Cooper Brown
Could you describe your role and responsibilities during your Santec Internship?
During the internship, Olivia and I worked on a comprehensive analysis of Santec’s website and social media presence, researching what kind of content the company created for its social platforms and what competitors in similar industries were producing. Based on our findings, we made mockups of future posts for platforms such as LinkedIn and X to demonstrate what our suggestions might look like if implemented. I also took photos of office architecture and product demonstrations for recruiting materials, as well as portraits of team members for upload onto a company website.
What were a few of the highlights from your internship experience?
Some of my favorite moments from the internship involved company experiences where we had a chance to learn more about the photonics industry and the practical implementation of the company’s products and technology. One day, we made a trip to Chūbu University, where Professor Hironobu Fujiyoshi showed us a robot that could estimate the relative position of objects in a 3D space from 2D images – this type of robot would be used to stock shelves in a konbini (Japanese convenience store). On site, we made a visit to the cleanroom, a laboratory where many microscopic optical components are manufactured, and had to wear full protective gear to prevent any dust particles from entering the space. Lastly, on what the company calls, “Learning Friday” – a periodic event where employees are given half the day off to study a specific subject – we gathered with coworkers to experience simple photonics (light science) demonstrations, such as putting together our own kaleidoscopes.
What was the most challenging aspect of your internship, and how did you overcome it?
One of the most challenging tasks was acclimating to the deep tech space and trying to get a better sense of what the company did as a non-STEM major, while simultaneously overcoming language and cultural barriers in the Japanese office environment. Being involved in product demonstrations and company experiences most certainly helped to build my knowledge of the former, but I would say the biggest key to my success was staying humble, while not getting discouraged, with regard to practicing Japanese. I would often misunderstand or misinterpret a situation because of my lack of fluency, but I found that my efforts to engage with others in the language were universally met with positive feedback, no matter how limited my communication was. After accepting that my mistakes and occasional cultural missteps were a natural part of the language-learning process, – a realization uniquely afforded through my exposure to a native-speaker environment – I was far more comfortable with simply trying.
In what ways did the internship at Santec contribute to your personal and professional growth?
Because of – and not despite – the unique challenges presented by the internship, I found the experience extremely stimulating in far too many ways to count: from practicing Japanese, to learning about cultural norms in a business setting, to figuring out whether I might be interested in working in marketing, adjacent to the tech industry, or even in an international environment, I have a lot to think about which I’m still processing from my time in Japan. Without a doubt, the exercise of applying a language I am in the process of learning was a fantastic experience, both in the challenge of communicating in an office environment while also trying to make connections with my coworkers. On top of that, being exposed to an unfamiliar industry was an exciting opportunity to test my versatility and ability to learn quickly under pressure. Overall, while I don’t know where my path leads in the future, I’ve come away from my time at Santec grateful to have had the opportunity to engage with so many wonderful people and experiences and I feel well-prepared for wherever my journey takes me next.
