This semester has lended for some school projects a little different than usual. Some seem to be even… useful?

In “Speaking & Writing for Engineers,” I was required to write a resume and application letter to apply for an internship (optional on whether we actually sent the letter). Already being a step ahead of the class with an existing resume, this provided for a good time to produce an updated resume for your reading (and hiring) pleasure. I was sure to fill it with lots of buzzwords (yes, I do agree with Buzzwords say all the wrong things, in general) and acronyms, knowing that many companies these days simply scan resumes and run queries on their database for matching people. Additionally, I am going to be on both sides of a mock job interview soon to come.

Having an updated resume came just in time for UF’s Career Showcase – a two day event in which hundreds of employers speak with students about job openings in their companies. There were some big companies there and I got to meet a lot of recruiters. I spoke with a guy from Microsoft (with Windows Live) who asked me what AJAX really is. Not surprisingly, he said I was the only person so far that day that had a good grasp of it. (The “not surprisingly” is more from the lack of web-awareness of normal Computer Science/Engineering majors and less from the fact that I am just incredible).

In Java II, my latest project was to create an analysis, design, and implementation of a Travel Agency. We’re still doing simple console applications but are getting into different types of inheritance in Java. My UML diagram and screenshot below:

Look mom, I’m famous… the Yodel Anecdotal (Yahoo’s Corporate Blog) released a podcast on social networking that features me and 6 other interns discussing current trends in social networking. Go check it out.

I have officially completed my internship with Yahoo! in Sunnyvale, CA for the summer and am back home in beautiful Jacksonville, FL. Overall I had an incredible experience and learned a ton. My eyes were opened to the large amount of tech start-ups and large companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. I got to see the office buildings of Yahoo!, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, eBay, Adobe, Altera, McAffee, WebEx, Facebook, Flock, and Meebo. You just can’t do that anywhere else. I always knew there was a Silicon Valley, but living in the area and rubbing shoulders with so many talented people in one area was a new experience for me.

I also got to work with talented engineers at Yahoo! and learn a lot. I was able to take a half dozen courses on various front-end engineering topics to either refine my skills or teach me new stuff while I was there. I was able to see what the workflow in a large organization (a company of 12,000 people) is like – the good and the bad – and work on projects for a company which impacts half of the world’s internet users every month. Yes, they are still more popular than MySpace.

Having intern events with nearly 200 other interns was fun too. It was great being able to meet and become good friends with a bunch of talented young people. Thanks to this crazy new toy called the “internet,” hopefully we will be able to stay in contact.

What now? Back to school and doing freelance work. I’ve got a decent school schedule this semester: Differential Equations honors, Applications of Discrete Structures, Circuits I, Java II, and Technical Writing for Engineers. I’ll be moving in my Gainesville apartment in about a week and will be building a loft for my tiny bedroom…. more on that later hopefully.

Freelance work is starting to come back on strong with a few programming projects starting up for designer friends. I just launched a new dynamic website for UF Campus Crusade. The site is a redesign of an aged site, now written with CSS and web standards in mind. While building upon the existing PHP backend, I have also added some new features and increased usability. I did not have time to do everything I wanted to on it this summer, but hopefully it will still serve as a great resource and advertising for the UF ministry of 300+ students.

I am fortunate enough to be able to work from Florida for a couple days due to July 4th, leaving me with a nice 9-day visit back home. While traveling, I observed a couple of interesting things about business, opportunities, and life. Check them out…

First, while waiting in Phoenix at the Southwest Airlines gate to board my plane, the guy guarding the boarding door was about to do his usual thing, preparing for boarding the plane, when he did something that made everyone look up. He said

“Do you guys want me to give you all the boarding information in a song?”

Not sure if he was serious at first, people began nodding. So he started – and sang an entire song to the tune of Edwin McCain’s I’ll Be. The guy actually had a really good voice and gave us all the usual information, but in a really exciting and new way. In the end, everyone applauded and had a smile on their face. This is a great way to do business. I hope that guy gets a raise because he took what is usually a very boring experience and added life to it. Even his coworkers from the booth were smiling and enjoying themselves.

