The foundations of a career often start with an elementary but valuable building block: the internship.
A successful internship can be defined in all sorts of ways: The acquisition of a certain skill. The revelation that a path is — or is not — for someone. The formation of working relationships that form the bedrock of a lifelong professional network.
And, of course, the opportunity to join the team full-time. That’s one win — among others — that Steffy Walls garnered after her internships with CrowdStrike, where she became a Global Sales Program Coordinator.
“I was excited to convert from intern to full-time because the training, mentorship and people at CrowdStrike all solidified that I am in the right place,” Walls said.
And Walls made sure to maximize the opportunity at hand at the company, which offers cybersecurity solutions across a variety of use cases.
“I treated my internship as a time to invest in myself by learning as much as possible,” said Walls, who carved out time to focus on picking up the tools that pay dividends professionally.
Here’s why Walls’ internship turned out to be a pivotal professional chapter.
Tell us a bit about the internship program you're participating in or participated in. What made you decide this was the right place to do your internship?
I started as a Sales Development Intern at CrowdStrike and eventually transitioned to a Global Sales Programs Intern. Throughout my time as an intern, I learned the ins and outs of supporting the Sales Development and Corporate Sales Organizations in training, team cultures, global communications, branding and strategic programs.
Part of my role as a Programs Intern was to help facilitate our Global Sales Excellence Elite Internship Program, where I gained some great leadership skills and confidence, which I continue to develop today.
Part of my internship was helping facilitate our Global Sales Excellence Elite Internship Program, where I gained leadership skills and confidence that I continue to develop today.”
What’s the coolest project you’ve worked on in your role as an intern? What skills did that project help you develop?
The coolest project I got to work on during my time as a Global Sales Programs Intern was to help facilitate the 2021 Summer Sales Excellence Elite Internship Program with the Senior Global Program Manager. During the 10 weeks of the summer program, she empowered me with leadership skills, effective communication, change management and more. I could feel myself grow in so many ways and I got out of my comfort zone a lot.
It became a safe space to “fail.” I use fail in quotes because at CrowdStrike you never really fail — you just have learning opportunities.
How has your internship helped you grow professionally, and how will you carry the lessons you’ve learned forward into your career?
Internships at CrowdStrike allow for more than just learning opportunities. You truly become a part of the team.
As an intern, I could take ownership of projects I was working on, so I learned to trust myself and grew confidence in my skills. There’s a culture at CrowdStrike to never stop learning, which has helped me grow professionally because I’m able to acknowledge I don’t know everything yet.
I took advantage of the extra training and enablement resources, taking the time to go watch a video or read an article to learn a new hard or soft skill. I also learned to prioritize my time and projects through time blocking — setting specific times to work on certain projects, which has been a massive help in my day-to-day.
