Cyan DeVeaux '20 - Media Tech Intern at NBCUniversal (Summer 2019)

Cyan DeVeaux '20 - Media Tech Intern at NBCUniversal (Summer 2019)

Cyan DeVeaux '20 - Media Tech Intern at NBCUniversal (Summer 2019)

This past summer, I had the pleasure of being a Media Tech Intern at NBCUniversal. I was a broadcast engineer working within the Operations and Technology department. In particular, my team consisted of engineering architects, making us in charge of developing technologies that assisted the production, media, and distribution engineers. Because we served a variety of engineers, I split my time between interning at NBCU’s New York City, NY and Englewood Cliffs, NJ locations. This allowed me to see a broader picture of how technology within broadcasting functioned.

I gained experience in both frontend and backend development. Each day at work was a learning experience for me as I interfaced with coding languages, networking architecture, cloud computing platforms, and other technologies I previously had little to no familiarity with. While challenging at times, I was incredibly grateful to have a manager that wanted to keep me engaged throughout my internship and who was right there when I needed help. Over the course of the summer, I became more confident in my technical abilities as I worked through various projects. Some of my projects included writing a python script that could calculate the cost to run a livestream through AWS Elemental MediaLive, deploying a single page web app, implementing a modal for authentication, and developing web-based countdown clocks to the major 2020 elections to be displayed on monitors in the NBC Decision Desk.

In addition to my day to day responsibilities, I attended events that allowed me to learn more about NBCU as a company. I had the opportunity to sit in on talks from the CEO, Steve Burke, and the President of Operations and Technology, Ian Trombley, attend lunch and learns hosted by full time engineering employees, and network with other women in technology. I also got to sit on a panel to talk about my NBCU experience to high schoolers interested in technology.

Overall, my experience was extremely positive and gave me insight into the role of engineers with the entertainment industry.