Mauro – Portfolio #2

My internship experience was unusual, due to Brazilian economic circumstance, but fulfilled since in this program I could learn a lot of aspects that we do not learn in the university. Before this internship program, I had already worked out of the record, helping my father in bank services, cleaning the shop, etc, but formally it was the first time. Therefore on March, 19th 1990, Monday, my first day of work, I was jubilant. My expectation to do an outstanding job was very high. However, when I got there I figured out that something did not add up. It was hard to grasp what was happening. The atmosphere was excrucitaing adverse. The staff was distressed because there were already rumors about lay offs. The reason was the “Plano Collor” that was implemented the Friday before.
In this depicted scenario I began my internship program decided to execute well the target determined by the boss. For instance, he asked me to do a computer program to control the employees’ extra time, even though I had never worked or studied computer language. After a hard time working, reading books, making tests, asking my colleagues, etc., I got it. The final result was well received by my boss because he wanted to have this tool a long time. Before the program it was made manually.
The “Plano Collor” failed aggravating the economic situation. The company had to make reorganization in order to face the crises. This reorganization included lay offs, however I was not fired. On the contrary, in January 1991, I was promoted as an analyst. My boss explained that it occurred due to the fact that besides of an unfriendly environment, I kept focused on my task, demonstrating a pro active approach. He mentioned that all my tasks were well done exemplifying the extra-time program that I had done.
The lesson that I took from this event is that, at any rate, no matter the environment people are facing, the important is to be focused on the job, doing always the best, acting proactively, and thinking outside of the box. Lessons like this we do not have in the university, only the experience teach us.