Final Week

It was the final week of my internship and I have to say. The experience was fun while it lasted. I thank Rick Estrada and the whole MyTek team for letting me intern at their company. Last Saturday, I was able to build my desktop after gathering the parts the Saturday before that. This is a picture of the parts I bought.

That mat over there is a grounder. It makes sure any stray static will not fry or toast the processor while I connect it into the motherboard.

For my GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), I chose the EVGA GeForce GTX 960. This thing is a monster when it comes to cooling, performance, and power efficiency. It has a Memory MOSFET
Cooling Plate that reduces temperatures up to 11 Celsius (51.8 Fahrenheit) and Straight Heat Pipes to reduce GPU temperature by another 5 Celsius (41 Fahrenheit). It also has fans which turns on when the GPU hits 60 Celsius (140 Fahrenheit) and from my experience with the desktop, I can play Skyrim with ultra settings and the fan does not have to work as hard. Best of all, the fan delivers more air flow with less power so it doesn't take too much from the GPU.

I used the Intel Core I7-4790 Haswell Quad-Core. The reason why I chose the i7 rather than the i5, which was sufficient enough to handle a gaming desktop, was so I can take advantage of its hyper-threading capabilities. Since I'm going to attend University of Utah for their game design program, hyper-threading is important because it allows the computer to multitask. Tasks like 3D rendering and video editing are great examples. 

I chose the Gigabyte brand from the others because of its durability, aside from its ability to support my 4th generation processor.

I chose the Antec VP-450 450W ATX as my desktop's power supply.

I chose this Antec ISK 600 to be my case, mainly because it would be easy to carry around, which is why I did not get a tower sized case. Though I lose the ability for easier modifications; the inside is spacey, but from all the parts I got, it unfortunately doesn't have any more room left.

Instead of choosing whether to use fan or water cooling. I choose both using Corsair Hydro Series H75 to cool my CPU. Best part of it all is that the loudest sound the fan will make is 31.4 dB, quieter than a whisper. It also has copper plating in the bottom which draws in heat, making it able to transfer heat from the CPU into itself while the liquid cooling itself chills it down.

For my RAM (Random Access Memory), I chose the Patriot Signature Line for its storage, auto/self refresh capability, and its heat shield. One of the problems I had to make sure to take account was cooling, if you notice, I made sure most of my parts can withstand heat. Each one has 8 GB of storage, giving me 16 GB in total.

For my Storage Memory, I chose the AMD brand Radeon R7 which stores up 240 GB.

I chose not to include an optical drive inside of my desktop, but instead I have this. It connects to my desktop via USB. It helped me download the Windows 7 Operating system and other updates.

I chose Windows 7 instead of Windows 8 because I find it better just keeping things simple rather than have the Windows 8 interface start up like my laptop does. I barely even use the applications the Windows 8 has to offer.

The rest of the photos is just me building the desktop to completion.

Week Nine

Once again Rick tried helping us be confident on our public speaking skills last Tuesday. Personally, I would prefer not to speak out loud to an audience, especially a presentation. Did you all know public speaking is actually second in terms of most common fears? Knowing this fact now actually relaxes me. Before we started our day in the office, Rick told Rohan and I that we were going to present our research projects without the aid of a power point in a coffee house. Lots of thoughts rushed in my head as I was worried what might happen if I messed up. To my relief, we were just going to present outside where it was relatively empty; it was the weekday so most were either at work or at school. When it was my turn to present, I was surprised by how much I improved: mumbling less (the wind blew occasionally so I had to raise my voice), standing straight, and had my thoughts organized.

Week Eight

So far this week has just been focused around honing our presentation skills, especially Tuesday. Rick encouraged us to try to convince and engage our audience. Anyone can do research on any of our projects, but what makes them special are the methods we use. Sure, we could have just followed through from research or articles in the past, but even the little modifications that we implemented are still worth noting. Other than that, he also advised us to maintain eye contact to the audience with a comfortable posture. After Rick advised us, we were assigned to make a list in Excel for new clients with their first name, last name, email address, phone number, street, and zip code. When that was done, we emailed the list to him and went on to prepare about six desktops for one of MyTek's clients.We had to update the computer first before downloading LogMeIn; this is so MyTek can easily access the client's computer to make any changes or guide them if they had a problem. Then, once it finished, we had to create a new user on the desktop and also enabled Microsoft Office with a key pass, both of which would be used by one of the client's employees. On Thursday, we went on to MyTek East and were allowed to use the whole day to work on our Senior Research Project. The wifi in the office was down, but at least I had my phone just in case I need to look something up.

