The UCSB IT Internship Program hosted Application Liftoff on October 7, an all-day problem-solving event where six student interns collaborated to code a solution for campus third-party vendor licensing. Leveraging the process improvement knowledge and AWS Cloud Essentials training they’ve garnered throughout their internships, the students strived to create a programming solution that would significantly decrease the amount of time it takes Letters & Science IT (LSIT) staff to identify terminated or separated users who no longer need licenses.
Currently, LSIT manually tracks third-party licenses by comparing active campus users and vendor contracts. Prior to this in-person event, all interns and supervisors met together virtually to define each part of this process, obtain a full view of the scope, and strategize possible improvements to focus on. At the event, each student then shared their perspectives and proposed solutions using the different IT tools they’ve worked with. Edwin Yee, LSIT Business Integrations Intern, presented his work utilizing Python to interact with UCSB’s Identity Services API, while ITS Cloud Solutions Architect Interns Julia Chan and Keya Panchal demonstrated their knowledge of working with Amazon Web Services. By the end of the day, each intern had produced a sketch of code to integrate with Amazon Web Services and developed a proof of concept to quickly identify separated users.
Through events like Application Liftoff, students are provided with opportunities to acquire in-demand technology skills with the support of UCSB IT leadership. Recounting his participation, Yee said, “I thought that this was a fantastic learning opportunity where I could ask questions, gain hands-on experience, and work collaboratively with other interns.” This event, as well as other activities within the internship program, fosters integral relationships between students and IT professionals, creating unique opportunities for growth and professional development beyond a classroom setting.