The First 48 Hours
It was admittedly easier to wake up at 6 yesterday morning than I thought it would be. Maybe I was excited for my first day at Motorola, or maybe it was that I had gone to bed at a decent hour for the first time in months. Either way, I ate breakfast and was on the road with my new roommate by 7:05.
We arrived at Motorola pretty early. In fact, we were there far before many of the interns would show up. When the time came to begin orientation, we were herded into queues so the staff could make copies of our identification. Later, we were corralled into the large auditorium of the Motorola training facility where we were all given a nice padfolio with the Motorola logo on it, along with a lanyard for our security badges and a mini-USB hub. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. There were sessions on proprietary information protection and timesheet entry; we were ultimately released at noon.
Today, on the other hand, was a bit more involved. Not needing to get to Motorola so early today, Jon and I left the apartment at 7:30 instead. Traffic was a bit heavier, but we still managed to show up ten minutes early. We were escorted by security into one of the central buildings and sat down to a continental breakfast. As we ate, managers showed up to pick off their interns. Tama, a very nice lady who works on the same floor as my manager, picked Vikki (an external marketing intern) and me up, and we took a shuttle to our building.
We would find out upon arrival that our building is the corporate headquarters for Motorola. Ed Zander, the CEO, has his office five floors above ours. I met my manager, Kim, and she started to show me around the floor. I was introduced to many, many people, all of whom seemed genuinely happy to greet me. I was quite surprised at the warm reception. I was expecting something more guarded and skeptical. Kim (or a designee of hers, I don't really know) had even gone as far as preparing my cubicle with streamers and a gift bag. They gave me a bigger padfolio, a nice pen and pencil set, a notebook with a metal cover, and a branded messenger bag. It was a nice way to start my internship.
Kim later sat me down in a small conference room and explained to me what my projects were to be. I was surprised to learn that I'd actually be doing a little bit of video editing, as well as some web programming and event planning. Before lunch, Steph, the administrative assistant, helped me to set up my voicemail and email accounts. I spent the rest of the hour confirming meeting requests that Kim had set up.
The Internal Communication team ate lunch together with me. The team consists of Kim and two other full-time staff, but has grown to include me over the summer. It was refreshing to see how well they all seemed to get along, and how interested they seemed in me.
Kim and I later attended a meeting with the coordinator of the Customer Briefing Center and a graphic designer to discuss remodeling a room. I wondered why I had tagged along at first since I hadn't really contributed anything except agreeing head-nods, but the more I think about it, the more I'm starting to realize that Kim was trying to give me a broader definition of what she does during a typical day. We headed on to get my employee badge, and afterwards spent the rest of the day meeting with other people with whom I will be working over the summer. I packed my laptop into my new bag at 5:30 and headed home.
It was definitely a great day, but I can't help but feel a little overwhelmed. I felt completely ineffective at times and completely lost at others. I'm hoping that these feelings are going to dissapate as the summer rolls on. It's just humbling to think that I have the chance to do something real and measurable here, and it's intimidating to know that there's always someone watching my progress. Things here are much more regimented and strict than at any other place that I've worked. Deep down, though, I know that this is going to be a great experience for me. My progress isn't going to just be furthering Motorola's cause, it will be educating me as well. And those people who are watching me will also be helping me.