Tag: 19TeoF

SAS Day 8

Today was the last day at SAS. Day 8 started with two hours of shadowing, which I spent with Sierra, Mark’s coworker that also worked in UX Design. Instead of creating designs and working on how things work visually, Sierra was in charge of designing how graphs work and making sure that data visualization apps were as efficient and effective as possible. She showed me some of the equations she uses to create graphs, and SAS’s Visual Analytics (VA) app that she worked on. SAS’s VA app had very intuitive ways of creating graphs, plots, and maps that helped visualize thousands of data rows and columns. Finally, she gave me a lot of time to play around with the app and simulate a potential customer using the app for the first time. I gave her feedback on what I liked and what was challenging but for the most part, I found the VA app to be extremely helpful. I was glad to see the visual analytics side of design since it is something I had never experienced before. After working with Sierra, I said goodbye and thank you to Mark and headed towards building A to eat lunch with the whole Cary Academy group.

After lunch, we all headed to a meeting room where we would present our projects that we finished on Monday. We were given some time to practice our presentation and my group went first. Many workers, including people of high position at SAS, showed up to watch us present. We showed the video we created and answered questions. We watched the other groups present and discussed the projects and completed a survey to conclude the experience at SAS. Working at SAS for 2 weeks gave me the opportunity to learn about areas that I was already familiar and passionate about in a way that I had never experienced before. I would do this Work Experience Program again at SAS and would strongly recommend it to anyone considering it for future years.

SAS Day 7

Today marked the second and last full day with the UX Design team. I met up with my host, Mark, in building R and went over a few tips on Adobe Illustrator. Illustrator is different from Sketch, the program that was taught to be yesterday, in that Illustrator is used to create icons and vectors and Sketch uses Illustrator’s creations and puts them in an interface for a website. Unlike Sketch, which I had learned from scratch yesterday, I was already familiar with Adobe Illustrator and Mark showed me some tools and resources in Illustrator that he used often and that I didn’t know about. We sat in his office for around 30 minutes playing around with Adobe Illustrator and creating different vectors and icons. Mark and I went to a fellow coworker Cheryl’s office where we discussed some of the issues in efficiency and design in one of SAS’s data analytics apps. The app worked differently in a computer, iOS, and Android and we were tackling the issues brought up when the app was used in the different platforms. After the meeting, we visited many of the Design rooms that were flooded in whiteboard markings and sticky notes about every tiny element of a website you can think of. This includes buttons, drop-down menus, links, and everything in between. Every element had several designs for when it is unselected, hovered on, clicked, and selected. After this we broke out for lunch, and since Mark had work to do, he let me drive to building A where I met with another Cary Academy student and had lunch with him.

After lunch, I went back to building R and met with Mark. We reviewed what I learned in the past few days in both programs before heading towards a meeting with the whole UX Design team, including Cheryl and other coworkers I was introduced to the day before. They each talked about their progress in their individual projects and tackled some big software design issues together. Mark let me use the Mac that he loaned to me to learn more of both programs while I listened to the meeting. Even though yesterday helped me learn about the tools and resources UX Designers use, today helped me get a better idea of what a regular day is for a UX Designer.

SAS Day 6

Today was the first day of the second shadowing program at SAS. I had come from spending 3 days shadowing people at marketing, and today I started shadowing Mark Malek at SAS’s UX Design (user experience) field. UX Design deals with the presentation and efficiency of a website. It does not create ideas for websites, but takes an existing website and makes it as presentable and enjoyable as possible for the user. I met Mark for the first time and we sat down at the cafeteria introducing ourselves and talking about my background in technology and design. We then spent a few minutes going around the UX offices and meeting people that worked there. We then settled in his office where he ran me through his profession and the tools he uses to get work done. He uses programs like Adobe Illustrator and Sketch to make interfaces, but we focused mainly on Sketch today. Sketch is a good tool to lay out a website page or draft and brainstorm appealing visuals. He pulled up a random website page from SAS’s drive website and he recreated it so I could become familiar with the program. He provided me with a MacBook that I will be able to use throughout the week. Once we were done, it was time for lunch and we both broke out and I was able to eat with some fellow Cary Academy students.

After lunch, we attended a quick one-on-one meeting that Mark has with another intern regarding Sketch. The intern had a few questions on Sketch and it was helpful to learn from the questions asked and answered. We then went back to his office where he showed me several websites and tools that designers use to get inspiration and showed me more advanced and nifty tips on Sketch. We went over tomorrow’s plans and finished for the day. This was the first time I have ever experienced something like this since it merges two string interests, design and technology, that I have not always been able to put into practice and allows me to see how they are applied in the workplace.

SAS Day 5

The fifth day at SAS consisted in working and finishing the project we started on Friday. The project was to make a viral video that spread awareness of SAS’s GatherIQ program consisting of clean water I’m developing countries. We started by brainstorming ideas for our video, thinking if several options that would make people to want to participate and share in the movement. My group of 3 decided to create a challenge where people would have to plank with a jerry can full of water in their backs. Many young girls in third world countries have to travel for several miles with jerry cans just for water, and we wanted to make the user aware of some of the hardships of these children. We reviewed the idea with the supervisors at SAS and took off to record. We recorded each of us walking with the jerry can and collecting water from a creek to use as B-roll for our video sharing the cause. The thought it was a good idea to make an Instagram video where SAS would donate $1 for every 10 likes the post were to get. After we came back from filming, we ate at the office. Today’s lunch was delivered pizza so that we could work and think on our projects while eating.

