Welcome back to our “Meet the Splunkterns” series. This week our featured Splunktern is Ryan Flynn, a Software Engineering Intern working in the Content/Applications (ITSI) Department. Ryan is from Dublin, CA and is majoring in Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley.
We got the chance to speak with Ryan and here is what he had to say about his summer in The City as a Splunktern:
How did you find out about Splunk’s internship program?
I briefly spoke to a recruiter at a career fair on campus and dropped off my resume, but I learned more about it when one of my friends from school was given an offer to work for Splunk in Seattle.
What kind of experience do you hope to gain from your internship?
More than anything else, I would like to improve and broaden my range of technical skills, but I am also excited to pick up some good habits and work and coding practices from some of the full-time employees on my team.
Describe your typical day at the office:
Arrive around 8:40 after a pleasant 15-minute bayside walk. Make myself an excellent Americano with the fancy coffee and espresso machine in the kitchen. Do some work/coding until standup at 11 A.M. Work for a bit longer before lunch. For lunch, one other intern and I scavenge the kitchen for anything that would be good on a Panini. Then get back to working on my project. Every few days I have about an hour-long meeting with my mentor to check in on my progress.
So far has anything about Splunk/your experience surprised you?
I was surprised by how many interns there are! In my past two internships, I have been one of four to eight interns, and I was assuming that this program would be the same way, so I was surprised to learn that there would be around 50 summer interns in the whole company.
What do you think your biggest challenge will be this summer?
So far, my biggest challenge has been getting up to speed with the technology used within Splunk. The product itself and the tools it provides to developers who want to build apps on top of Splunk (which is essentially what I’m doing) are very extensive, so getting myself to the point where I can comfortably use these tools productively has been challenging, but I think I am really beginning to get the hang of it.
What is your impression of the Splunk culture?
It seems like the leaders and employees in the company believe that everyone is most productive when they are comfortable. The environment is very relaxed and enjoyable and it seems that no expense is spared in giving employees all the toys and food they ask for.
What’s your favorite snack in the kitchen?
Any kind of coffee product – normal coffee, Americanos, Cappucinos.
We hope you enjoyed hearing from Ryan about his Splunktern experience! Make sure to check back in next week to here from another Splunktern, Teresa Tang.
Thanks!
Katrina
Resources:
Interning at Splunk
Splunk University Recruiting on Facebook
Meet the Splunkterns