By John Clement

This past summer semester, several student members of the Future Technical Communicators club at UCF secured and participated in internships! Among them, we congratulate and would like to spotlight Leela Smith, Chantal Cyrier, Joy Carandang, Myra Hoover, Jonathan Williams, and Delaney Gunnell. Hear from each of them as they each share what they learned or have been learning, how they got their positions, and the benefits that FTC/STC provided in advancing their career journey.

Leela Smith

Company: L3Harris Technologies

Role: Technical Writer Intern

My time as a Summer 2024 Technical Writing Intern for L3Harris Technologies was nothing short of extraordinary. I initially found out about the opportunity through an interest meeting for the position, hosted by the FTC. I was deeply interested in the role, as I’ve always wanted to work within the defense field. Coming from a family rooted in the military, I have a personal connection to L3Harris Technologies’ mission. After applying and interviewing, I was ecstatic to learn that I had been selected to fulfill the position. 

It is difficult to narrow down my favorite moments of the summer, as I can confidently say this experience was full of positivity and growth. I owe much of personal and professional development during this time to my group leader Melissa Olds, who has played a pivotal role in my experience since the beginning of the internship process. Additionally, past Technical Writing interns John Clement and Kaleb Crawford have always been helpful – providing insight and honest feedback throughout the summer. 

I was given amazing opportunities during the summer to explore technologies throughout the facility. It is a completely different experience when you can physically see something that you are writing about, so I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to do so multiple times. The memories that I shared with leadership, colleagues, and fellow interns are ones I will remember long after my college experience comes to a close. I am proud to now be working as a part-time employee at L3Harris Technologies, and I’m excited to see what my future holds with this amazing team.

Chantal Cyrier

Company: Cloudflare

Role: Technical Writer Intern

I first applied to the role in spring 2023 but was rejected in the final round. Over the next school year, I improved my resume by increasing my technical knowledge through taking a computer science course, my technical writing skills through taking a course where we wrote documentation for a local small business, and my collaboration and leadership skills by serving as FTC President. I’ve also been a participant in FTC’s mentoring program with STC, and completing projects with my mentor also helped me meet those three goals, including learning the very basics of Markdown and Github. The next spring I applied again, and this wealth of new knowledge and experiences (I drew on a lot of stories from serving as FTC President in my interviews) helped me land the internship for summer 2024.

During the internship, my primary task was to document how to enable a security feature for the user’s various SaaS (software as a service) applications. Overall, it was a fun, interesting challenge. Throughout the internship, I worked with many different teams and SME’s and learned a lot about the entire technical writing process, both through experience and from talking with my team. It was an educational, fun summer, and I enjoyed my first technical writing role and being able to put my knowledge from my classes and FTC into practice.

Joy Carandang

Company: Universal Creative 

Role: Technical Documentation Intern – Engineering and Safety

I was first introduced to the Universal Creative internship through a Discord post by my now fellow team member, Abby, on the FTC Discord server. Her enthusiasm for the company and team inspired me to apply. Last February, I sent my application via the company’s job portal. Marissa Alonso from Talent Acquisition then contacted me for a phone interview. Afterward, the team invited me to a formal interview via video conference. Later, I received a job offer. I am genuinely thankful for the support from my community members at the Future Technical Communicators (FTC) club at UCF and the Florida Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC Florida), who have been a strong anchor of encouragement and fellowship.

I am currently at the start of my internship, but I look forward to taking on various exciting and innovative projects! Each of my team members has been incredibly helpful and supportive throughout the onboarding process and has given me the tools to prepare for the semester ahead. My division focuses on a variety of deliverables that directly support our customers through technical documentation, instructional design, and program offerings. I am grateful for the opportunity to experience what it is like to work within the Themed Entertainment industry.

Myra Hoover

Company: Toho Water Authority (Summer); 

Push (Current)

Role: Toho – Public Relations Intern; 

Push – Social Media Marketing Intern 

I had one internship over the summer, and one I’m currently at right now, so I’ll split the questions between the two. I got both internships through a communications fair at UCF called Intern Pursuit. At Toho I was given the opportunity to create and write copy for both social media and internal publications. I also lead a company-wide school supply donation drive by creating all marketing collateral and creating an email campaign. During my time at Push, I’ll be working on video and creative development projects. 

Being a part of the FTC community is like joining a family. I constantly feel supported on all my educational and professional endeavors. This club is a great way to meet new people and add experience to your resume. I can’t recommend it enough!

Jonathan Williams

Company: Florida Space Institute

Role: Electrical Engineering Intern

I started my internship this Summer at the Florida Space Institute, and even though very little has to do with technical communication – it certainly relates to what I do outside. Through this internship, still going on now, I have learned quite a bit about how to really read technical documentation and thinking outside the box to solve problems. More importantly, through my use of Linux and Simulink software – it has taught me that writing documentation in the future should not only be to the benefit of engineers but that it should also be friendly to those that might have issues reading texts or who may suffer disabilities.

Delaney Gunnell

Company: Limbitless Solutions – a prosthesis nonprofit based in Orlando

Role: Assistant Research Scholar

I began working at Limbitless in May and have been here ever since. As a research intern, one of my tasks is reading many academic articles and synthesizing the content to inform our future studies. While I did not get this position through any FTC contacts, my technical communication minor almost certainly was a contributing factor to my acceptance. It is rare that scientists are trained in communication or technical writing, but this is an essential skill when trying to communicate findings to the public or other scientists. My background in technical writing has made it easier for me to navigate previous literature and suggest edits for improvement on the manuscripts in-progress. Additionally, Limbitless’ mission of advocacy and empowerment is something I am particularly interested in. I am grateful for this opportunity and look forward to continuing to work with them in the months to come!

Also read Delaney’s recent article for Limbitless Solutions, which is about how her STC Summit experience benefited her career skills! My Limbitless Experience: Scholar Delaney Gunnell attends the Society of Technical Communication (STC) Summit — Description: “Research Scholar Delaney Gunnell shares the skills she learned at the STC Summit that could benefit students from any discipline.”