This is the first in a series of posts from
CommScope interns. The series will share experiences and learnings from
students as they apply classroom learnings to real-world challenges in the
workplace.
I
came to the University of Maryland as a Graduate student in the Fall of 2016
deciding to spend my first American winter on campus. The university felt
nearly empty, not unlike a ghost town. On a quest for warmth and motivation I
began researching and applying for summer internships in the field of wireless
communication/RF as I had recently completed my first semester in the Master's
in Telecommunications (ENTS) program. On a Tuesday morning in January, I received
a call from Mark Valadez, a recruiter at CommScope; it still gives me great joy
to go back and reread his first email as it was one of those triggers of hope
that paved way for the opportunity that followed.
CLICK TO TWEET: Engineering, technology and small cells. A day's work for a CommScope intern.
This
internship would enable me to work at the physical layer of a small cell
product. The internship was extended to me after two rounds of technical
interviews by two senior software engineers at CommScope. I was interviewed
about my past work experience, my understanding of cellular protocols and my
ability to solve challenging problems in C and C++ programming.
The
CommScope university relations team is very professional and they ensure that
your questions are effectively and promptly responded to.
Following
an efficient onboarding process, I was assigned to the CommScope, Chelmsford
facility in Massachusetts. The group focuses on the development OneCell™, a C-RAN-based, award-winning small
cell solution.
It
takes a developer to appreciate the effort and time invested in perfecting a
product so that the end user faces the bare minimum challenge in operating the
interface. That is a key differentiator in today’s market and CommScope has
certainly attained that respect with their flawless and innovative design that
overcomes the need for cell boundaries and has created the ‘one cell’ post
deployment.
To
learn more about this deployment, please click on the following link: https://youtu.be/vEsHetvkOVA
During
my internship working in high-end engineering and next-generation technology,
my humble experience as an intern can perhaps be categorized under the commonly
accepted phases of the learning process: Cognitive, Associative and Autonomous.
Cognitive
As
an intern, you’re consumed with multiple thoughts and uncertainties. After a
warm welcome, office tour and completion of the HR formalities, I was assigned
my desk – my work abode for the next 12 weeks. Equipped with a personal white
board, blank and ready for action, I didn’t take long to acclimate to my
surroundings.
In
the Cognitive phase, you need to figure out objectives through interaction with
co-workers. My manger provided the padding for this phase by empathically
listening to my expectations for the internship and tailoring it to what he had
planned for me. You know you are in the right hands when you do not feel
restrained, but feel motivated to dive in.
First
day enthusiasm
I
had three projects to work on and a respective mentor for each during my 12
weeks with CommScope.
This
was a great way to provide a strong understanding of the product in a brief
time frame. On my first day, I visited the product development lab and it left
me thinking there is nothing as beautiful as figuring out the internal workings
of a complicated yet well thought out product. I started my work on IEEE1588
protocol system performance analysis, automated the tests with shell scrips,
and did the simulation using Spirent’s tool!