What can an IS student do for the largest zoo in Texas? Jacob Peterson, a MISM student in his final year, spent the summer helping the Dallas Zoo update its visitor experience as an intern at Pariveda Solutions, a technology-consulting firm.
Jacob spent over a year preparing for this opportunity. He recalls how intimidating recruitment season was for him. “I’m not naturally gifted at meeting new people and putting myself out there so [it] was really taxing on me. But meeting people and connecting with them, asking for help, was really big for me getting an internship.”
Whenever Pariveda recruiters came out, Jacob met up with them and asked more questions about the internship. He interviewed during his first year in the IS core and was asked to re-apply after gaining more experience. Jacob worked hard and continue to put himself out there, learning and experimenting with different topics in the IS field until he finally landed the internship he wanted.
At the firm, he worked with a group of interns assigned to develop an app for the Dallas Zoo. He specifically took on the task of putting the Google Maps software into the app, allowing visitors access to a digital map during their visit. Instead of working eight hours a day in the office, he spent a majority of his work hours wandering around the zoo, mapping the area and showing zoo personnel how the app worked. (Note to the reader: if you love the zoo, consider working for a tech-consulting firm to get free access!)
“It was a pretty technical internship so my experiences with building website from the IS Core really helped,” Jacob said. However, the business-oriented classes were the biggest help for working in a consulting firm –learning professionalism and how a business runs. “It’s about meeting with people and interacting with them.”
His experience at Pariveda gave Jacob a glimpse of the kind of work he wants to do in the future. “I want to keep doing tech consulting,” he commented. “It’s business and tech –meeting with clients and meeting their needs and building and coding.”
He loves the learning element of information systems. “It’s just problem-solving. I always get to do something new and keep learning.” Information systems gives Jacob something new every day that he can get excited about. Today, mapping a zoo so that others can better enjoy their experience. Tomorrow, maybe creating a virtual zoo accessible online to help kids learn about animals in class.