Interview questions with Saura: What is the organization/company's mission or purpose? Teach Kids about awareness for the potential of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) career paths and the immediate future.
What is typical workday like? Kids from different from schools around San Diego come in the Thinkabit lab and they get taught what job offers Qualcomm has and what things you are capable of doing with your personal skills.
What are your main duties and responsibilities? Helping kids out with coding and engineering related stuff. Main purpose: kids understand what Qualcomm is and how to power LEDs & servos using the Arduino software. Interns have to come up with ideas/projects within a span of a week.
How is the organization structured? First we teach them about Qualcomm and the variety of jobs there are; not specifically at Qualcomm but also jobs for other companies like Apple, Microsoft, etc. (we also call this "World of Work") Second, we go show them an example of a circuit by having the kids hold hands and place a battery between the kids making the batter to make a little noise showing how circuiting works. Third, we go into the Engineers work shop to teach them how to power an LED and a servo. Fourth we have lunch/break. Fifth, we teach the kids how to code to make the servos spin in different directions by putting in outputs and inputs into the computer. Sixth, the kids start building their robocrafts (this is where us interns come around to help students). Seventh, we finally have the kids come up and share their creations to the whole class. Last but not least we have clean up. When all of this is over students will be given
Tell us about your path in getting to where you are today- what is your educational history and work experiences prior to working her? Saura went to UCSD and studied electrical engineering then started a program similar to Thinkabit Lab, later hired by Qualcomm.
Why did you choose to work here? She chose this job because the liked the Idea of influencing and impacting people. At UCSD she felt that she can impact an average of 300 people, but now that she works at Qualcomm she has greater advantage of impacting people 100 times that; so about an average of 3,000 people.
What qualifications do employees need to be successful here and how are those qualifications acquired? Understand what electrical and mechanical engineering is, and also capable of building a circuit.
What other personalities traits, skills, or knowledge are important to be successful here? GOOD TEAM PLAYER What advice do you have about working here? Hard work, real skills, experience, good at what you do.
Day Before internship (Jan. 5, 2016)
I am most excited for the project that I am planning to do because it's something I know I can grow from and learn. The project I want to work on is making a wheel chair mechanically shift around by using a smartphone or tablet. I am excited about this because this is the first time I will be working on something that seems impossible but can be done by putting in effort.
1st day of internship! (Jan. 6, 2016)
Today was the first day of internship and so far I really enjoy working at Qualcomm's Thinkabit Lab. 1st day and we already learned how to code and meet new people. We learned about the Arduino, Breadbord, LED, Resistor, Servos, and wires and what they all do when put together. The Arduino does what the computer tells it to do, the Breadboard is a conducter when the wires connect to it while connected to the Arduino, the LED is short for light-emitting diode and can light up when connected to the Arduino and Breadboard; and with coding on the computer can change the LEDs light pattern. The Resistor has it in its name, and all it does is resist the energy from the computer so the Arduino doesn't die. The Servos are just motors that only turn in 60 degree angles also can be changed the way its rotating by coding on the computer. last but not leas are the wires, are other conductors that pass energy and sequences to the Servos or LED. Fun Fact: Qualcomm's HQ has around 48 buildings here in San Diego!
Day 2 of internship (Jan. 7, 2016)
Today was an interesting day, in a very good way. There was a class of 5th graders who came in the Thinkabit Lab to learn a little more about coding and knowing the components to it. Its crazy because these kids already knew what coding was and it was NOT their first time doing it! Imagine what these kids can do after high school,and there were very few who needes help. Everday I wake up knowing that im going to learn something new, and this makes me very eager to see what everyday brings to the tables. Its also worth waking up at 5. Fun Fact: Qualcomm stands for quality communications.
