one of DePaul’s internship fairs, Zachary Graceffa, DePaul graduate, received an offer to intern at Nansen, Inc., a digital agency headquartered in Sweden, with offices in Chicago. After discovering that participating in the internship program at Nansen would lead to a full-time position within the company, Zach happily accepted the internship. This year, he attended the same job fair, but this time as a representative for Nansen rather than a job seeker, coming full circle in under a year.
Zach started his internship at Nansen by watching tutorial videos, which taught him the basics of .NET MVC and EPiServer. As his technical knowledge expanded, his responsibilities gradually transformed from fixing bugs to implementing new features into the system. Zach said that one of his favorite parts of the internship was the collaborative environment. His coworkers were always around to offer up their advice and expertise. “The tools are there to help you succeed, whether it be your top-of-the-line laptop and software, or the people who are incredibly knowledgeable in their field and more than happy to help you learn more,” Zach said.
In the end, Zach ended his internship with more than just an increase in technical knowledge and an outlet to apply his classroom learning to a real-world environment. He ended his internship with a career. “You can read countless articles and documents on the Internet, but there is nothing better than being taught by someone who is successful in the field you wish to be a part of,” Zach said. Perhaps one day, Zach will come full circle again and be a mentor for his own intern.
Want to learn about DePaul’s University Internship Program? Check it out, here, or send inquiries to UIP@depaul.edu. Need help finding an internship? Visit depaul.joinhandshake.com, or come into DePaul’s Career Center to meet with an advisor.