I found this practicum opportunity through searching my local Indeed job board. As an Applied Mathematics student, I was interested in getting practical experience using my technical skills in industry. One piece of advice I would give future SGC Scholars is to prioritize opportunities that encourage initiative rather than focusing only on titles or exact job descriptions. Much of the value of my internship came from identifying problems independently and proposing my own solutions.
At the beginning of the internship, I spent time learning the company’s workflow, databases, and reporting systems. My official responsibilities included creating data reports and analyzing mailing output data across industries. This included forming presentations and summaries from exported datasets for the marketing team. While working on these reports, I quickly noticed that the underlying database system was outdated and inefficient. Exported CSV files contained inconsistent date and number formatting, arbitrary row and column placement, and required manual restructuring before the data could be analyzed or converted into Excel PivotTables.
After noticing the inefficiencies in this process, I started (to the excitement of my supervisor) to develop an automation tool to eliminate much of the repetitive manual work. Using Python and the Pandas library, I created an application that extracted raw datasets from the database and automatically converted them into formatted Excel outputs with customizable inputs and automatic field detection. The tool significantly reduced the time analysts spent manually preparing data. One major challenge was that company devices were heavily restricted, and I was not allowed to install an IDE or code editor such as VSCode. As a result, I wrote and debugged the entire application using Notepad. Although frustrating at times, this forced me to better understand my code’s structure and adjust my debugging process without the ability to rely on external tools.
As development progressed, I collaborated with the app development team to improve the application’s usability and design. I began with a command-line interface and later transitioned to a graphical user interface to make the software easier for non-technical analysts to use. I shared early versions with various teams reliant on the database, gathered feedback, and adjusted the workflow based on their recommendations. Through this process, I learned best practices related to user testing, version control, and software deployment.
One of the most important lessons I learned was how science and technical skills connect with broader organizational and social systems. Before this experience, I mainly viewed programming as an insular process removed from its greater use; but through this experience, I saw just how intricately different departments interacted, where producing workflow improvements on the programming side could impact communication, efficiency, and decision-making across multiple teams. My automation tool reduced tedious manual labor, allowed analysts to process larger datasets more effectively, and contributed to improving the quality of mail campaigns while reducing unnecessary or spam-like mailings. This experience demonstrated how programming can be used in many contexts to radically improve workflows and remove tedium from the equation entirely.
The internship also affected my future academic and career plans. Although I enjoyed the programming and automation aspects of the work, I do not want to orient my technical background primarily toward marketing or business analytics. However, the experience also strengthened my interest in software development and applied mathematics. It showed me how much joy it brings to build tools that solve practical problems, especially when I have the freedom to take initiative and design solutions independently. Since leaving the internship, I applied to the Computer Science LEP. I await a response to determine if I will pursue a double major in this field.
From this experience, I learned the importance of initiative and adaptability. While I wasn’t explicitly tasked with building an automation system, I identified a problem. I developed a solution independently, contributing more meaningfully to the organization and to my learning than I would have through assigned tasks alone. I also gained confidence in my ability to learn new technologies, communicate with technical and non-technical teams alike, and complete large projects from beginning to end. Overall, the practicum gave me valuable insight into professional technical work and helped clarify the kinds of environments and projects I hope to pursue in the future.
Alexander Geretz Portfolio
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