For Joshua Tolbert, \u201924, choosing a program of study was a no-brainer. The computer engineering major has been building robots since elementary school. \u201cI was always the one programming the robot,\u201d said Tolbert. \u201cIt was fascinating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The North Charleston native recently found himself behind the scenes of an operation more daunting than build-it-yourself robot kits\u2014an internship at Mercedes-Benz, where he created and managed data pipelines and cloud services. Tolbert was prepared; he found the work similar to what he had done in a software engineering class the previous semester that familiarized him with structured query language, a programming language commonly known as \u201cSQL\u201d that is used to create and maintain databases. \u201cIt was one of the first times I saw something we used in school get transferred to the real world,\u201d said Tolbert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The opportunity to take what he learned out of the classroom helped Tolbert understand the value of his work. \u201cThe Mercedes-Benz internship really opened my eyes to how IT can help other people and other departments, and how important computer engineering is,\u201d said Tolbert. \u201cSometimes there would be an instance where a system would shut down and the whole process of making vans would stop altogether. It was cool to see how crucial our job was to helping others get their jobs done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tolbert also enjoyed connecting with his coworkers; he and his fellow interns were able to discuss their experiences and learn from one another. \u201cOur team manager took me under his wing,\u201d Tolbert said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tolbert, who plans to work in database administration after he graduates, found the experience valuable for more than just hands-on work experience. \u201cI learned a lot of lessons there, not just about computers, but about the workplace in general and how to conduct yourself, how to work with other people and how important communication is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For Joshua Tolbert, \u201924, choosing a program of study was a no-brainer. The computer engineering major has been building robots since elementary school. \u201cI was always the one programming the robot,\u201d said Tolbert. \u201cIt was fascinating.\u201d The North Charleston native recently found himself behind the scenes of an operation more daunting than build-it-yourself robot kits\u2014an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":694,"featured_media":177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other"],"yoast_head":"\n