The first two weeks with our FUTURES have flown by! This week, Nathan, Michael and Jack reflect on their second week at Netsmart.

Nathan Bailey: Cloud Systems Engineer FUTURE

Week two feels like the true beginning. The reason I say this is because this is the week that people start to feel comfortable around each other and when training became more of a guided hands-on experience than a lecture. I am part of the CloudSystems Engineering team and I particularly work in the Netsmart Operations Center. My job mainly consists of answering the tickets clients and associates send in that have to do with hosting services. So far, the tickets I have been assigned to are ones granting access to certain systems, like checkpoint VPN.

Since we are in week two, I thought I’d discuss my experience transitioning from Ohio to Overland Park. Ohio and Kansas aren’t very different but they do have some interesting contrasts. To start off with, the obvious one is that you guys are on Central time and we are on Eastern, so I get an extra hour of sleep, which is awesome (until I go back and lose an hour but we’ll just keep that out of sight, out of mind for now). I found out that “chicken fried chicken” is not the same thing as “fried chicken” and that you guys have more traffic than I have ever seen in person, but those are just some of the little things. Now I could continue to list things off and give my commentary but I thought that it would be more interesting to talk about the Royals because I just went to my first game.

Now I’m gonna start off and say that the Royals stadium is extremely nice. I was amazed with the how big the screen was when I saw it up close. It was clearly readable from where I sat in the student section which made the experience nicer. Not only was the screen visible but the seats were a good view for 10 dollars, which is one thing I wasn’t expecting. Overall, it was a really good time spent with my fellow FUTURES (about 10 of us went). Although, it is unfortunate in my current environment to be an Indians fan, I have never been to a Cleveland sporting game when they win. So I unintentionally gave the Royals that slight upper hand last night, but I’m not gonna ask for a thank you for that win.

Michael Johnson: Delivery Analyst FUTURE

My first two weeks as a Delivery Analyst FUTURE have made me feel many different ways. I have felt excited from meeting some amazing people and learning about different software, to pretty stressed because of a Capstone I was about to take on! But not to worry, the experience so far has been very fun and engaging.

Coming into this internship, I can honestly say I didn’t have the clearest idea of what I would be doing. I knew Netsmart was in the medical IT solutions industry. I knew that this internship would be great experience for my Information Systems/Business Administration degree I will be receiving. However, I did not know exactly what my role would entail. I did not know if the training would be overly rigorous or not. I did not know if I would dread coming to work every day because of my coworkers or instructors. But, in order to get where you want to go in life, you have to be willing to take on different experiences, even if those experiences seem frightening.

So, with that said, I can gladly say that I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of my Netsmart experience so far! The training, although challenging, has been very rewarding and I’ve enjoyed everything I have learned so far. All my coworkers and instructors are amazing people and make coming into work every day so enjoyable. If such a positive experience can come from the first two weeks of all-day training, I cannot wait to see what lies ahead in the next eight weeks!

Jack Moore: Software Engineer FUTURE

 It hasn’t even been two weeks in, and the engineering FUTURES have already hit full stride. Many of us have already submitted our first assignments to review. It won’t be long until the our work goes to production, if it isn’t there already. In addition to the work we’ve already completed, we’ve also been busy with a number of great events.

Last week, we traveled downtown and spent an afternoon in downtown Kansas City eating pizza at Il Lazzarone, and trying to escape from Breakout KC (which we all failed at). The Great River FUTURES had a great time as well, being their first time in Kansas City. Unfortunately, they can’t spend all summer in Overland Park, and had to return to Long Island. They’re a great group and we look forward to meeting up with them again soon.