Internship Experiences & Success Stories

Our internship program provides valuable working experience to high school, college, and vocational students. Moreover, it provides them with an opportunity to network and a better opportunity to land their dream job in their chosen sector. Below are some of the success stories and experiences from some of our former student interns.

MEET
JOSHUAM NOLASCO

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I completed my internship at the Desktop Support area of Clark County Information Technology. I decided to intern in Clark County IT because I have a desire to work in the public/government sector after graduating. The compensation was more than adequate, the learning experience at Clark County is invaluable.

My experience working on projects such as Moves was super informative in what happens around the county year-round and on my day-to-day basis. While being at the county, I handled wiping microcomputers, and imaging new hire computers for our customers.

My supervisor and mentors experience were amazing. All of them were super helpful on transitioning from my schooling into the well-rounded IT position. My mentors were also super helpful on learning the ins and outs of the Government Center IT department. I understood what was expected of me, and I was to be brought onboard as a peer, and I must conduct myself as an employee as well.

The most rewarding responsibility that I had was covering another department which was the Department of Juvenile Justice Services. This was a cool experience as I got to see more of the county.

I feel as if the internship was planned out well and executed thoroughly!

I completed my internship in the Apps Services - Programmers area of Clark County IT. The reason why I decided to intern with Clark County IT was the County's reputation as a good learning environment for interns.

The projects that I worked on were fulfilling because they gave me an opportunity to practically apply my knowledge and skills in technology, programming, and data analysis. My supervisor and mentor were very supportive. They taught me how the processes work and answered all my questions. Moreover, I understood what was expected of me.

My most satisfying responsibilities and tasks were working on Random Forest Forecasting for analyzing Crimes and Employee Attrition in R and Power BI. Also, troubleshooting issues related to the Treasurer's processes and operations.

What I enjoyed the most was being able to develop my skills related to my area of education, understanding the objectives of my internship, and receiving feedback on my progress toward meeting my learning objectives.

MEET
PHILIP MENSAH
Image (1)_Philip Mensah

MEET
CHLOE HAN

I completed my internship in the Application Services/Programming area of Clark County IT.

I had a great experience working on the project thanks to my mentor, and everyone else that supported me when I needed the help. Every day, I came in and if it wasn't clear to me exactly what I needed to work on that day, I'd quickly message my mentor, and he would let me know exactly what I needed to do. My mentor and supervisor were great, and they were very supportive and helpful. They answered all my questions and gave me the feedback that I needed.

If I had to give a recommendation as to what could be done to improve the internship experience, I would say that a more structured training could be great, but the training that was given to me was already good.

The most satisfying part of my responsibilities was designing the check-in/out kiosk to support the Security staff and ensure proper tracking of individuals in the buildings is performed at all times and presenting it to the entire department including management and department heads. This allowed me to develop skills related to my area of education.

Overall, the internship program went very well!

During my internship with Clark County Desktop Support, I got to touch base on a lot of topics and concepts in the environment. Felt good about some topics, other still needed more time with. Daily activities consisted of watching the queue and watching the tech work and helping out when I can and asking lots of questions. I did work a lot on deployments. The last 2-3 month, I was able to very much get involved with projects with some TRP monitor inventory.

Supervisor was there when needed but didn't see often, which was fine, plus there was a change of supervisors. I didn't have a single mentor per se, more of a team of mentors and asking as many question as I can think of to a team. All in all, the team I was a part of were very friendly and helpful. Very knowledgeable group of individuals. Any questions I had were answered or researched on.

For future internships, I would recommend more guidance and structure when starting the internships. I did start my internship during the holidays, so it was rather slow to see action. Once the ball was rolling (after the holidays), I got to be involved in a lot more action and things were becoming clear.

During my internship, I particularly valued the opportunity to develop new skills relevant to my field of study and to receive constructive feedback from my team. Additionally, I found it rewarding to solve problems independently, contribute meaningfully to the team, and handle tasks autonomously. The most fulfilling aspect was managing a user interaction from start to finish, which allowed me to grasp the entire process comprehensively. Witnessing the integration of everything I learned from the team was genuinely exciting. Overall, the last few months of working on multiple tasks were highly satisfying.

MEET
ANDY MENJIVAR

MEET MICHAEL REYES

First of all, I want to say that I am grateful to be in a position to be able to share my experiences with you and everyone else of the journey my career has taken since the opportunity of becoming an intern for Clark County. I would have never pictured myself in a million years to be in the position I am today, and it would not have happened if it weren’t for the opportunity that arose while I was finishing my last semester of college.

