May 15, 2024. Written by: Nicole McDavid, CAHS Career & Internship Coordinator
Writing Major, Erin Breeden recently interned at TekSouth, a Business Intelligence and Data Analytics company in the Huntsville area. In her own words Erin graciously discussed her internship experience and how her College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences education boosted her success.
About the internship:
My internship experience with Teksouth has been very beneficial for my professional experience. As Teksouth's first paid intern I have been exposed to many different types of documents, specific to business proposals and business development. While my work initially started out as helping update Teksouth's content library, it has evolved into actively participating in meetings and technical reviews for outgoing proposals. Overall, my experience with Teksouth has been extremely valuable for my growth as a Technical Communicator.
How my CAHS education helped:
My education within CAHSS, more specifically the Technical Writing minor, has been invaluable for my internship at Teksouth. Without my Technical Writing and Editing classes I would not have the basis to know where to start on my assigned internship projects. Furthermore, my Writing about Science and Technology special topics class has been the basis of all of my work, since the documents I am working with are highly technical and I am translating the content into layman's terms. Also, Dr. Weber frequently emails students about different jobs and internships, and that is how I discovered the Teksouth internship. If I had not taken classes for the Technical Writing minor I would not have had the knowledge, or the confidence to work in the Technical Communication field.
About TekSouth
According to the company website TekSouth “creates and delivers data and analytic solutions – and the professional and managed services that make it all work – to over 14,000 end-users across the globe, making mission-critical decisions and managing tens of billions of dollars in assets.”
About the Writing Major
The writing major prepares students for careers in writing-related fields, such as technical writing, publishing, social media consulting, and public relations, and/or for graduate school in rhetoric and composition, communication, creative writing, education, or law. Its curriculum comprises a combination of courses offered by both the English Department and the Communication Arts Department.