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My Time as an Intern at Cisco

Sally Bakhuizen
August 24, 2015

This blog was posted on the behalf of Laura Matthews  

The last few months has seen Cisco awash with interns. Across the world there are 60 interns taking part in the Summer Internship. At Bedfont Lakes there are 18 interns, made up of 9 sales people and 9 system engineers. As I write this we are in our last week of the 10-week program and shortly will be returning for our final year at university. One of the best things is the huge diversity within the group, with people originating from many different countries and universities.

When we first arrived we were pretty blown away at the time and resources put into our internship experience. The flats we have been placed in are incredible, overlooking the River Thames and only a short journey from the office.

In our first week we were thrown in to the Cisco culture by taking part in voluntary gardening at a hospice. The day was fun; the boys got possessive over the hedge-trimmer, the hay-fever sufferers bonded and we all felt great to give back to the community.

After two weeks of technology training we had introductory talks from all MDs about the different verticals, then focused on a particular vertical and account each week. At the end of the week we had to present back our findings to the Account Managers, something that started off nerve-wracking, but really improved our presentation skills.

We then did five weeks of account research, before separating into Marketing and Engineering tracks. The Engineers were able to visit the Customer Proof Of Concept lab, take part in a Hackathon and do product demos. In the marketing track we rotated between projects focused on the Internet of Everything, Partner Marketing and Social Media. There seemed to be a trend of people wanting to make videos for the projects, and during these weeks we ended up refining our acting skills. In Partner Marketing we were asked to come up with a story telling approach to promote a campaign. We created a video  to compare the day of an executive using collaboration tools, and a day of an executive having to travel to work and attend meetings in person. This was very fun, as we spent a day filming around the office site, even enlisting other interns to drive us around the car park to pretend to be travelling.

Although we have been working hard, we have been able to take part in a variety of social events. For most people the best one was the sushi-making evening. We split into teams with Mentors and more senior figures to learn how to make California rolls, maki rolls and Temaki. We then presented our best sushi to be judged on three areas- strategy, presentation and taste. The winning team designed their sushi to look like the Golden Gate Bridge, it looked very impressive and they definitely deserved to win!

After spending time at Cisco, we have all adapted to and embraced the culture. We have all enjoyed working in the office at Bedfont Lakes, with my favourite thing being the availability of sweets. We were all really impressed by the events held at Bedfont Lakes. At the Summer BBQ, most of us took part in the inflatable assault course, with my fellow intern Konstantin even being part of the winning team. We also enjoyed Cisco Rocks, and being able to meet people from different offices in the UK.

Moreover, we have all been surprised by the willingness of people to talk to us about their roles and experience. Throughout the internship we have had weekly Executive Speakers in a variety of roles and countries providing us with advice. Similarly, our managers, Tom McCloud and Matthew Steven, have been able to give us lots of insight into careers in Technology. We were able to shadow some of the account managers on the Global Virtual Sales floor, and this was enormously helpful at providing us with realistic experience of working in Sales.

I know that for many of my colleagues it has been really special to be working at Cisco during John’s handover to Chuck. We were able to have a session with them and the rest of the interns over Tele Presence, as well as the previously mentioned event at Bedfont Lakes. We were able to gain valuable advice to take with us into our careers, including being kind to people and believing in ourselves.

It is unsurprising that every single intern took part in the optional Cisco Sales Associates Program assessment to try and get a permanent role at Cisco. We have all had a wonderful time learning at Cisco this summer and are hugely grateful to everyone involved in the experience. I am sure we will all have many lasting memories and friendships from our time here.