My internships this summer and the past two summers at AOL have been great. The work that I did this summer may not be something that I would want to do for a fulltime career but I made many contacts and was involved in different groups and with AOL being as large as it I’m sure I can find a job I would like to pursue fulltime. The intern program there is fantastic. They have had it for several years and I have seen its continued improvement over the years. They offered a speaker series in which different VPs from different areas come and speak on either their areas of work or just general concepts such as leadership skills or customer service. This was my favorite part of the internship because these speakers’ advice and talks were invaluable. I learned more about how software ideas become products, how they come up with ideas and test with customers, how these VPs got where they are (each had very different backgrounds but somehow all came together), how much security has become an issue and what AOL is doing to fight hackers, how to deals with competitors, how to deals with the media, and how the company was gearing up for the future.
These speakers really helped to motivate me and make me understand the big picture of what AOL is all about.An impressive part of AOL was how well they treat employees. They take great care of their employees as far as activities, recognition for outstanding achievement, weekly emails about the status of new versions and progress being made, they rented out a movie theater and the air and space museum for AOL employees only, several discounts on partner companies, and much more. There really is no reason why anyone would not be able to find a job that was fitted to them within the company and when a company takes such good care of you students should definitely look into interning with AOL.