Week Seven

Rick brought us to Phoenix NAP; a data center containing hundreds of servers from multimillion dollar companies such as COX kept safe by high-level security systems and ex-military personal. Thanks to Mike Berry for being our tour guide throughout the morning. The cables that powered each server were suspended along the ceiling. Each server along a row were aligned in order to keep the heat to one side, letting the ceiling vent it out while cool air was blasted from the bottom. They of course had a generator to power the whole set up, but in order to keep the servers from shutting down, they had another to back it up. If that fails and somehow all forms of electricity were shut down, a 24 hour fuel generator quickly turns on. All the servers contain information that are valuable to each individual company, if the servers shut down, money is potentially lost. The best thing about Arizona for data centers is that fact that natural disasters rarely happen here. Sure the cooling price might be steep, but that cost is a whole lot better than losing millions all because of nature.

Week Six

We started honing our presentation skills on Tuesday. Rick, trying to keep us comfortable while we spoke, advised us. He wanted us to walk side to side while looking at the imaginary audience then later walked around the conference room table as we presented. He wanted us to know that when we actually present, we can utilize the stage we're given once May presentations come. If speaker is comfortable talking, then the audience is comfortable with him. Other than completing the draft power point, Rick wanted me to work on projecting my voice; I tend to mumble my words. Before the whole practice, we attended another Arizona Tech Council hosted by KnowledgeNet. I noticed during their presentation, there was humor sprinkled along; it seemed to keep the guests relaxed. They presented an online tutoring system with tutors ready to answer questions for people looking to be ITs as an occupation.

Thursday, I was using my time to search up parts for the computer I will be building in the other location: MyTek East. Rohan and I also attending another meeting and witnessed one of the employees designing a page of a website using CSS for a client. 

Week Five

Hello once again readers! I have arrived back from Boston after having a vacation with the family. On both Tuesday and Thursday I attended the same site at Mytek North. As presentations at May are closing in, Rick is preparing to instruct us on our presentation skills. An added benefit of having him as our mentor, Rick learned from Toastmasters, an educational organization that helps its members hone their their leadership, communication, and public speaking skills. To prepare us, Rick instructed us to first create our power point draft and present to him.

On Tuesday, the three of us went to another Arizona Tech. Council meeting. This time it was about company organization. Although it did not pertain to both Rohan and I on account of our projects, attending there still gave us an opportunity to watch the presenter closely to see what she did well and what she did not. We noticed that she was reading her power point word for word, which is not what she should done. What she should have down was use those points to expand upon rather than what she did. The audience can easily read the power point themselves; it was just up to explain more into it. That was a major weak point that Rick pointed out to us as we rode back.

Thursday Rohan and I were supposed to make our power points. However through some miscommunication, he and I instead tried to help out and learn from the employees around the office. Around noon, we were both stationed to listen into calls. The majority of calls regarded changing passwords because the employee either forgot or the employee is no longer working there.

Week Four

Thursday I didn't attend my internship because of a doctor's appointment I had. However, I did attend on Tuesday. In the morning, Rick began to teach us a bit about presenting. Rohan and I presented for two minutes. Afterwards, we spoke with him individually about our strong suits and our weaknesses. I knew I was lucky to have Rick as a mentor, but that day I felt appreciative about what he does for us and the advice he gives us. Each Tuesday, from now, on we will be practicing our presentation skills. Then we were treated to speak with Kasim Aslam; he specializes in getting business's names in one of the first search results in Google. They have a certain algorithm in organizing how each site is ordered. Companies used to purposefully leave a blank space so they can leave keywords in the bottom and change the color of the text to the same one as the background like this so they would be able to pop up at the top. Kasim told us about his life and how became successful and own a company at a young age. If there was one thing we can take away from the whole experience, I would say the inspiration he provided us. Not only that, but the potential connection that was established. If I need help at anything related to his field or even if I knew someone who has a problem that he can help with, I know I can count on him.

Right now, I will be relaxing on my break with my relatives.

Week Three

This Tuesday we continued on imagining computers; the process is pretty much disk cloning, in which the contents of one computer's hard disk is transferred into another hard disk. This so the computer afterwards would have the same content as the 'maternal' computer. We imagined about twelve computers. That day, there was no meeting for us to attend in the Arizona Technology Council. Nearing the end of the day, we had to proofread a contract for another potential client for the company.

