Day in the Life

This past summer U.S. AgBank and AgVantis hosted nine student interns, offering each the opportunity to gain valuable work experience in a professional environment. As these young adults finish their degree programs at Kansas universities, the internship invites them to apply, to extend and, perhaps, to rethink the lessons of the classroom.

Let’s look at the summer days of two interns as an indication of the scope and variety of the experience.

Rashmi Balekundargi Kansas State University Computer Science Senior

I am a senior at Kansas State University pursuing my career as a software engineer. I will be sharing some of my valuable experiences as an intern here at AgVantis.

As an intern in the Distributed Application Systems group, I get to address ongoing issues and make enhancements to existing systems written in .NET. Every day, I attend a morning stand up meeting to discuss with my team what I did yesterday, what I will be working on today, and any impediments to accomplishing those tasks. I have gained experience as a real developer facing real challenges in the lending industry. As a computer science major set to graduate next May, I welcome the work.

My favorite assignment was when I worked for two weeks on adding the ability to delete archived documents from AgVantis’ Scribe Document Processing System using SharePoint. The process seemed simple but was complex and challenging when using the SharePoint interface. It was very difficult but when the issue was resolved I felt a great sense of accomplishment.

My advice for anyone considering an internship at AgVantis is to be organized and be ready to meet deadlines scrupulously. In school if I miss a date for a term paper, I have a chance to make up for my tardiness. Here, a missed deadline affects other people profoundly. So, focus on your customer.

Andrew Conner University of Kansas Economics Graduate Student

After devouring a bowl of Life cereal and rocking out on my car ride to work, a typical day for me begins when I arrive. Hardly the embodiment of a “morning person,” I immediately pour myself a cup of coffee and read the day’s headlines in the Wall Street Journal. Shortly after this, I meet with my mentor to discuss some of the day’s market events and to touch base on the project I’m working on at the time. For my most recent project, I’ve found myself working closely with the bank’s portfolio of mortgage-backed securities, comparing their accounting records with outside calculations I’ve made through the department’s Bloomberg terminal.

At about noon, I meet with the other interns for lunch. The cafeteria at the bank is actually, surprisingly, delicious; but, if we are in the mood for a change of scenery, we’ll go out to eat somewhere in Old Town. After lunch, the obligatory can of Diet Dr Pepper serves as fuel for the second half of the day. Most of the afternoon is spent working on one of my projects, but my mentor usually tries to tie in some kind of impromptu lesson on a topic he finds of interest. By five o’clock it has been an interesting day to say the least. I am, no doubt, tired and ready to make my journey home but I am excited to find out what tomorrow has in store for me.