One Second Every Day at Cisco

This post was authored by Alyssa Cuffie a Cisco Marketing Intern for Summer 2019.

Can you tell a story in just a one second video clip every day?  Our initial reactions might be, “No way!” But in Jon Favreau’s movie Chef, his son documents the cross country journey of his father’s food truck by streaming together one second clips that he captures every day – in the end, it’s a beautiful display of how little moments become a larger, more powerful picture.

As I was about to begin my summer as a Cisco intern, I knew I wanted a way to freeze moments in time and document the unique opportunities I was about to embark on.  To do this, I decided to use an app called 1 Second Everyday (the same used in the movie) to give a brief snapshot into my daily life as a Cisco intern.

The completed video is an accumulation of one second from almost every day this summer, here are five of my favorite seconds:

1. Orientation

The morning of my first day at Cisco, I was extremely nervous.  This is my first internship at a Fortune 500 company, and even though I had done my research, I wasn’t sure how well I’d fit into the culture.

I had so many questions running through my mind: Was I dressed appropriately?  Did I prepare enough for the day?  Will I like the work that I’m doing?

When I arrived, my roommate and I were thirty minutes early and sat in anticipation in the lobby until the organizer came and got everyone.  During the orientation itself, I learned so much about Cisco and got the chance to connect with the other interns.  While not all of them were in my department, I later found it nice to recognize them at our various intern events.

2. Food!

Something that I’ve loved about working at Cisco is all the food, and while it isn’t the same in every department, in marketing, we receive breakfast on Tuesdays and lunch or a snack on alternating Thursdays.  These meals are usually the times that I’m able to break away from work and hang out with the interns and full-time hires.  I’ve gotten a lot of great advice during this time and would definitely advise anyone else to use team meals as a time for networking and learning more about your peers.

3. Cisco Live

With the use of Webex, it’s been incredible to gain access to events that I’m unable to physically attend, like Cisco Live – which is the largest Cisco event of the summer.  I learned so much during the event, but my favorite was seeing all of the possibilities with our Cognitive Collaboration tool that Amy Chang presented.

The technology of the future is the technology of now.  And the sheer amount of dad jokes also made it worth it.  In addition to Cisco Live, the interns are able to attend Speaker Series with Cisco Executives from around the world. I can tell that Cisco really cares about not only teaching us, but also learning from the interns.  A lot of my peers and I have even been able to schedule one on one meetings with our executives following the series.

4. Meetings

Even as an intern, I have tons of meetings. They range from just getting to know someone, to brainstorming, to sitting in on calls with partners. This really makes me feel as if I’m a full-time employee and a member of the team. I’m able to give input on different decisions and really drive change within my projects. I will say that my favorite types of meetings are one on ones. They allow me to learn more about the person I’m connecting with and gain new perspectives on roles and opportunities at Cisco.

5. Flexibility

I don’t work remotely often but knowing that I can is a huge stress reliever.  There are any number of reasons why one can’t make it into the office and knowing that not coming in won’t hinder my work or my managers perception of me is a relief.  In fact, because my team does so much work via the collaboration tools that Cisco has such as Webex, many of them work remotely full time.  This creates opportunities for them to work on a schedule that works best for them.

All in all, working at Cisco has taught me so much about my own working style and how to think outside of myself for the benefit of others.  Although my day to day is always different, what stays consistent is the constant support I receive from my team and fellow interns.

Yes, to you these may only be “five seconds” – but to me these are the memories that I will hold on to long past my internship this summer.

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