Summer Internship: A Day in the Life of Alexa Esquivel
Management Information Systems Major
Alexa Esquivel, IT Intern at SDG&E.
Hello! My name is Alexa Esquivel and I am a Management Information Systems major scheduled to graduate in May 2023. Some campus organizations I have been a part of are Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP), Women in Business (WIB), Girl Gains, and Young Life. During my time at SDSU, I have gained many connections with people in different organizations, which has led me to different opportunities, including my summer internship at San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E).
SDG&E has provided energy services to 3.7 million consumers in San Diego County and Southern Orange counties for over 140 years and is under the parent company, Sempra. One of the reasons why I chose SDG&E for my internship was because of their commitment to the community and safety of their customers and employees. One of the latest projects SDG&E is working on is achieving carbon neutrality by 2045: “The Path to New Zero.” I was interested in the information technology (IT) intern position because I wanted to gain firsthand experience in IT, apply the skills I have learned in my classes, and gain new skills to build my knowledge in the industry.
Here is a day in my life as an IT intern:
5:30 am - Rise and shine! This is when all my 10 alarms go off but I usually hop out of bed at 5:45 am. I then get ready for the workday and make my iced coffee and to sip on during my commute to work.
6:30am - I commute to work twice a week, with our new hybrid pilot. I leave extra early on days where I work in the office, just in case there’s any traffic. Typically, the drive to the office takes about 30-45 minutes.
7:15 am - After my drive, I stay in my car for about 20 minutes and wait to go into the office. During this time, I usually eat my breakfast and watch some YouTube videos.
7:45 am - I walk into the office and be sure to put my lunch in the fridge. On the way to my cubicle, I say hello to my fellow coworkers, such as Fallon Condino, and then get settled in for the day.
8:00 am - I login into my computer and check into my cubicle. I look through my inbox and reply to any emails if necessary.
8:15 am - On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I work on UNITE Surveys, which are surveys we receive from other utility companies. I then assign those surveys to employees in our company in our SharePoint system. While working on the surveys, I usually check in with my Assignment Team Leader/IT intern Supervisor, Jasmin Dela Torre, for questions and confirmation of assigned employees.
9:30 am - LACE/LPM Team Time! During this time, I meet with my team, Lean Agile Center of Excellence (LACE) and LPM (Lean Portfolio Management). Today, since I am working in the office and some of our teams are contractors, we met in a conference room in the office and while others used Microsoft Teams. Today, we went over our Azure DevOps Board, and talked about planning for a future LPM Workshop, which was very exciting to listen to and give feedback.
10:30 am - At this time, I joined another Microsoft Teams call, which was a live Town Hall meeting, titled Leading in a High-Performance Culture. Alison Levine, American Mountain Climber, was a guest speaker, and she talked about her personal experiences growing as a person and leader. It was a very informative and inspiring Town Hall.
Esquivel during her bi-weekly meeting with her supervisor.
11:30 am - After being in back to back meetings all morning, I go and take my 15-minute break. During my break, I usually eat a snack and walk outside to get some fresh air.
11:45 am - After my break, I finish up some UNITE Surveys work and look at my to-do list. I always make sure I have a to-do list every day, so that I can create good habits of always planning and completing my work sufficiently. I tend to look at my to-do list before my lunch break, so that I can plan accordingly what I am going to do for the rest of my workday.
12:00 pm - Lunch time! Sometimes I order a sandwich at our office café, but today I brought my own lunch and ordered a coffee at Starbucks. On the way there, I had an impromptu/informal meeting while walking to grab my Starbucks.
12:30 pm - After lunch, I get settled back into my cubicle. I logged back into my computer and started on some personal training, using some of our company resources.
1:00 pm - Now it’s time for our Monthly IT All Hands – Strategy in Motion meeting. During this meeting, everyone in the IT organization joins together and talks about updates in their personal teams. I really enjoy the All-Hands meetings because we get to see how everyone is progressing as a whole in our department.
2:45 pm - I take my second 15-minute break and go outside to rest.
3:00 pm - Snack Break! During snack break meetings, a group of interns create an activity for the IT Interns and IT Associates to bond. Today was Jeopardy and my team did not win, but it was a fun time with my coworkers!
3:45 pm - I have a meeting at 4:00 pm, so I do some prep work and check my email before the meeting.
4:00 pm - During this meeting, I meet with Product and Capability Owners as we plan for an event coming up in August. As we plan, we go back and forth with ideas, and then close out for the day.
4:30 pm – I pack up all my stuff and head home!
Overall, I really have been enjoying my internship experience at SDG&E. I know that I will be able to apply the skills I learned in my courses at SDSU, and after I graduate. I appreciate all of the people I have met through this experience, and those who have invested the time and energy to guide me through my future career. I’m excited to see where this takes me!
