CareerPlanit - Internship Journal

Internship Journal

Software, Hardware, Firmware, Sales…

Posted June 2000

When Jennifer Bulfin was 10 years old, her dad bought her an aging pinball machine. Over the years, the two tinkered with the machine, soldering broken wires back together and figuring out how electronic signals traveled through those wires to power the machine's sounds and lights. Bulfin, now a computer engineering major in a five-year program at Purdue University, has spent the past four years figuring out more complicated technology both in her classes and as a co-op employee at Tellabs.

"I've done a bunch of different things," says Bulfin, who has already completed four rotations and is beginning her fifth—and final—rotation this summer. "My co-op experiences have been awesome."

Bulfin says that during her first rotation, in the summer of 1997, she wrote test code for a giant telephone switching network used in Tellabs' central offices in the suburbs of Chicago.

In her second rotation, during the spring of 1998, Bulfin programmed a computer chip on one of the network's modules-an experience that introduced her to "firmware"—technology that falls in between the categories of software and hardware. She also organized and coded documents to be placed on the company's intranet.

"I organized them into different groups and made links," she says. "I had never done that before."

During the fall of 1998, Bulfin completed her third rotation, working with Tellabs' hardware group on the same telephone switching network.

"I did eye diagram testing," she says, explaining that she used an oscilloscope to track and adjust sine waves representing the network's switching rate.

During that semester, Bulfin also developed a system to enable other employees to conduct the eye diagram test more easily.

During the summer of 1999, Bulfin switched into Tellabs' sales group and used a computer program to help group members generate proposals for customers.

"There are so many different ways customers can configure their systems," she says. "The program lists every piece of hardware and software."

Bulfin also accompanied sales staffers on trips to companies interested in Tellabs systems and helped them make presentations.

This summer, she says, she'll be returning to Tellabs' firmware group.

"I like the balance between software and hardware," she says.

Bulfin, who will begin her final year of classes in the fall, says her experiences have convinced her that she chose the right major—and that she'll be working in a career she loves.

"After my first rotation, I totally knew that this is what I wanted to do," she says. "It kind of helped me get through school."

Bulfin says her work environment has been "really positive."

"Someone's always willing to help," she says. "I think I got really lucky."