CIEE Virtual Global Internship
For Summer 2021, I applied to an internship abroad in Berlin, Germany. A month before I started packing my bags, I was notified that the internship is no longer in person and will be conducted virtually. I was in shock and disappointed; I even thought about opting out of the program because I thought it wouldn’t be a good experience. Thankfully, I realized that I would only benefit from this experience, and that a virtual setting, although not ideal, was still better than no experience.
The Internship
The program I did was with CIEE, called Virtual Global Internship – 12 Week. You get to choose the type of internship you want and the company where you want to intern at. I did my internship with a small tech company called Solar Wifi Eco Bin – a data driven smart waste management green technology company. In this internship, I got to be a technical product manager, so I was doing a lot of different things working in engineering, design, and marketing. I am glad I chose to work for a smaller company because I was able to directly work with the director of engineering, and even have weekly calls with the CEO. I learned a lot from this experience, and I wouldn’t change anything. Most importantly, as I am applying for internships now in the US, I noticed that I am getting more attention from recruiters than before because of this new relevant experience on my resume.
Scholarships
I honestly was very scared about not receiving any scholarship for my program. It was hard mainly because I had to fully commit to the program before even getting confirmation of my scholarship approval. Thankfully, my internship was fully covered by both the Gilman and the UWB Ambassador Scholarship. I also got left over money which was a good motivation for me to not have to work during the summer. Instead, I focused all my time and energy on my virtual internship.
Conclusion
Overall, this was an amazing experience, and I would recommend anyone to do an internship in person or virtual if they get the chance. I learned a lot of new skills, got to make new connections, expand my network, and improve my chances of getting noticed by recruiters.