After we were finished, we wrote a quick script and proceeded to record our voices for the video’s voiceover. We stated some facts about clean water and reviewed the movement and challenge. We all pitched our final scripts to the SAS supervisors for their approval and started editing. The day concluded with a visit from Dr. Mac just to check in with us and ask how we were doing.

SAS Day 4

SAS Day 4 was different than the other days in that there was no job shadowing. In between this week’s shadowing session and next week’s shadowing session we have two days to brainstorm and come up with a video idea that could become “viral” in explaining about the earth’s lack of clean water. SAS has an app called GatherIQ that consists of informing the public about several world issues at hand. Today we focused on making a section on the app addressing clean water. First, however, we helped the GatherIQ team polish their main website. We went through a given form used to give feedback on every aspect of the website. We not only described what was wrong with it but also time how long each task took. We then all came together and discussed what we liked about the site and what we disliked. After discussing the website, we went to eat lunch at building R. They had a whole burger bar where they made custom burgers and chicken sandwiches. We ate lunch with the whole group for the first time since when we started on Tuesday.

After lunch, we were given the task of making a viral video with about clean water. We split into groups and went though the design thinking process that was explained to us earlier that day. We first brainstormed what makes a video go viral (talent, controversy, celebrity influence, …) and filled the whiteboard full of sticky notes with ideas. We were interrupted midway through our thinking process because it was already 3:00 and time to go. We will probably work on our project over the weekend and continue it the whole day when we get back on Monday.

SAS Day 3

Day 3 at SAS included more in-depth interviews within the marketing field as well as exploration of other fields relating to marketing. I first met with designers that created the booths for the SAS Global Forum conference, which included several hubs where SAS could display their work and products to potential clients. Each hub has a booth that had to be coherent with each other and look unified. The designers ran me through their design process from start to finish; starting off in creating visuals in Adobe Illustrator, putting the panels together I’m Adobe InDesign, and making a 3D model of each booth in SolidWorks. Meeting with more than one designer that had the same job gave me a good idea of how individual style affects a given task. After that, we went to a meeting room where we met many creators and designers that showed us posters, mugs, T-shirts, stickers, and anything that contained a SAS logo or a clever catchphrase. We all discussed each piece of artwork and said what we thought of each one. For the past two days, I have gone to a different building to eat lunch, and today was no different. We ate lunch at the beautiful building R which had a completely different set of foods, including rice and refried beans, burgers, pizza, and an assortment of desserts. At SAS any employee can go to any of the massive and diverse dining halls and get completely different meals and environments.

After lunch, we explored other buildings outside marketing, starting with the Film production building. First, we went to the theater where we saw all the behind-the-scenes technology that went into a live panel in front of an audience. We then went to a soundproof movie studio, which was among the only 3 studios of its kind in North Carolina. Instead of working with a private company to shoot ads or make videos, SAS has a profesional-grade movie studio comparable to those at Hollywood. After, we went to the sound branch, where there were several employees that worked only on perfecting the sound on the countless voice-overs and videos that SAS shoot. Even though SAS has nothing to do with audio and video, they have a complete, professional-grade audio and video branch in their company. Finally, we went to the printing and cutting sector where SAS made all of their premium-grade books, manuals, panels, stickers, shirts, and anything that the designers created. Again, SAS does all the printing through the company itself instead of through an independent company. The printing warehouse included several complex printers and machines that could do anything from printing onto metal sheets to making sculptures and cutouts. The third day at SAS showed me where the designers’ work goes after creating a graphic and how it is developed to the customers’ needs.

SAS Day 2

Day 2 at SAS gave me a glance at what several people in the workplace do every day. The first hour was split into shadowing 2 people for 30 minutes. Evan was a marketing writer and Trey was a marketing editor. They both ran us through past and current projects and told us why they preferred editing over writing and vice versa. We then spent an hour shadowing Beth Satterfield which showed us several of her projects at SAS like all the times she went at Disney for fair to sell products from SAS. She showed me pictures from her booth and showed us the process in creating a booth that would grab someone’s attention by linking it to Disney or whatever their customers’ interests are. She also told me about many tips on getting a job, like maintaining contacts with people I meet, sending thank you letters after interviews, and being kind to everyone since they can provide opportunity in the future. After beefing with Beth, I went to eat lunch with everyone I met today and the day before. The lunch room was a different lunchroom than yesterday but was also huge and offered a broad variety of foods from around the world.

I then went with my host, Leah, to look at many of the work/life centers like the gym, pool, meditation garden, daycare facility, library, and many other facilities that were offered by SAS. Finally, we spent some time in the design lab where we explored many of the collaboration spaces filled with sticky notes and many variations of buttons, links, and drop down menus that are found in a website or app. We didn’t spend too much time there because I will be shadowing people at the design lab next week. I am glad that I was able to shadow so many people and get to see so many professions within the same branch of SAS and am excited for my last day in the marketing field.

SAS Day 1

Working at SAS today gave me a general overview about the environment and community of the workplace. We started with a presentation about SAS to introduce us to the company, noting its relevance in the world and its work “behind the scenes” in almost all of the Fortune 500 companies. We watched videos on the different uses of SAS programs and the outlook of the company from the employees’ point of view. We then went to one of their many lunchrooms which had an assortment of foods (sushi, sandwiches, pizza, and global dishes) and discussed the presentation with our peers and the person that gave the presentation.

After, we broke out into our individual interest-based fields; for me, it was marketing. I shadowed someone called Ms. Sundheim who was very thorough in showing me the community and we walked around meeting people in the marketing field and talked to us about what each of them did. I found that to be a great introduction to that specific branch of SAS since I was able to get a good understanding of the environment. We finally finished in her office, where she showed us some previous projects her team had worked on and asked us for some advice and help in thinking about ideas for her next project.

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