Day 3 of Internship (Jan. 8, 2016)
This day was the day we introduced a project idea to our mentors. I was very excited to share mine because i thought it was really neat. My project Idea is to make an anamatronic head to greet people when they come into the Thinkabit Lab. Saura (one of the Thinkabit Lab employees) really knows her stuff, and she said she can defiantly help me on this project. And I am really excited to start planning this out Monday. The kids that came today were respectful, kind, and ready to learn about the world of work at Qualcomm. While the kids were building their inventions using the Servos and LED's me and Daniel decided to make one of our own, so we quickly thought of an idea and got right to it. We made a chick flapping its wings; nothing too big but just to show the kids an example on what you are capable of doing using code. Saura liked our creation so shes going to use our example for future students. Fun Fact: If you built the phones we have now from scratch especially the chip, it would take 2,700 days to acomplish that.
5th day of internship (Jan. 12, 2016)
Today we were mainly working on blog stuff because there were other interns helping out so they let us procrastinate on other things. But of course if they needed to help we were always there. The environment at the Thinkabit Lab is very chill, and fun. The walls are multicolored there are beanbag chairs everywhere.. so how could this not be a comfortable place to work in? The kids are very smart and polite to us interns so it makes the environment in the room very positive. There is also a lunch lounge that the staff get to be in and is a very comfortable place to have lunch in. Me and another one of the interns (Daniel) have gotten permission from Jenny (our internship mentor) to sit at the front desk on floor 6 which is where The Thinkabit Lab is. Fun Fact: there are about 1,000 people working here at Qualcomm in San Diego.
6th day of internship (Jan. 13, 2016)
I think today was an extra special day because we had the chance to meet a somewhat famous drone/robot builder here at Qualcomm. So for the next month I'm going to put together a animatronic head to greet people on the way to the Thinkabit Lab. So far, I'm planning out what I have to use to open and shut the mouth, eyelids, and rotate the eyeballs. For most of the head's structure it will be mostly made on the 3D printer. The movement of the animatronic's head will use servos. I can not wait to see how my project will turn out. Fun Fact:
8th day of internship... *Experienship* (Jan. 15, 2016)
Today was the end of the second week of internship and it went by so quickly. Now I have a view on how things are gonna look like for the next two weeks because today out mentor went in depth on what we will be working on and some goals we have to reach. I love this internship because there is always something to do, and that's a good thing because you can never really get bored at the Thinkabit Lab. So we have to work on our ITPOL project, redesigning the the Thinkabit Lab's commons/lunch area, and write a bio about ourselves because Qualcomm wants to introduce us on their page! So Qualcomm wants to establish another way of internships to Experienships due to confusements in the past.
10th day of EXPERIENCEship (Jan. 20, 2016)
I looked at Alexis, Jacobs, and Alicia's experiences at their internship and I can defiantly relate with them because they were talking about growing as a person and what the positive outcomes are. This is a big part of out learning careers not only because we get to have a better view of what a real working/learning environment feels like, but also have a feel of what you want to do for a major or as a job. So far we are all loving our environment and peer/mentors and can't wait what amazing opertunities we have in our near future.
12th day of EXPERIENCESHIP (Jan. 22, 2016)
Internship is such a wonderful experience that practices what HTHI is all about - projects, presentation, media skills, communication, and more... 1) What other elements from your internship experience can teachers LOGICALLY replicate in our classrooms? And give applicable ideas that teachers can do. 2) What new skills and/or perspective are you going to bring into your student practice to improve your academic performance? Our school is all based on a project learning system; you experience things like presenting in front of audiences, projects, communicating with people, etc. Throughout the years you start developing those skills by actually doing them in the real world. This is what Internships are mainly about (working in real world environments). Here at Qualcomm Thinkabit Lab we have the opportunity to teach other kids capabilities that they can use in their future and teach them about the different jobs that are out there. I feel that this is something really important because it would give the youngster a better feel of what jobs they are most interested in and it would make them more confident, also this is something I would've wanted as a kid and I'm sure many others would agree. I guess what I'm trying to get at is, It would be a good Idea to apply this to our school because it would make the kids less scared of the future. Something I probably need to academically improve on is thoroughly explain myself.
