During her internship, Biological Engineering student Ayla Sage served as an Engineering Project Specialist at Kymanox. Kymanox is a premiere technical product and project management company providing clients in the Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical, and Medical Device, and Combination Product industries with engineering, scientific, regulatory, and process operations support.
Although she was originally placed in the Project Management group, Ayla had the opportunity to work with each subteam of Kymanox’s sectors, including Project Management, Validation, Process Engineering, Quality Engineering, and Analytical Sciences.
Learn more about Ayla’s internship experience and why she would recommend internships as a part of your education program with the Q&A below:
What was involved/what was your role during your internship?
During my internship, I was titled as an Engineering Project Specialist. Kymanox is composed of five main sectors; Project Management, Validation, Process Engineering, Quality Engineering, and Analytical Sciences. I originally started with the Project Management group, however, I was fortunate enough to be able to work with every sub-team. During my time there I learned how to do a multitude of things ranging from creating charters and managing meeting Agendas and Minutes to authoring a Product Risk Control Assessment and Equipment Validation documents. I was able to work with gene therapy companies, compounding pharmacies, and even some multinational pharmaceutical corporations. I learned how to do and create a plethora of other things throughout this internship process.
What was the best/your favorite part about completing this internship?
My favorite part about completing this internship was being able to experience the company/office culture. Notice above that I said ‘sub-teams’. I phrased it like this because I believe that everyone at Kymanox works on one cohesive team. Although everyone there is working on different projects with different clients, this does not stop them from collaborating and constantly supporting each other. I enjoyed this encouragement and support, it allowed me to never feel nervous about asking any questions. Questions can be essential to success especially when in such a fast-paced environment such as Kymanox.
What are the benefits of an internship?
Experiencing an internship provides a plethora of benefits. First and foremost, it allows you to create connections. For example, I will never forget the people I worked with this past summer, I speak to them as both friends and colleagues. They have already been supportive of my future endeavors. Not to mention, I had the ability to meet many people from other companies at their workplaces and conferences. Secondly, I learned more than I would have imagined. I now feel confident that I have the skills to take on a job and be successful. All in all, it was a great experience and I would recommend anyone to shoot for an internship.
Why would you recommend internships to other students?
One main reason to complete an internship is to realize where your interests truly lie. It is an opportunity to work with real industry professionals and get a taste for what it would really be like to work in that sector. If you find out it is not what you thought it would be, you now have the opportunity to go out and re-explore potential permanent job opportunities. Graduate school may be another option if you find that industry was not for you. Another major factor is that you learn so many soft skills such as dealing with different people, e-mail etiquette, and workplace manners in general. One thing I also learned about myself was my personal style of working. Working is different than having to complete homework and in-class assignments. I recommend that every student try out at least one internship before they graduate!
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