On Thursday, we were assigned in the morning to work on our blogs and projects. Soon, I will be getting the materials to start actually building a computer. Some time before lunch, Roshan and I were tasked to test this new website they made for their clients for any bugs. There were a couple as in the banner would appear twice when a recruiter would try get someone to join the site. Another was when we were trying to sign up to see if there were any bugs there, the site did not care what email was being used as long as it had "@" and .com, .org, .net, .anything. In addition to that, the birth date as well seemed to be over looked when it seemed someone that's just born today could be allowed to the site. However, we understood since the customer was on a budget. After we reported the problems, we want back into looking for more but there were no more major bugs.

Week Two

Tuesday was more eventful than the first. Throughout the day Rohan and I were imaging new desktops, basically replicating the maternal hard disk into fresh computers so it would have the same updates. In total we were able to do twenty-three computers, however, our supervisor taught us how to download the updates and how to check them on one of the computers. In midday, that was momentarily stopped for Rick to bring us to another Arizona Tech. Council meeting. That Tuesday, it was about data centers. Data centers are especially important for corporations who need to store, process, or distribute an enormous amount of data. Now why would this pertain to gaming? Well, if you're into MMOs (Massively Multiplayer Online) or MOBAs (Massive Online Battle Arena), those servers you connect to are within data centers. Your character's progress, level, equipment, pets, mounts, or what have you are stored there. All you need to do is give your username and password then voila, your character is displayed right as you left it. Arizona is ideal for these data centers to be built because natural disasters rarely happen. Heatwaves and monsoon seasons are the worse that could happen. Fans is a must for these centers; without them, these servers would shut down. After the meeting, we went back to continue imaging.

On Thursday, the whole day was dedicated to working on our SRP projects and our blogs. So I had this all pre-typed before I posted.

The First Week

So far my week as been fairly interesting for the most part. Rick advised us, for the first week, to just watch and learn. There were no hands-on experience just yet and to be honest, I was pretty nervous in the first day and the meeting in the Arizona Technology Council. Though the amiable environment helped me relax as I knew there were people to help.

My first day on Tuesday was eventful in MyTek North. At the start, Rohan, my intern partner, and I met up with Rick who set up what we're supposed to do; on the side he also ordered us to proofread a contract which he gave to a company on Wednesday. Then, we met up with Mike Zeigler who oversees Tech Support, and brought us to the conference room. There showed us how he monitors and supports both his clients and his employees by using LogMeIn and ConnectWise. Afterwards, we met up with Rick once again who brought us to an Arizona Technology Council meeting where every company who's subscribed to join meets up with one another and advertise anything new happening in their company; there we also had lunch provided by the company hosting at the time. When we headed back, we finished up showing Rick with the improvements we suggested for the contract before we met with Jennifer Zima, who oversaw the Call Center. She, along with Mike, oversees how many agents can receive a call. She also contacts freelance agents for any hands on or onsite assistance. Later on, we sat through another meeting with Jennifer and Mike about whether or not this certain person can be billed as he was utilized for so many hours, but those hours couldn't be billed from the client. Then, once Rick came back from his meeting, he pulled us out of the conference room and wrapped up the day.

The second day was fairly uneventful in MyTek East. For the first few hours, we were made to work on our blogs. Then afterwards we were invited to the conference room to sit in as Melissa, the project manager, and Brydon, one of the employees, helped one of their clients via call. The project was on so we could see what the clients were pointing out. Then after we had lunch, I had Chiptole while Rohan had Taco Bell, we sat in another meeting with Chris, a Developer, and Dan, one of the employees as well, on another client who was having trouble with his surveys, kept on saying that questions occasionally repeat and pop up at random places. Afterwards, we just ended from there. Initially they were planning for us to test some coding but, we had no laptops.

Hello World!

Welcome to my blog!

My name is Kenneth Pangilinan, and I am a senior at Basis Scottsdale. In college, I hope to study software engineering in order to join a game design program. However, hardware is also an important factor for someone new to a relatively popular field of work. So for my senior research project, I will be interning in an myTek with my on site mentor, Rick Estrada, as I study and examine what would affect a computer's efficiency on terms of speed, graphics, and heat control. I will also be contacting my adviser, David Truong, reviewing with him what I have learned and asking him question I may have in the future.

Thanks for dropping by,

Kenneth