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Starring: Dave
School: Syracuse University
Grad Year: 2009
Intern: 2008 Undergraduate Technology Associate, Disney Online, Technology
I chose DIMG because it was an opportunity to work with a creative and technically advanced company. I knew I would be working on exciting, relevant projects while gaining an understanding of a successful entertainment company.
My role this past summer was a Technology Intern for DIMG. Working alongside another intern, my job was to conceptualize, plan, and execute real software projects that would improve the efficiency of the development teams. I was given the trust and responsibility of a full time employee while working as an intern. It was not the stereotypical internship experience, we were taken very seriously and our feedback made a difference.
DIMG provided me with a creative and fun working environment where it was easy to stay motivated. My team consisted of passionate developers who were always eager to help. I was amazed by how accessible and approachable everyone was; we had access to the top-level executives of the company.
I spent most of the summer working on a project to bridge the gap between different devices and platforms, allowing software developers to code for one audience and deliver to multiple. The technologies I developed were submitted for three patent applications and continue to live on through their use in company projects.
After graduation, I hope to return to Disney to begin my career. I have a passion for technical innovation and emerging technologies, and working for Disney encouraged me to explore ways to leverage these to improve the company.
I had an incredible experience. While adding real value to the company, I was also able to learn and grow professionally through my internship. The internship program consisted of activities and networking events to meet other interns and employees throughout the company.
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Starring: Vickie
School: University of Michigan
Grad Year: 2010
Intern: 2008 Undergraduate Ad Sales Associate, Disney Online
I love the Disney brand and I was eager to get involved with interactive media. I also wanted to explore marketing and advertising, so my position as an Ad Sales intern for Disney Online was the perfect opportunity.
My role was to help the New York ad sales team as much as possible. This meant assisting with media planning projects, as well as helping account executives and sales associates with smaller tasks. I attended all staff meetings and provided input when I could. Additionally, I was assigned to help the advertising research team in California.
I had several different projects throughout my internship. I worked with a media planner and helped her develop media plans for Disney's East Coast clients. Every day, I had to make sure that all proposals were renewed, or cancelled if necessary. Each week, I prepared a report to the entire ad sales team of all the sales that closed that week. I also worked with revenue operations and various members of the New York ad sales team. My major project involved working with research analysts in California to research 27 of Disney's online advertising clients or prospective clients.
My favorite project was to create research decks for 27 of Disney's online advertising clients or prospective clients. This included researching financial information, brand information, marketing strategies, current advertising spending, and more. It spanned the entire summer. I was given a lot of authority to structure the research decks and find the best way to get my research done. I learned how to use many research databases.
Disney treated me like a coworker rather than a college intern - I had a lot of projects and real work to do that actually made an impact on the company. The best part of my internship was being involved with projects all over the United States. The ad sales team also has offices in Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco and Burbank. I loved working in New York City, but it was also exciting to fly to Burbank twice during the summer - once for orientation and again to finish my project with the research team in Burbank and make a final presentation to Disney executives!
I enjoy spending time with friends, traveling, trying new things, and swimming. Working in New York City was a lot of fun because there are so many new places to explore and new things to try!
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Starring: Matthew
School: University of Pennsylvania
Grad Year: 2007
Intern: Sports Engineering Intern, ESPN - Bristol
My biggest attraction to Disney was the opportunity to work for ESPN. During my internship with ESPN I had an opportunity to work on many projects. As part of the Sports Engineering group in Bristol, I worked on updating how we handled our data streams coming in from all around the continent. It was a fascinating look into how the data originated with stringers in various stadia and arenas, how it was encoded for use, sent to our servers and then processed and put up on ESPN.com, where millions of people per day would see it. Partly because of my contributions, ESPN.com replaced their system at the time with a more robust one that resulted in fewer errors in our reporting of live scores. It was extremely satisfying to be able to affect something of such a large scale and to see the fruits of the project displayed on such a prominent venue.�
I enjoyed participating in Disney�s summer basketball league, and sharing lunches and dinners with other interns and managers with DIMG. All of these different activities gave me a sense of community.
I accepted a role with Disney Interactive Media Group in December 2008 as a Software Engineer for the Seattle ESPN team.
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Starring: Anuja
School: Carnegie Mellon
Grad Year: 2008
Intern: 2008 Graduate Associate, Creative Development Department, Disney Interactive Studios
I chose to work for the Disney Interactive Media Group for several reasons. When searching for internships, I was looking for a game design internship that would allow me to be highly creative without having to have a technical or programming background. I especially liked the Think Tank internship because it allowed me to combine my background of educational psychology, entertainment technology, and game design with my interest in casual console games and making games for kids. Finally, I've always been a fan of Disney. As a kid, their characters and stories inspired my creativity and sparked my imagination, and I wanted to help create those experiences I for other kids through my favorite medium: games.
As a game design intern, the tasks I worked on varied from day to day. My main job was to write design documents containing information such as the genre, target audience, back story, and in-game features. Typically I would meet with my team to brainstorm high-level ideas such as choosing a genre or platform. We would also research and play games that were similar to the game we were going to make. From there, I would work with game producers to write a short PowerPoint pitch, and work with the artists so that they could convey my designs in a visual way. If approved, we would continue adding to the design document. The goal of this document was to explain all the information a potential developer would need to start making our game. I also had the opportunity to write and pitch my own game ideas, and provide feedback and play-test games currently in production at DIMG.
While most of my projects were focused on writing design documents, I received the unique opportunity to help play-test an innovative Wii game called "Ultimate Band" -- a rhythm-based music game that lets players join a rock band, play different instruments, and perform rockstar moves. I enjoyed seeing my feedback incorporated into the newer builds of the game, and it was especially cool to see the game morph from a difficult and broken prototype to a polished and fun game.
What I enjoyed the most about my internship was the satisfaction in knowing that all of the work I did mattered. It was gratifying to be able to apply all of the skills that I had learned in school to the real world, and see the results of my work being used in games that I am now able to buy on a retail store shelf. There was no serving coffee or making photocopies here. Furthermore, I always felt like I was a part of the team, and I enjoyed working with talented co-workers who were just as passionate about making good games as I was. I still keep in touch with them today.
In my free time I love playing video games, of course! I also like going out with my friends and exploring the city. I moved to Los Angeles for my internship, and I love that there is something going on in the city all the time. Other hobbies include playing tennis, hiking, doing crafts, watching movies, volunteering with Disney VoluntEARS, and relaxing at the beach.
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