Delina Girmay is a current MS GIS student. During the Summer of 2022, she worked with the Esri Commercial team as a Solution Engineer intern. This experience has now led to a full time position!    Read here about her experience and how her MS courses have benefitted her. 

What projects did you work on and/or what were your job responsibilities?

I worked on two main projects throughout the summer. My main intern project was showcasing how Business Analyst can be used by companies in site selection. For my project, I created a fictional grocery store that was expanding into a new market. The other project I worked on was creating a demo that showcased ArcGIS Field Maps capabilities for site maintenance of shopping complexes. The demo also incorporated ArcGIS Dashboards that were linked with field maps.

The main responsibilities of a Solution Engineer intern are to create products using Esri products that will help a current client or the team you are interning for. Shadow client and team calls to get a better understanding of what a Solution Engineer does. Also, as interns there are different intern events that happen each day, so you can also attend those as well if your schedule allows for it. I also was able to take instructor-led courses throughout the summer which was super helpful because the courses went over Esri products I’ve never used before.

What group did you work with?

I specifically worked with the Solution Engineers on the Esri Commercial team. Within that Esri Commercial team there are subsections and I worked closely with the Retail subsection.

How have the skills you have learned in the MS program helped you during this internship?

Without the MS program, I don’t think I would’ve felt as comfortable during the Esri internship. I was able to use so many different things I learned from the different MS courses during the internship. Since I heavily worked with Business Analyst I was able to use a lot of skills I learned from Dr. Ma’s Spatial Analysis class to help me on my intern projects. Throughout the internship, different people at Esri really stressed the importance of having knowledge of coding languages. Taking the Web GIS and Programming courses in the MS program gave me an advantage in the internship over other interns who didn’t have previous coding experience.

Do you have any other insight or lessons learned from this experience that you'd like to share?

I’m so glad I applied for the Esri internship last year, it great opportunity for me to gain real-world GIS experience. I definitely recommend students in the MS program to apply for the Esri summer internship, it’s a great opportunity to learn more about GIS and Esri. After the internship, I definitely feel more confident in my GIS skills. I am happy to share I received a full-time job offer from Esri, which wouldn’t have happened without the internship experience.

Another cool thing about the Esri internship is you receive a personal mentor who will help guide you through the internship. I met with my mentor every day and received so much great feedback and life advice. She really taught me so much about the Solution Engineer role and was one of my biggest advocates. The main advice I have for anyone interested in the Esri internship is to go for it and be confident in your abilities. The UMD MS program definitely prepares you for the workforce. Also, my last piece of advice is to not be afraid to reach out and network with people in the GIS field.

Congratulations Delina!  We are so proud of your achievement.