Datatel Internship Experience

Last summer I worked as an intern in the Application and Regulatory Software Documentation department. Sean Hocum interned as well, except that he was in the Tools and Technology department. Datatel has an excellent internship program because atmosphere that they set for us was is very educational, we were given real projects, and they feed us constantly. To better explain what working there was like, I'll break this down into some categories. It's also important to say that they want their documentation interns to have an applied field in computer science, but you may be able to get this waived.

Getting the Internship
I applied for the internship in late January, I think the deadline was approximately January 25th. About 1-2 weeks later I got a phone call saying that they got my application and they were interested in interviewing me. A few days later I got a phone call walking back from class. It turned out that this was my phone interview, so I took it while walking back from class. The interview started while I was leaving Harvey Hall and it was finished before I reached HKMC Hall. A few days after that I received an email stating that I got the internship.

Working at Datatel
The work that Datatel gives their interns is actual work that is relevant to current projects that your team is working on. My position in the Application & Regulatory Software Documentation team meant that I wrote support documentation for Datatel software products. While I did not create brand new content for manuals, I did update a substantial amount of chapters. Most of these updates were the only updates a manual needed, so I then took the manuals through a publishing checklist and published the manual in PDF format to the web. I also did some online documentation for users who were upgrading to a new version of Datatel software.

Datatel has a friendly work environment that is very supporting of interns. Questions are always welcome and your status as an intern does not prohibit you from providing input during meetings. Sean and I were the only documentation interns, as usually they hire only two. However, Datatel hires about 15-17 other interns in programming, accounting, and human resources. Usually once a week there is some type of event were there is free food and there is always the free soda drinks or coffee to keep you going through the day. The dress code is business causal, so guys must where a shirt with a collar and jeans are not allowed. Last summer all of the interns formed strong bonds with each other and constantly hung out in each other's apartments. A hand full of us even joined the softball and volleyball leauges.

Overview
The Datatel internship is definitely a good one. Life in DC is never boring in the summer and you will always have something to do. Plus they hook you up with a free apartment over the summer, so all you have to worry about is your food and entertainment costs, its a real bargain.