Lindsey Robinson, December 2006
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Market Research Analyst Intern,
National Instruments
Before cell phones dominated the social scene, chat rooms were all the rave; in middle school, Lindsey and her friends would plan out their Friday nights in weekly chats. Computers continued to play a role in her life during a high school business computer programming class. Lindsey had initially signed up for the course to fulfill a credit but was surprised to find programming to be both easy and enjoyable.
When Lindsey was accepted to McCombs, she again enrolled in a programming course, MIS 304: Introduction to Business Programming, for the sake of taking a class. “I really liked Professor Bailey and she made the class interesting.” With a couple more MIS classes under her belt, Lindsey decided to choose MIS as her major.
Interviewing with various companies during spring recruiting, Lindsey specifically enjoyed her interview with National Instruments; the company culture appealed and she knew that she wanted to be in Austin to enjoy the beautiful summer. As a Market Research Analyst Intern, Lindsey programmed online surveys, managed the databases that collected the results and met with product managers to discuss her findings. The most technical part of the internship was learning the statistics software that NI was using to analyze the survey results. She enjoyed getting some real world experience and made use of her exceptional organizational skills. “I would even have to keep tabs for managers so that they could get to meetings on time!”
Lindsey’s three points of advice to students curious about internships are: (1) find out what the company’s culture is like and make to find out whether the responsibilities are within your capabilities, (2) don’t be afraid to do new things, learning and making mistakes are part of the experience, and (3) enjoy the free time—unlike school, work ends at 5.
Currently, Lindsey works for the Lance Armstrong Foundation as a database technology intern, handling website updates and generating reports from the website for different donors. Lindsey also devoted time to IMPACT, a volunteer organization that focuses on tutoring and providing role models for at-risk students. Outside of classes and work, you can also find Lindsey volunteering for Cardiac Care for Women with girls from her sorority Alpha Phi, playing piano or listening to music, cooking, watching Gilmore Girls or at a UT football game.
