Summer Internship: A Day in the Life of Summer McGuckin

Summer McGuckin, Solutions Consulting Intern for Adobe.

Marketing (IMC) Major

It’s been a dream of mine since freshman year to find a role that would bring together my passions for design and technology, however, I didn’t always know what that looked like. I remember feeling very lost when I began college, which led me to join many organizations in hopes of figuring out what it was that I wanted to do. Looking back, I never would have thought that I would be in the role that I’m in now. 

My name is Summer McGuckin and I’m a rising senior graduating in December 2022. I’m majoring in Marketing with a specialization in Integrated Marketing Communications. Throughout my years in college, I’ve been involved in 10 organizations and held 7 leadership positions on campus. I’m currently an Adobe Student Ambassador and a member of the Mortar Board National College Senior Honor Society. 

I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to work at Adobe for 12 weeks this summer as a Solutions Consulting Intern within Adobe Consulting Services. I work remotely with 16 other amazing consulting interns on various projects to develop skills in consulting and project management.

For those also interested in working at Adobe, I highly recommend this internship program. Networking and being involved in Adobe events, such as career webinars, throughout the application process helped me on my journey to this role. Additionally, being involved on campus in a variety of organizations gave me many of the skills that I use in my work today. One experience that helped me the most was my role as an Adobe Student Ambassador. Being an ambassador for Adobe Creative Cloud has allowed me to connect with students across the country and empower organizations at SDSU to use programs like Photoshop and Illustrator for professional development, which I’ve absolutely loved.

Here’s a day in my life as an intern at Adobe!

6:00 am - I wake up around 6 am to take a walk outside. Quite honestly, this does not always happen, but I try. I like to get outside early to wake up my brain and move around since I work remotely. Once I’m back, I’ll get ready and start reading through emails to prepare for that day’s meetings.

8:00 am - I usually start with calls at 8:00 am. My first meeting of the day is with my team for my group project. We have daily standups to share updates and catch up. These calls are usually 15-30 minutes but often turn into working sessions. I’ve become good friends with this group and truly enjoy working with each of them. 

McGuckin's final internship presentation that she gave to a panel of managers and consultants.

9:00 am - Recently, my intern cohort has been meeting with Adobe employees who are experts in particular solutions. They’ll walk us through how the solution works and how it can impact the customers that Adobe supports. I try to go into every call with some notes or questions since they’ll leave some time for us to ask them at the end. 

10:00 am - One of my biggest takeaways from this internship has been the importance of networking. I like to have a few coffee chats each week with various employees throughout the company. I make sure to come prepared for these calls with a list of specific questions and some knowledge of their background. I’ve built some great relationships with people that I’ve networked with during my time at Adobe and work hard to make genuine connections.

12:00 pm - Since I have quite a few meetings early in the day, I use the time blocking method in my calendar to ensure that I have time to take breaks between calls, focus on work, or eat lunch. I usually take my lunch around noon. 

1:00 pm - At this time, I’ll typically have a sync with my team for one of the projects that I’m working on. My main project has been focused on streamlining the partner vetting process for the Resource Management Office. I’ve worked with the team this summer to create a central repository to track vets and accelerate the onboarding process. 

2:00 pm - Most of my coworkers who are based on the east coast have logged off or are finishing their work around this time. From 2-5 pm, I’ll have calls with other interns to have working sessions or meet with individual consultants. I often block off time here to focus on specific deliverables I’m working on, as well. 

5:00 pm - I end the day by reviewing any outstanding tasks and looking through my calendar for the next day. I prepare for all meetings at least a day in advance by creating agendas, brainstorming questions, or making notes of important action items. I also make sure to send out any important messages, wrap up things that I’m working on, and accept any tentative meeting invites.

2022 Intern Summit at the Adobe headquarters in San Jose.

I’ll end this by highlighting a few of my main takeaways from this experience and my years in college so far.

First, look for the opportunities that will allow you to grow. Challenging myself to run for leadership positions or take on new projects throughout college has set me up with the skills necessary for my role now. You don’t need to know the entire path - just keep looking for that next step. Do the thing that scares you and remember that you have so much value to bring to the table. 

Second, being intentional about reaching out to people who have roles or projects that you’re interested in can be so beneficial to your personal and professional growth. I’ve met some incredible people in the past few years by taking that first step to reach out. It can definitely be scary to cold-email or ask to connect with someone you don’t know on LinkedIn, but doing this has led to some of the most impactful conversations that I’ve had in the past few years. Focus on cultivating authentic relationships and giving back to others throughout your career. 

Lastly, I believe that it is so important to find a way to make a positive impact on any organization, job, or project that you are involved with. This can be reaching out to one person to offer support, identifying opportunities for improvement, or taking the initiative in leading a team toward a common goal. Simply being kind to others and finding ways to empower those around you is a great way to make that impact.

I have learned so much this summer and am inspired by the people that I work with every day. I’m truly grateful for my experience in #AdobeLife!