Half Way Through...

I'm half way through my internship and roughly 15% through my internship project that I am supposed to present at the end of my summer here. That doesn't add up correctly now does it? So my internship....the jury is still out on how I feel about it.

The Pros-
-I am actually doing venture capital inside a large corporation. I had expected to take a more operations type finance role but got lucky and was placed in the the venture capital arm of said large corporation.
-I'm learning so much about VC that I didn't know I had an interest in it. I clumped VC with those types of jobs that don't allow for a reasonable work/life balance, but it turns out, there are possibilities.
-Working for a large corporation has its perks. There are a lot of employee programs in place that help the work/life balance. There are a lot of resources available as well.
-There is a rotation program when you become a full time employee. Every couple of years you can rotate into a new position, allowing for quite a breadth of knowledge in finance.
-The location rocks...home sweet home.
-Telecommuting is pretty common place here. Very easy to work from home at minimum one day per week.
-A lot of really bright, very driven people work here. You can learn a lot from any of the tens of thousands of employees here.
-You have pretty easy access to some pretty big players in management no matter what your level is.

The Cons-
-There are tens of thousands of employees working here, it's hard not to just feel like a number.
-The rotation program is more or less a requirement, you must change jobs every 2 years...is breadth better than depth?
-The very bright/driven people here tend to give off an air of competition? Not sure that's an environment I want to work in.
-There is something about the culture here that I can't seem to put my finger on that turns me off...but I really can't figure out what it is just yet.
-Pay is competitive but not on the high end of the scale for the area.
-There are a few other cons but I don't want to out the company so I'll keep them to myself an not list them on a public forum.

Random thoughts about my career...
I don't think I ever considered that the culture of finance in general is so very different than the culture of engineering. I think that's been a huge transition for me (as well as working for the first time for an ENORMOUS corporation). As an engineer you are concerned about the end product, and less concerned about cost. For obvious reasons, finance is all about the almighty $. There is something about that that makes me feel uncomfortable. Maybe it's something I should have considered a lot more before choosing finance as my career path? But I think if I can find a job where I am passionate about the end product, I can deal with the fact that my particular job description is just about the $$. Sadly I think that end product is going to be in the non-profit world....and because of the almighty $$ that Georgetown has taken from me, the non-profit world is going to have to wait for me for a few years!

Now it's off to happy hour with my fellow interns. Networking Networking Networking...I so despise that word...

Cheers-

No More Midday Naps

I'm in the midst of week three of the internship. I'm still forming my opinion. It's such a large firm and everyone has nothing but great things to say about it...it's sort of strange. I feel like it's a bit cultish. I like my supervisor, I like my project, I like my commute, I like the perks of working in my department, and I LOVE being back home! However, being home sort of puts me at a disadvantage in the networking department. I can't make it to all of the intern events because I have so many obligations here. The other interns are out here on their own so they depend on the intern events for social activities and I just don't have time for all of them.

There are lots of things I could say about the internship but I'm reserving my judgements until the end of the summer.

In the meantime I have to say that Moab is AWESOME! The BF and I went on a little road trip before I started work. We went to Zion to hike the Narrows. Sadly, the Narrows were closed but we managed to do another hike. Then we went to Bryce Canyon. Then Escalante for some slot canyons. Then off to Moab to mountain bike. And finally to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Sometimes I forget how lucky we are to live so close to such beauty!

Anyway, Moab mountain biking is unbelievably fun! I almost killed myself about a dozen times but it was worth it! I was feeling pretty studly after finishing the Slickrock trail. Although, I can't wear any skirts anytime soon. I did some serious damage to my legs on some of my crashes. I look like a 10 year old boy. But I'll say it again...it was AWESOME!

And last weekend I ran marathon number 4 in San Diego. I haven't been to San Diego in so long, I forgot how beautiful it was. Perfect weather for running too. I didn't run anywhere near my goal but I did improve my time by almost 10 minutes. I was in the top 5% of my division and top 11% overall. I would have done so much better if I hadn't started flaking on my training 5 weeks ago. C'est La Vie. I'm thinking about Honolulu in December? Or maybe Nashville with a friend? But for now, I'm taking a week off of running and recovering...feels good!

More on the internship later. Until then I hope everyone is taking advantage of the summer!