Education is at the heart of SESLOC Credit Union. After all, we were founded in a desk drawer at Cal Poly with the goal of offering equitable access to money for all our members. In continuing traditions, SESLOC’s fourth internship cycle brought on four Cal Poly students over the summer to learn hands-on about our operations and work on practical projects to benefit our membership, develop professional skills, and gain experience while building their portfolios. Here’s a glimpse of what our interns worked on over the past three months.
Amanda Chan and Ellie Pearson: Systems Development Interns
Amanda is a fourth-year Computer Engineering major, while Ellie is a third-year Computer Science major. They joined SESLOC’s systems development team to work on several programming and research projects. Behind the scenes, they developed code to automate parts of the member experience to optimize engagement and performed research on increasing speed in uploading documents and new ID scanners which will improve security.
During my internship, I got to work closely with a great team and learn how to communicate with stakeholders from different departments. I dove deeper into the software development life cycle (especially security and compliance) and learned how to navigate existing codebases that utilized new frameworks and libraries. I also picked up some finance tips and made memories bonding with the other interns!
-Amanda Chan
From a technical perspective, I have gained experience working with a range of technologies relevant to my field, including automation processes, frontend libraries, and development tools. Additionally, collaborating with multiple stakeholders throughout the software development lifecycle has enhanced my communication and project management abilities. SESLOC also offered opportunities to enhance my understanding of personal finance and how financial institutions operate, which has been highly informative.
-Ellie Pearson
Bhupinder Singh: Cybersecurity Intern
Bhupinder joined SESLOC’s internship program as a Cal Poly MBA candidate with the goal of understanding business operations in cybersecurity. His projects focused around improving the audit matrix to prepare for a full IT audit, and work through current security protocols to improve response time on events to increase visibility of potentially malicious activities. He was also instrumental in educating the SESLOC team on “Quishing” attacks, where a QR code is compromised to direct users to fraudulent websites designed to steal personal information or malware downloads.
“It was really nice to work at another co-op, and SESLOC clearly holds ups the value of co-ops and making sure all decisions are made by keeping the “member first” mentality. It was an excellent opportunity for me to gain hands on experience with cybersecurity and the security tools that SESLOC uses.”
-Bhupinder Singh
Ava Donaldson: Marketing & Graphic Design Intern
Ava is a third-year Graphic Design student at Cal Poly, who came to SESLOC with the goal of learning how to work within objective guidelines and improve her personal finance knowledge. During her time, she not only worked on branded graphics, but also used her creativity to inspire new designs for stickers, announcements, and eye-catching ATM screens.
“Working at SESLOC this summer has been so valuable to both my personal and professional growth as a graphic designer. Being part of the marketing team allowed me to witness the entire creative process firsthand, from data and ideation to copywriting, design, and distribution. Gaining insight into how all these pieces fit together has given me a much broader understanding of the role graphic design plays within a larger strategy, something I could never have fully learned in the classroom.”
-Ava Donaldson
The contributions of this intern class have been incredible, and we’re excited to see what they do next both in the classroom and their careers. We would like to thank all of the interns for their hard work this summer and wish them the best on what comes next.