UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — When searching for a summer internship, rising senior Rachael Gray combed through LinkedIn until she found a position that would allow her to apply skills she’s gained in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology in the health care industry.
Through her major of information sciences and technology with a focus on design and development, Gray has gained a deep understanding of core information technologies and how they can be used in practical applications in a diverse number of industries. She specifically sought out a position in health care because her aunts have had great career success in the nursing field. Gray was interested in maintaining the integrity of sensitive medical data with her IST education.
“Overall medical care and health care, especially now, heavily rely on technology,” Gray said. “I am interested in managing that technology and revising the programs that companies use as software updates and changes.”
Working as a quality assurance IT intern at CVS Health, Gray is spending the summer learning the company’s backend systems and claims network. Her primary responsibility is to conduct backend system tests to ensure their accuracy.
“This job fits me because it focuses on ensuring the fluidity and standards of a program and allows me to creatively create a program to manage the data in the applications,” Gray said.
This position allows Gray to collaborate daily with her fellow interns to ensure minimal coding errors and keep each other on pace as well as create an environment for the free flow of ideas and assistance between interns.
Gray’s IST education has prepared her for the internship by teaching her programming techniques in SQL and Microsoft Access. Possessing a knowledge of these programs made her adjustment with her new job easier and also allowed Gray to help teach her fellow interns how to utilize these programs and retrieve data from the system. The internship further enhances her overall educational experience as she aims to work full-time in a client facing role as a project manager at CVS Health after she graduates next May.
“I believe that getting a taste of the corporate world will better prepare me by allowing me to properly see the expectations that employers set out for their employees, the systems and the applications that are used in the work force,” Gray said.