Diversity fuels innovation and 6 other career lessons our interns learned this summer

1. Diverse teams can create amazing things

“My biggest takeaway was that nothing carries a team forward better than diversity,” said Grayson Noah, who spent the summer working in a product engineering group. “Different perspectives, skill sets and personalities all work together to do something amazing. When I started my internship, I was thrown into one of the busiest parts of the product cycle and treated as a full member of my team. My team and the work enriched my experience and skills immensely.”

2. Stay curious and confident
“My projects gave me the opportunity to test myself, my interests and how I like to work,” said Shannon Peifer, who worked a communications and digital marketing intern. “The internship made me more curious about the different areas of marketing and communications. It has made me more confident to ask questions and dive deeper into unfamiliar areas.”

3. Speak up

“This summer taught me that the work I do, no matter how small it may seem, has the potential to impact the company in a big way,” said Vinessa Burnett, a human resources intern. “And if I speak up about an idea I have, not only will people listen, but people will provide me with the resources and insight to help turn it into reality.”

4. Teamwork is critical
“Working in a field as competitive and fast-moving as electronics and integrated circuits requires a huge pool of knowledge,” said Chance Coats, who worked in a product engineering group. “No one could possibly know everything on their own. You need a great group that supports and assists you when you need help. The members of your team bring their experiences and perspectives to everything they do, and leveraging these invaluable resources allows TI to provide some of the best products in the world.”

5. Push yourself to learn
“Working at TI gave me valuable insights into my field of engineering and the opportunity to work on real products that are at the cutting edge of embedded processing,” said Jack Sacane, a software engineering intern. “This summer pushed me to learn new skills and technologies that aren’t taught in school. Everyone here is an expert at something, and I’m always able to find someone who wants to help.”

6. Practice hard and soft skills
“I met with people from different teams in Santa Clara and saw a wide range of projects,” said Erick Leal-Castillo, a product engineering intern in California. “I also got to practice new hard skills like automation and soldering, but also soft skills like project management and networking that will help me back at school and in my career.”

7. Build your knowledge
“Working at a place like TI and working on projects is a completely different experience than being at school,” said Rahul Hingorani, a software development intern. “I’ve figured out how to do well in school, but when I came here I realized I had to build my knowledge and work with other people. This isn’t like doing a project at school. There’s a lot more involved in the process.”