Media-Tech Associate
NBC Universal:
A subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, NBC Universal is a premier media, broadcasting and entertainment company. The company’s massive portfolio includes many television and news networks, Universal Pictures, television production operations, Universal Resorts, and internet based business. NBC Universal is Headquartered in New York, New York.
Media-Tech Associate Overview:
The Media-Tech Associate Program is a two year rotational program in which I will be working on various teams and projects in NBC Universal’s Operations and Technology Department (ONTS). The program is designed to prepare me for a managerial role following my completion of three 8 month rotations. Throughout Media-Tech Associate program, I will likely be doing two rotations of project management work, and one rotation of application development work. I cannot elaborate on the specific details of my first rotation because while I have received and accepted my job offer documentation, all rising associates are yet to be assigned to their specific locations and teams. Discussions concerning the details of my first rotation should be held closer to my July 2018 start date. Similarly, my second and third rotations will be determined based on my experiences during my first rotation, so these details are also TBD.
Key Classes for My Success:
Throughout my rotations, I will be drawing heavily upon tools and skills learned in both MIS 3535 and MIS 3502. 3535 gave me the opportunity to lead an an engineering project with which I had no previous background. I was forced to familiarize myself with the details of their project very quickly, while forming meaningful working relationships with the engineering team. Fully grasping project requirements, and forming good working relationships a technical team in a short amount of time is not easy, but learning how to do this successfully will be critical to my success as a project manager at NBCU. MIS 3535 also gave me practical and detailed experience using Microsoft Project to track and measure the engineering team’s progress against a baseline WBS and budget. During the semester, I was also given the opportunity to write important project management documentation including a communications plan, risk management plan, project charter and more. Familiarizing myself with the basics of how to use Microsoft Project to effectively track project progress and key project management documentation used on all major projects will help me hit the ground running in my project management rotations.
MIS 3502 will also be crucial to my success as a Media-Tech Associate. In 3502, I became experienced with many crucial development tools like JavaScript and jQuery, booststrap and Ajax, while also becoming more confident in my ability to develop with HTML and CSS, and PDO. I was forced to practically apply these tools in class challenges and while working to develop an app for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Not only did this hands on learning significantly increase my ability to code, but it gave me a new found interest in application development. I’ve since gone on to take a Python course which when combined with JavaScript and jQuery, now has me experienced in a significant chunk of the languages NBCU will be looking for me to use during my development rotation.