VerveEarth


Thursday, August 23, 2007

One-Day Internship @ Cisco Systems

Hello, everyone~!

As you might guess from the title, I went to Roppongi to visit the office of the company, Cisco Systems, for participating "One-Day internship" program. I talked about me being chosen as a participant on the post I wrote about a week ago. Though I've been learning about constructing networks, I had no idea what I was going to do. So I was a bit nervous, but at the same time excited because I looked forward to meeting the people from other universities! Meeting them always makes me rethink about who I am and realize the plain fact that I belong to Aoyama Gakuin University! We seem to be the same in terms of age, but take into account the environment that each of us has been surrounded by, each of us can be so unique and different. Moreover, the company has its office at the area called "Tokyo Midtown", where many people come to do sight-seeing or chill out on weekends. So, as I went closer to the entrance, it made me wonder what it would be like to come here for work. Do you think it would be almost the same as going to a university in Shibuya? Hahaha.... Maybe it would.

The first thing I did after arriving the site was to fill my stomach in order not to starve to death during the program! So, after shopping around the cafes I decided to go for the Japanese style. I had an Onigiri (rice ball), and iced green tea. Hmmm... YUM YUM! One of the foods that energize me the most is rice, so I secretly devoured it! Hehehe. ^^

This is the entrance of the building called "Midtown Tower". As the name of the area "Tokyo Midtown" shows, there are many kinds of facilities here such as a hotel, parks, shops, restaurants, hospitals, museums, offices! The building I visited as a participant was mainly consisted of companies' offices. But I saw many tourists as well...

Have you seen the picture I put on the right side? If you haven't, what do you think it is? It's a two dimensional bar code called "QR code", and "QR" stands for "Quick Response." I don't know if it's popular outside Japan, but I found the article about it on Wikipedia.The way it's used is, for example, that a company puts a QR code on an advertisement page and customers who are interested in its product can visit the company's website by making a cell phone's camera read the QR code. So, you don't have to type URLs which are often too long to type. The one you see on the right side is the code for this blog. Oh, why am I talking about this? Because... that's what I used as a way to get through the entrance! Don't you think it's cool? For those who are interested in how it works, I put the picture of the gate on the left side. ^^ Each of the gates has a bar code reader that allows the people with registered codes to go inside. It was the first time for me to see the code being used like this, so I was fascinated! After getting through the gate, I got on the elevator to go from 21st floor to 25th floor.

Finally, the program started! The short lecture they'd given at the beginning helped me think about what systems engineers do. I could see that they've been proud of their job. Also, I had a chance to collaborate with the people of the group I was in through an experience program! The tasks were to make a network environment for a certain company. I enjoyed the program because the more I thought about how I would construct the network physically, the more I realized the needs to step into the customer's shoes. It really inspired me to rethink about the relationship between humans and computers. Plenty of information flows mainly through the Internet rapidly and heavily than ever, and I've seen a lot of people who said they didn't like the current situation. As for me, however, it seems like it'll be more interesting than ever to live the moment like this! Yeah, I have to admit that I sometimes feel it's a bit too much to grasp everything and I think that I might end up getting lost just like the people who don't like the situation. But for now, I'd rather look at the bright side! I don't want to waste time refusing to try something new, and it's better to enjoy!

The last part of the program was to have friendly talks with the employees whose age was a bit older than me. We talked about what they did when they were my age, and why they decided to be where they are today. I enjoyed talking with them because the way they talked about each of their college lives made me feel closer to them. ^^

Alright, I definitely have gone too far~~! Hahaha... But I hope you'll get the idea of what I've done there! ^^ Lastly, I put the picture of myself! I was wearing the suit I bought the other day. How do I look??

That's all for today!
See you soon.

P.S
As always, I put the rest of the pictures on bubbleshare! So please enjoy~. ^^
This album is powered by BubbleShare - Add to my blog

3 comments:

Nina Liakos said...

That sounds like a really interesting experience, and as usual, you milked it for all it was worth! I get the feeling that you never waste a minute of your life. :-)

Ji Won said...

All I can say is, wow...

If I live in a world full of new technology, you definitely live on top of it! I always obtain new information by coming to your blog! I love how you take the readers step by step, sequentially explaining everything you've experienced so that the readers could feel as if they were right there with you!

The new outfit looks terrific on you! Talk to you soon~! ^^

Oppa~

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing your wonderful experience with all of us. My name is Raman. I am student of Ritsumeikan University as a 3rd year student. I also want to apply for internship at Cisco. Please guide me.My Email address- honey_raman2004@yahoo.co.in
I am waiting for your mail ひろみさん。*_*
宜しくお願いします。