13th day of Experienceship (Jan. 25, 2016)
1. How did you make a meaningful contribution to your workplace? 2. How was your work as an intern meaningful to your education? 3. How was your work significant or meaningful for you beyond school and your specific internship site? 4. How did your project(s) go from an idea or inspiration to a final product? Share out the process & be sure to upload evidence(s) of this work. 5. What did you learn about yourself through working on the internship project(s)?
I took part in my Experienceship by helping out the student if they needed my assistance in coding, I was always open to talk to an individual when asking for advise or in decision making, and also contributed in designing the lunch/meeting room. My work as an intern is meaningful to my education because I've learned/developed new working skills in a real world environment and I will defiantly need this while transitioning to my adult hood even my life right now. Our Internship mentor took us around some of the Qualcomm buildings and every one we went to, the environment was very professional but comfortable at the same time. There was some employees we would run into that our mentor knew and they would give us advise for our future. While in the process of coming up with an idea for my project, I really wanted to make something that would inspire the kids or adults that came into the Thinkabit Lab. So I came up with making some type of animatronic head that would welcome people into Thinkabit Lab, Keep in mind that I was new to this; I didn't exactly know how it was going to come together. (will share the process when completely done).
14th day of experienceship (Jan. 26, 2016)
1. What new appreciations did you develop while working as an intern? Why? 2. What qualities or characteristics did you see in the people around you that you want to develop in yourself? Why? 3. How did your view of life beyond high school change or develop during your time as an intern? 4. How might internship influence the direction of your life? 5. How did communication and/or collaboration at work influence your understanding of professional working environments?
Some new appreciations I have developed as an intern are the new people I have met here at Qualcomm, the knowledge of learning how it feels like to be an engineer also to have quality communications. What I see in most people working here at the Thinkabit Lab is having connections with the children that walk in the building including the adults another characteristic would have to be talking clearly to an audience because to me that is really powerful. The people that I've met here can really connect with almost anyone and that's what makes a great speaker, its something that makes a communicator straight forward and clear of his/her words. I've learned more about my strengths so far during my month here at Qualcomm. My mentor, Jennifer Manfredi introduced the expirienceship team to a website called "Gallup" and this website gives you a series of questions that you need to answer in a matter of time. After getting through all the questions given it gave me a Gallup report and my 5 main strengths according to the test and a small explanation for each of them. for Example my top 5 strengths were: 1. Futuristic, 2. Ideation, 3. Adaptability, 4. Command, 5. Responsibility. I feel that for most of them I could really connect with and describe me as a person/thinker. I will post the link at the bottom of this post. This Internship has defiantly taken part of my direction of my life because I got to see what a real working environment feels like and the cool part was that not only did I get to see what Engineers do but we also got to experience what real working environments felt like for other careers such as broadcasting, graphic designers, and IT engineers. From experiencing those real work environments I feel like they all shared something in common like a comfortable place to work in, having good communications, and having a joy in their work because they love doing what they are doing.
I went through a process of fail and progression, It didn't turn out exactly how I planned the animatronic head to come out, but defiantly a project that I have experimented so much from and hope in the future to make something similar to what I imagined in the first place. At the end; all that mattered was that it was fully functional, and a project that I can reflect on and show drafts. What I originally planned was that the bird would greet guests to the Thinkabit Lab. Unfortunately I did not have enough time to work on the Bird's AI (Artificial Intelligent) since I had other projects to work on at the Thinkabit Lab such as: Re-designing the meeting/lunch room, teaching a class, and in addition to that helping the staff with the kids. I plan to go back to the Thinkabit Lab to make some adjustments and upgrades to the animatronic bird head. The bird currently maneuvers it's eyes from left to right, open and shuts mouth and LED lights to give it more of a robotic look. This was all made by a series of codes; transferred to the Arduinos then making the servo's movement and its now set on display at the Qualcomm Thinkabit Lab for everyone to see. This was not rocket science and you don't really have to be a mechanical engineer to accomplish something like this, but you would have to understand the content first and know that you will go through pass and fail throughout the process.
Click on button below to see "Paco 8000" fully functioning