On the other hand, I went out to eat this afternoon with a pretty large group of 13 people to Clarks. While I usually like the place, today the waiter sucked – he was overall unfriendly, rude, and short with us. So what if a few people ordered water? That doesn’t mean “refills” should be given by slinging one pitcher of each drink on each side of a very long table. I noticed the not-so-great service but wasn’t going to say anything. However, it was bad enough for several girls at my table to be unhappy about it. Because of this, I simply asked for his name, and informed the manager that I love the restaurant, but was receiving bad service due to a rude waiter. I hope this guy gets a one-on-one meeting with the manager and either begins to improve or get replaced by someone like singing-airplane-gate-guy. And it really is in the waiter’s best interest – better service results in better tips.

What’s the point? That a little personality and effort go a long way in creating a good impression and making happy customers.

And last but not least: airplane rides are great for networking. After briefly meeting a young couple while listening to singing-airplane-gate-guy, we ended up sitting next to each other on the plane. I had a great conversation with the guy. I taught him Sudoku, talked to him about Jacksonville, discussed web design and business ideas. He told me about his own business and how he created a simple website for himself using a free online tool. After a simple conversation, without seeing any of my resume or previous design work, this guy says:

“I really wish I hadn’t already signed a contract for my new website, I would hire you right now. But if you want to do any search engine optimization contract work, that would be great.”

Why would he say this after such a short conversation with no evidence of my abilities? I think it has to do with a few things. Just like above, having a personality and engaging in conversation almost always are good things. More important than resumes or portfolios, people just like to know that they can simply talk to you and trust you as a person.

I’ll post about working for Yahoo! more later, but I just want to write about some fun times in northern California over the last couple weeks. From disc golf in Santa Cruz (photos) with Dimitry Bentsionov and Scott Schiller, to taking a road trip to Santa Barbara with some local Kappa Sigma guys, or just hanging out in San Jose (photos), my time here has been great so far.

Today was good. I met up with Dimitry, Bryan Veloso, and Paul Stamatiou (another Yahoo! intern) and went to a car show in San Francisco to show of Bryan’s sweet ride. After, the three Y! interns headed over to BarCamp San Francisco upstairs in a Microsoft building downtown. It was a good time meeting and hearing from some people in the industry. Later, Will Pate rode Caltrain back with us and gave us a tour (photos) of the Flock offices (thanks Will!).

In late March of this year, when I was at school and was just starting to think “what am I going to do this summer?”, a big opportunity opened up for me almost all at once. I was literally sitting in a Calculus 3 class when my cell phone started buzzing, and an unknown, out of state number appeared. That was nothing new or special, but they left a message, making me more interested. Once I got out of class, I listened, and sure enough, “Hi my name is …, I’m a recruiter from Yahoo! … and we want to talk to you about some positions with the company…”. I really couldn’t believe it at first and I won’t lie, I think I listened to the message at least 4 times. When I got back to a computed and checked my e-mail, sure enough, there was a legitimate email:

My name is … and I’m a recruiter with Yahoo. When you have a free moment I would like to discuss Front End Engineering positions we have open. When might be a good time to speak?

Many phone calls and emails later, I got a (generous) offer letter packet in the mail and accepted it, but it had not been an easy decision. I already had several opportunities to stay in Jacksonville with family and friends, to work on a project of my own, do freelance, or possibly repeat my internship from last year. However, this was an opportunity I decided would be foolish to pass up. A job at the headquarters of the world’s most popular website doing what I love, while gaining great experience for myself, my resume, and picking up a good bit of cash.

PS – thanks to everyone who helped show me that this was an opportunity not to miss. And thanks to Chris Dawson who reminded me to check for cheap Kappa Sigma housing in CA, so that I’m not actually losing money by working out here. Photos of “my crib” are available.

After telling enough people that I’m “going” to put a blog on my site, it’s time to finally do it. And what better time than now.

So here goes. Expect semi-frequent ramblings about my life, web development, college, interning at Yahoo!, entrepreneurship, and anything else I feel like.