Hello!
I am Ryan Tinkelman, a rising junior at Pitt’s business school. I am majoring in business analytics and business information systems and minoring in computer science to compliment my majors. Data analytics truly excites me and I believe it is a great pathway to new professional opportunities for myself and every organization that uses them effectively. It is most definitely the career path I see myself going down.
Another thing about me is I’ve always wanted to travel and become more worldly. I believe it can be a fulfilling experience that broadens our understanding of the world. Therefore, I’m incredibly excited for my opportunity this week to start an internship I have in Dublin, Ireland. There, I’ll be completing a two month long internship with a Dublin based analytics company, patientMpower. They utilize analytics to help people taking their lung tests at home. Using the info from just the patients blowing in their device, patientMpower can monitor a number of lung diseases that the patient is afflicted with. This obviously is not resource or time intensive, so it can drastically reduce outpatient costs and time. However, the insights and predictions need to be correct. For this reason, I am mildly nervous, but it also makes me much more motivated knowing that I can truly be helping people in ways they need it.
When I saw this program at Pitt, I was immediately intrigued. While I truly did want to travel and study abroad, I also didn’t want to miss an entire semester at college. Seeing that the IIP program took place during the summer was what first grabbed my attention, but what really sold me was that I would have an experienced company placing me into an attractive internship overseas that I was passionate about. EUSA is the placement company, and their sole job is to make our time here valuable and comfortable, and so far they have done a swell job. Lastly, I chose Dublin because I wanted to feel at home, and not like a tourist, while abroad for such a long time. Not knowing the main language for Berlin or Madrid felt strange.
I hope to develop myself in three main ways during my time here in Ireland. My first learning objective is to immersive myself in my internship and increase my proficiency in the soft and hard skills it requires and teaches. I am incredibly grateful that I have an internship that revolves around data science, although I still have an incredible amount and passion to learn in both computer science and business information systems. My second objective is to grow my global knowledge. I have been out of the country once, and have little knowledge on the cultures and nuances of other regions. Yet this opportunity goes even deeper for me. I view it as a continuation of the learning of other people that college is giving me. Growing up in an upper-middle class suburbia of Northeastern PA, I was incredibly sheltered. While Ireland is not that different demographically, the European practices and subtleties that I learn and appreciate (both in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe if I travel like I hope to) will simply continue to broaden my horizons and increase my acceptive behaviors. In a very practical sense it is beneficial too. Being more comfortable with other peoples and their different culture and business practices allows me to be a more versatile business leader. My third objective is to build a strong network while in the country. This opportunity is truly unique, and even if I am able to revisit this area, cultivating strong relationships with international businesspeople in my field would not be likely to occur again. I’ve already started too, I work expos during the summer and have found some Dublin based people there who were happy to give me advice and insight about what I should and should not do while abroad.
Years ago my grandmother had delved deep into our ancestry, and today I know I am a fourth Irish from my descendants from County Cork. Since then I have been excited to one day see the place and the people that are a part of me. I never would have thought I’d be going to stay in that country for two months, much less for an exciting internship! I have only heard good things about the people and places In Ireland, and I know that if I put in the effort I can take away a lifetime of stories as well as invaluable work experience and personal insights.