Name: Noah Alvarado

Year: Junior

Major: Computer Science

CFS Class: Field Studies in the Modern Workplace

Employer: Purple Gator

 

During my internship these past few months at Purple Gator, I think I’m  finally starting to find something that I actually desire to do if I was given free reign. At Purple Gator, I have the opportunity and time to make a real impact for our clients and the company leadership.

During my first week, I created a section of the company website that is currently in production and visible to anyone with an internet connection. At first, this newfound responsibility was a little frightening, with pressure to make sure everything was perfect on the first try constantly weighing on my mind. As I grew more comfortable however, I realized that my work didn’t have to be perfect right off the bat. My entire work process has changed from a single high energy burst to a iterative and revisionary approach. Needless to say, this has worked wonders for the quality of my work. Going into this quarter I wasn’t expecting to learn much from my internship aside from a new programming language or two, but the team at Purple Gator really proved me wrong.

Working with Purple Gator has also drastically changed my future career aspirations. Prior to this fall, I had believed my calling was to be an Information Technology support specialist. As my productivity has shown me, I’m capable of quite a bit more than restarting a router when someone’s internet connection is dropped. With the skills and knowledge of a now top-10 university alumni, I can do just about anything I want. While I may not be passionate about web development in my current context, I know that in the future I want to wholly own projects and create things that positively benefit others just as I do now.

Looking back on my time as an intern for Purple Gator, I am very glad that I decided to take the position. CFS gave me a lot more than some extra money this quarter and I am extraordinarily grateful for it.