Working at FOSSA: Marketing Intern

Hi! My name is Mahak Bandi and for the past six weeks I've been the Marketing Intern at FOSSA. After completing my freshman year of college at Purdue University, I was fortunate enough to land an internship at FOSSA.

From the first day I started here to my last, I've immersed myself in the world of marketing, technology, and open source. My internship provided me with the opportunity to work on many different kinds of projects and initiatives as well as build relationships that will last beyond this summer.

I got to work on some amazing projects as an intern at FOSSA. A large part of my time was spent contributing to our content strategy. I wrote and published 3 blog posts for Dependency Heaven–I loved writing them as well as learning more about OSS. I also got the opportunity to develop a White Paper about the important role of DevOps. I am grateful to have been given the trust to research, write, and publish this kind of content!

Aside from contributing to FOSSA'S content, I also reached out and worked with developers to help integrate FOSSA. I also conducted market research to identify target personas and our audience. I spent a lot of time on social media, specifically LinkedIn and Twitter, and created a guideline to help increase our social media presence as well.

As an intern, I enjoyed spending time with the people I worked with to learn more about them. I loved grabbing coffee with my coworkers and picking everyone's brain to ask them about their journey and what they love most about their job. I got insight into so many different career paths and I am excited for what the future holds. I am thankful to have been surrounded by such intelligent and kind people who took time out of their day to help me learn!

Between the projects I worked on and the people I interacted with, I also grew professionally. As a college student, growth comes from professional experiences that I wouldn't see in the classroom. I learned how to be self-driven to achieve my goals and deliver what was asked of me. However, I also learned to not shy away from asking questions. I learned that it doesn't hurt to ask questions in order to get the job done right the first time. I can not say enough about having a manager that was so passionate and enthusiastic to teach me new skills and help me grow during my internship. I also learned the importance of feedback and continuous learning, because nothing is perfect on the first try.

While this blog post is a reflection of what I've learned as a Marketing Intern these past 6 weeks, I could not leave without also saying thank you. Thank you to the wonderful people at FOSSA that I've had the pleasure of working and spending time with. You all have shown me what it means to be passionate and to love what I do, and I am so inspired.

The culture at FOSSA is one that embodies learning and willingness to help one another out. I still remember how nervous I was on my first day and how quickly that changed by the time I left that same day. I left feeling so excited to be working in this space, and my expectations were far surpassed. My goal for this summer as an intern was to just learn, learn, learn - and I've done exactly that and so much more. Thank you FOSSA for an incredible 6 weeks!