Editor’s Note: We’re excited to have Benjamin Reid, Alteryx intern 2022, guest post about his experience. You’ll see how an internship at Alteryx is truly an immersive experience.
Benjamin Reid
University of Florida
Class of 2023
Marketing
West Palm Beach, Florida
Alteryx Customer Marketing Intern
Imagine this, it’s a sunny day in June, and I’m meeting up with a friend I have not seen in a while. They ask me what I’m up to for the summer, I tell them I have an internship with Alteryx and that I’m working remotely for the next 12 weeks. They chuckle, make a joke that my virtual internship means taking virtual coffee orders, and ask what I do all day. I’m more than happy to tell them.
8:00 a.m. – I turn on my company laptop. I’ve never really been a morning person, so I’m glad I don’t have a commute. It leaves more time for sipping coffee and checking my emails.
I’m based in West Palm Beach, Florida, but the interns are from all over the country, as are all of Alteryx’s employees. Korrin Carter, Social Media intern, is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Trey Johnson, Graphic Design intern, is in Houston, Texas. This means I end up with a few quiet hours in the morning when my team members on the other side of the country are still sleeping. This is when I plan out my day and get a head start on that to-do list.
The quiet hours also allow me to reflect. I think about what drew me to Alteryx. I wanted real experience, a large, supportive team, and a company that is invested in my success. As I get started on my projects, I am reminded I made the right choice.
11:00 a.m.- I meet with my manager. We meet very regularly, at least twice a week. Now’s the time I ask questions, give updates, and do an overall check-in. It’s also the time they celebrate my wins, something I’ve learned everyone at Alteryx is very good at. There are other layers of support too, I have an assigned buddy I can go to with any questions, and all the other interns are always more than happy to help. At Alteryx, you can always count on the team around you.
1:00 p.m. – After a midday lunch, now it is really time to work on those projects. If you’re Korrin, you are working on showcasing all the interns on the company social media, reaching thousands of people with the template you created yourself. If you’re Trey, you oversee updating the Alteryx swag store with your new designs. If you’re me, you are managing your project through the customer content process, working to get your article on the intern experience published on the company website. Between my projects and meeting with people all throughout the organization, learning about all the various departments, I’m kept busy, but it’s a good busy. I’m doing the same work I would do if I were a full-time employee, and I’m learning something new every day.
5:00 p.m. – My day is done. I send last updates to my team, close out of my tabs, and shut my laptop. I reflect again, at the start of this I had expected I’d grow and learn over the next 12 weeks, but now I’ve done more than I thought possible. Before this experience, I couldn’t have told you what customer marketing was, but now I know how to take stories from our customers, our biggest advocates, and share them on a wider scale. I’ve gotten the opportunity to hear about all the amazing things our customers are accomplishing with our platform, and I’ve gotten to uplift them and their stories. It was intimidating interning at an analytics company when my technical experience ended at checking my email, but now I have a deep admiration for the ways our customers are using analytics to change the world.
I haven’t been given grunt work to do, I’ve been invested in by people who want to see me succeed. I have grown creatively, I have a better idea of what I want to do with my career, and I’ve gotten to make a difference in a global company.
So no, an Alteryx internship does not mean virtual coffee orders, they treat my time as much more valuable than that.