I first heard about an internship opportunity for Clark County Election in one of my IS classes at UNLV. Our professor sent an email out of the posting to the entire class, and I figured that I needed some real-world experience and should at least try and apply to get interview practice. The job posting was for a Programmer Analyst Intern – a career path that I had not intended to go towards to be quite honest.

When I showed up to the interview, I was greeted by the warmth and welcome of the Election group. Most notably, now Registrar of Voters, Lorena Portillo was part of the interview panel. She was one of the first interactions I had with County staff, and it brought such a great first impression on who my potential new employer would be. She gave me a call and let me know that I was hired for the internship, and things took off from there.

Within my first few days of starting, I was brought in introduced to fellow co-workers, taught department and County processes, and just felt very welcomed. I earned new mentors from both my manager and the senior PA. They taught me new things, but more importantly, they let me try things. That allowed me to succeed, but more importantly, it allowed me to fail so that I can learn from mistakes. The important thing was that they guided me in the right direction and allowed me to create my own path.

A few months into the internship, I saw a job posting for a Programmer Analyst (PA) I/II in central IT. I brought this up to my manager and told him “I don’t think I am qualified for this.” He stopped me there, and told me that’s not true, and you should absolutely try and apply for this position. He also went out of his way and made phone calls to his contacts in IT to let them know about me and what I can offer.

That gesture really resonates with how the County culture is – we like to build within and raise each other up to our highest potential.

Soon after, I receive a chance to interview for the PA I/II. From the experience I gained working as an intern, I was able to interview well and get a job in IT as a PA I, where I supported the public web site for the County. From there, I grew through the ranks and networked with multiple departments due to the services I supported. I gained even more mentors – my customers, my supervisors, my managers, my DCIOs, and CIOs all supported me to get to the point where I am now. I was offered the opportunity to attend the County’s Management Academy. I was offered the opportunity to attend leadership conferences. And best of all, I was offered the opportunity to lead a team as an Office Administrator (Supervisor).

I am thankful for that internship – I would not have gotten to the point where I am now without it. Surrounded by great mentors right from the beginning with Lorena and Elections to the point where I am now with an awesome leadership crew in IT, it has truly been a life changing opportunity.

I'm Kurtiz Le, and my journey at Clark County IT from intern to a full-time Programmer Analyst has been a remarkable one, driven by my passion for technology. My first experience at CCIT began as a high-school intern in 2017, to which I began honing my web design and development skills, setting the stage for my future.

During my time as a high school intern, I mainly focused on design-based projects, translating modern concepts into reality through mock-ups and wireframes. One notable project was collaborating with the Juvenile Justice Services department in creating TheHarborLV website. The site was built using WordPress, which allowed me to really focus on creating a modern web layout with little to no code.

A few years later, in my last 3 semesters pursuing my B.S. in Computer Science at UNLV, I had another opportunity to return to CCIT, this time as a college intern, where I would transition my focus on programming and web development, which truly defined my journey. During this time not only have I worked on supporting various department applications and learning ASP.NET MVC, but I also assisted in the redesign and redevelopment of the County's MyIntraNET, the main hub for 27+ Clark County departments. These experiences played a pivotal role in propelling me into a full-time Programmer Analyst here at Clark County IT, a transition I am excited about as I continue to build upon my foundation in programming and embrace new challenges.

MEET KURTIZ LE

MEET MEISAM

When I started my internship, I was fortunate to have only one course left to graduate and had already gained relevant experience from previous degrees and jobs. This allowed me to focus more on my internship and I worked shorter hours every day that increase my learning ability.

Although I had significant technical experience, I realized that it was not enough. To set myself apart from other candidates, I identified obstacles and what I needed to improve/learn. For example, I had zero knowledge about the Election department, so I prioritized learning more about business process flows, vendors, rules, terminology, and different components. I did not hesitate to ask for help, sacrifice more hours out of work to prepare, or ask more intelligent questions during work hours.

When I started, three employees with significant roles were about to leave the Election department. Although it created more challenges for me, it also presented great opportunities for knowledge transformation and higher responsibilities. Visualizing myself in the big picture in the next 30 years and with supportive management, it motivated me to work hard and prove my capable potential. Management recognized my efforts and guided me to reach my full potential by sharing experiences and following success blueprints.

I am grateful for being part of the big Clark County family where every day is a new learning opportunity with wonderful people from diverse backgrounds. It makes me happy to have the opportunity to serve the Las Vegas community.

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Internship Experiences & Success Stories

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