Denison students are the architect of their own education. Rohin and Raghav Daswani, identical twins who are both economics majors and computer science minors, prove how wide the scope of educational experiences can range through their summer internships.
Rohin interned in Cleveland, Ohio, with the start-up company Betchyu through the Summer on the Cuyahoga (SOTC) program. “SOTC links students with alums as mentors and provides events throughout the summer so that students can really get to know the area,” Rohin said.
As for his work with Betchyu, Rohin realized very early on just what working with a start-up company required. “There were two other people besides me: the founders. My main role was Android development and business development, but due to the limited staff I took on a lot of other aspects of the business as well, like making revenue models, expense projections, and working on marketing strategies.”
Raghav, on the other hand, ended up in a very different sort of business environment. “I was working with MasterCard to develop software for business process management services. There were 63 interns there, and I worked with a group of 55 people,” he explained. “I ended up having my own project — developing a dashboard that would connect senior management in Business Process Management Systems to the status of the team at any given time.”
In contrast to Rohin’s program, Raghav would go out during the week to explore the nearby city of St. Louis, but these explorations weren’t included in his internship. “I was very independent, both at work and in my free time.” Talking about his brother, he added “Rohin’s program was very holistic; people from the program would check up on him and the other interns to make sure they were enjoying their experience.”
For all their differences, the internships each provided invaluable experiences. “We were both put on the same level as the other employees,” Raghav said. “I had to learn an entirely new programming language and became a lot more confident in giving input and participating in meetings.” Rohin agreed, saying, “I was treated as one of the team and was able to tell the CEO what interested me and what sort of work I wanted to do for the business.”
Their advice for those students looking for internships is also similar. “Don’t let not knowing what you’re into be an excuse for not looking,” Raghav recommended. “And start early,” Rohin added. “Companies start looking for interns and employees in the fall.”