The Call That Changed Everything
On April 23rd, I got the call. The one every college student dreams of getting.
"Hey Mark, congrats. We'd like to offer you the Software Engineer Internship at Transact + CBORD this summer."
I was speechless for a solid minute. Then I immediately called everyone I knew. It felt unreal. Months of hard work had finally led to something tangible.
A New Perspective on Artificial Intelligence
Now, here I am, on my last day of the internship, looking back at how quickly these ten weeks flew by. Honestly, I didn't expect this experience to change the way I think about tech, especially not artificial intelligence.
When I first started, I had zero interest in artificial intelligence tools. I knew they were trending, but I didn't see the hype. I wasn't curious, wasn't excited, and didn't plan on diving into that world anytime soon. That changed on day one.
The Project
During my first one-on-one, my manager Nathan introduced the main project I would be working on. It focused entirely on artificial intelligence. My task was to build a chatbot that could answer user-specific questions about one of CBORD's core applications, NetMenu, and also pull real-time data from a database.
NetMenu is a tool used by hospitals to manage meal logging, patient dietary information, and daily food service operations.
I was excited about the project, but also a little nervous. Artificial intelligence wasn't my cup of tea at the time. But quitting has never been in my vocabulary, and I wasn't about to back down from a challenge. I spent the next two weeks learning everything I could about artificial intelligence agents, Model Context Protocol, and large language models. I pushed myself to understand the entire workflow from start to finish.
Discovering a Passion for Artificial Intelligence
That's when my interest in artificial intelligence really took off.
The more I learned, the more fascinated I became. I started to see just how powerful this technology is and how much potential it has to solve real-world problems. I went from unsure to fully locked in. I couldn't wait to start writing code and bring the chatbot to life.
Bringing the NetMenu Chatbot to Life
Chatbots seem to be the new go-to feature that every modern site offers. The word artificial intelligence is also everywhere. NetMenu wanted to do the same with their application by adding a chatbot that could answer user questions and also get real-time data.
How was all of this possible? With the help of Artificial Intelligence Agents and Amazon Web Services Bedrock, the NetMenu chatbot was born. Artificial intelligence agents made it possible to handle complex, multi-step queries. We just needed to give the agent the proper documents and application programming interface (API) access in order to do so. Bedrock provided access to powerful AI models and made it easier to integrate them into our system. It also mimicked some of MCP's behavior, allowing us to apply MCP concepts directly to our chatbot.
By creating a powerful artificial intelligence agent, we had a functioning chatbot that was more than just a basic question-and-answer bot. It could deliver accurate, real-time information to users exactly when they needed it.
Facing My Weakness: Presenting
That brought me to the next chapter of this internship: presenting everything I built to the entire team.
Presenting has never been my strongest skill. Public speaking makes me nervous, I tend to talk too fast, and the word "umm" shows up more than I would like. Honestly, this part might have been harder than the actual coding process.
I still remember giving the first dry run of the presentation to Raghav and Eyal, directors of the Software Development Department. It didn't go well. The demo broke midway, which completely threw me off for the rest of the presentation.
But somehow, they still liked it. I was genuinely surprised.
That's when they told me something that stuck with me:
Be more confident in your work, and in yourself when presenting it. Because if you don't believe in what you built, no one else will either.
All of that definitely paid off. After several more dry runs, I eventually gave three full presentations to other developers, the product team, fellow interns, school admins, and more.
Was I still nervous before each one? Absolutely. But I kept reminding myself that the work I put in beforehand, the confidence I chose to bring into the room, and the passion I have for what I love to do would carry me through.
What I Learned
This was without a doubt the best internship I could have asked for before entering my final year at UCSD and starting the search for a full-time role.
I learned what the full life cycle of a software engineer actually looks like, and I completely shifted my mindset around artificial intelligence. More importantly, I gained clarity on what I want to do next.
I now know, without a doubt, that I want to become a software engineer. I can see myself doing this for years to come. The path ahead may not always be clear, but one thing is certain: I'm not going to give up. I will keep learning, stay curious, and continue building with the same passion that got me here.
A Bittersweet Ending
It's a bittersweet moment now that my internship is coming to an end. On one hand, I can finally enjoy the rest of my last summer. On the other hand, there is still so much more I wanted to work on. There are features I could improve, ideas I wanted to explore, and parts of the project I wish I had more time to polish.
Gratitude
I want to take a moment to give a shout-out to the people who helped me throughout this journey:
- Carmelita and Aubriana — thank you so much for running this entire internship program and giving me the opportunity to be part of it.
- Zak Wiatr — even though we only connected recently, you have already been an amazing mentor. Thank you for the career advice and for sharing so much valuable knowledge with me. It has made a huge impact.
- Nathan and Harsha — thank you for being there with me throughout these past 10 weeks. We had our laughs, our struggles, and a lot of fun. Our standups were always the one meeting I genuinely looked forward to each day. I have already told you both how thankful I am, but I truly can't say it enough. You made this summer fly by and turned it into one of the most memorable experiences I could have asked for.
- The entire Transact + CBORD team — for welcoming me, supporting me, and making me feel like part of the team.
Final Thoughts
This wasn't just an internship. It was the starting point of my career as a software engineer.