First few days at Dell!

Hi there readers!

Well, this has been a fun and adventurous ordeal. After a month of working for a local Ann Arbor startup as a first internship, I packed my bags and moved to Austin, Texas for my second internship with Dell. I also packed a cat. My cat was not happy about being packed, but it had no choice.

My first impression of Austin, Texas? It is hot. My second impression? Most fun city on the planet. It is chock full of bars, dance venues, and live music. It also features what must be the best people watching environment in Northern America.

So - having settled into my new apartment with my new roommate - I went to the first day of Dell: Orientation.

For those of you who have not been to a corporate orientation - here is what it looks like: About 50 new interns sitting in a room - watching inspirational videos about ethics and hearing talks about the corporate rulebook.

Corporations have big rule books.

After that we were given our badge, and were sent off to talk to our managers. I was given a laptop - a list of people to talk to, a pat on the shoulder, and a hearty "good luck". I am going to love it here.

The next day we had the first talk from the "executive" series : Dell's CMO gave us a presentation about the challenges the company faces, strategy, and more. It was really quite interesting, and despite the early morning hour I managed to stay up (Note to future students: School is easier than work. Trust me on this.); it was also a very humbling experience. It is the first time I have seen an executive of a billion dollar company discuss so frankly and candidly how the company was doing, what the management believes are its shortcomings and how they intend to fix them.

So - armed with a laptop in hand, a borrowed cubicle as my fortress, I set out to conquer my project. It seems like the first few weeks will mostly involve me setting appointments with a multitude of people and getting the lay of the land. Wish me luck.