At Nelnet, we pride ourselves on having excellent interns who do great work and make a positive impact here. So when our interns decide they want to start their full-time career with us, we can’t help but tell the world how great they are. For our New to Nelnet November 2020 feature, we checked in with two former interns:
Juan Vasquez, an IT software engineer at Nelnet Business Services, and Timothy Kempster, an IT software engineer at Nelnet Diversified Services.
How did your Nelnet internship prepare you for your full-time role?
Juan: I was able to learn the quality and amount of work that is appreciated and helps in the project progression. The skills I needed were displayed in my tasks, and gave me goals to reach by solving them.
Timothy: I learned the general process of working on an agile team and all of the ceremonies as well as a number of tools used at Nelnet related to development work like Atlassian suite, Bamboo, SonarQube, and IntelliJ.
How does your full-time position differ from your internship?
Juan: The type of work I am doing has not changed, but I am now able to choose more of the tasks I will be taking on.
Timothy: I no longer have to clock in and out, and there are some added responsibilities like joining on-call rotations and 4×4 reviews.
How would you describe Nelnet’s culture?
Juan: Friendly and supportive toward everyone. Improvement is promoted and appreciated.
Timothy: Incredibly supportive – Nelnet makes it a goal to make it an awesome place to work, and in my opinion they hold true to that value.
What are a few of your favorite things about working at Nelnet?
Juan: I’ve only had positive interactions with coworkers. Nelnet has been very active about posting useful information for associates regarding any concerns with events going on.
Timothy: The ability to work from home (especially during current turbulent times), casual dress, self-directed teams, and work-life balance with ample earned time off.
What does a “typical” day look like for you?
Juan: Checking in on emails and notifications periodically, work meetings, communicating directly with coworkers when help is needed, and working on my own tasks.
Timothy: I log on in the morning (currently remotely) and work for a few hours before our standup meeting. Then, I meet with the team and continue development work for the rest of the day, outside of any other meetings I need to attend, like Scrum ceremonies.
Any final advice for college students looking for internships?
Juan: Constantly work towards becoming better as it helps everyone. Put the time and effort into preparing yourself for the opportunities you want in your future.
Timothy: Apply early and make sure to highlight and talk about any relevant technical skills you have that others may not.
Bonus question: Give us a fun fact about yourself!
Juan: I was one of Nelnet’s first-ever remote interns.
Timothy: I had not coded much at all before jumping into a computer science degree!
Visit our internship page to learn more about life as a Nelnet intern.
