National Intern Day is Thursday, July 28! At TDS, we are grateful for the work our interns do and appreciate the value they add to our team of associates.
“The senior leadership team at TDS is so pleased with the growth and advancement of our internship program,” said Drew Petersen, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs and executive sponsor of the Intern ARG (Associate Resource Group). “Interns become immediate contributors to the organization, working on meaningful projects and honing their skills. They help improve our culture and chemistry as an organization.”
Let’s hear from some of our amazing interns about their experiences at TDS!
Lily Cain
My internship position on the Information Technology (IT) Software Testing Team has been nothing short of amazing! I feel like a true team member through my participation in Ranorex automation training and daily standup meetings. My knowledge of software testing has grown exponentially since starting with TDS in January. I look forward to working through more testing tasks in the future to continue to grow my skills and make a positive impact on my team!
I enjoy working for TDS because my team is so welcoming and fun. We do a random question of the day at our daily standup meeting, and I love that it gives me the opportunity to learn more about everyone I work with. I have grown so much as my team members encourage questions and have shown me many tips and tricks for the field.
Dave Dominique
I am an engineering intern on track to work full-time on the programming team. I currently provide support to my managers in file management and daily conversions. The experience of working for TDS for the past two months has been very great so far. My superiors are very helpful in aiding me in getting my work done, and the work-life balance has been highly flexible. I cannot wait to become full-time!
Nathanael Morgan
I work as a Salesforce Development intern in the Information Technology (IT) department at TDS. I have always enjoyed problem-solving and strategizing with team members, which is the primary way I get to contribute to the Sales and Marketing team. Whether it is resolving defects that end users may discover or creating new features to make the product users’ jobs easier, I get to see behind the scenes and learn how to use a deployment pipeline to update changes in higher Salesforce organizations. I am incredibly grateful to Melanie Grandjacques, senior manager of Application Development and Management, and her team for welcoming and assisting me in learning the ropes for this position!
My internship at TDS has been an incredibly valuable experience. From collaborating with an awesome and engaging team to meeting with my encouraging supervisor, TDS has instilled within me so much positive fervor to continue my career in IT. I highly recommend the internship program to anyone interested in pursuing a career in this field. The training, project management skills, and collaboration initiatives have been expedient and high-quality.
Cael Schindlbeck
I joined the Billing Analyst Intern Team May 2022 with the expectation to gain valuable experience in specific billing business processes and hopefully connect with many other interns and future colleagues. I can confidently say my expectations were far surpassed. Every interaction I have had with other team members has positively impacted me. Whether it is during training sessions or engaging with other team members for projects, there are always new opportunities to learn or utilize the knowledge that I have gained.
I enjoy working for TDS because of my highly collaborative team. Everyone is very supportive, and I have a variety of people I can consult for help, such as other interns, supervisors, and the billing team. I also enjoy the flexibility of working at TDS. Being remote, I can work during the school year and not just for one summer, which many other internships do not offer.
Sydney Schmidt
I joined the Technical Accounting Team January 2022 and appreciated the welcoming environment my coworkers provided me through our collaboration. As an Accounting and Reporting Intern, I write memos, create Contract Accounting Reviews (CARs), research new accounting guidance, create entries for the general ledger, prepare accounting work for auctions and everything in between. Being an intern with such a wide variety of responsibilities is refreshing because I am always learning something new. Whether it be new software, such as Power BI, SAP, and Wdesk, or a project put in front of me with one business day to get it done, I am constantly working on my toes. This enriching experience has boosted my career journey, and I am grateful to be a part of a community of such supportive people at TDS!
Michael Soto
I work on the People Analytics team, so my primary project has been creating Tableau dashboards to analyze the five Pulse surveys we send to associates. I enjoy working for TDS because of their virtual work flexibility and focus on developing skills that will help me succeed in my career. I also enjoy garnering constructive feedback on my work and learning new analytical skills from the team members.
Kelly Tsai
I am currently an intern in Commercial Sales. My main responsibilities include performing user-acceptance testing/feature/defect testing for Salesforce and co-designing and contributing to the Commercial Sales SharePoint Online Project. Compared to the more upfront, door-to-door-like reputation most sales have, I partake in more of the behind-the-scenes production to ensure the internal sales process is effective and functional.
What I enjoy most about my internship are the technical skills I have gained through this experience. TDS provides meaningful work that contributes back to the department, so I feel as though they take care to ensure interns’ time and work are valued. I also appreciate their motivation in having interns learn about fields beyond their scope of work, which I felt was extremely practical as a current university student.
Jarod Whaley
I currently work as a Route Acquisition intern under Landon Utterback and Shane Dorgan, who are both network specialists. In my everyday work environment, I usually help complete ROW HLDROMs, which are informational documents that ensure project managers and ROW (right of way) leaders on the project get the information they need. I have also spent time in ArcGIS mapping out easements that exist within TDS so that we have an image available whenever needed for the exact placement of an easement for a current or future project.
I enjoy working at TDS because it is a real-world opportunity to display the knowledge I learned in my undergraduate degree. I feel at home because I can ask anyone, at any level in the company, any question, and they would be happy to respond with their experiences and guidance.
Lizzie Wiegmann
I started as an intern on the Route Acquisition team a little over a year ago. I work with an amazing manager, Morgan Jass, network specialist, on an exceptional team working to acquire permits in the West. Over the past year, I learned much about the permitting process that allows TDS to move forward with construction. TDS is a great company to work for because of its learning resources, company culture, and continuous efforts to make the company better for its associates.
Karolina Wolowiec
At TDS, I am a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) intern who helps to do various projects using software like ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Pro, Dashboards, and Experience Builder. Being an intern at TDS has been incredible so far. Everyone is accommodating, and I enjoy working with different team members. I have come across various projects that have challenged me and helped expand my knowledge. The guidance and support that TDS provides has better prepared me for my future endeavors!
Make sure to take time tomorrow to thank your interns for their hard work and dedication!
Written by Celia Reid and Emma Maring, TDS Communications Interns
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