A Change in Plans

Hey guys! I finished my first week of my internship and it was pretty wild. I met the entire staff and they all welcomed me with open arms. Everyone there is extremely nice and respectful, and I can't wait to do more work there. However, the internship is taking a slightly different turn than me or my supervisor initially predicted. So in this post (which will have a similar structure to how future posts will look), I will describe a little bit of what we have been doing, discuss some challenges for the week, and express my joy about any victories that occurred. Let's get started.

So initially, we thought our contribution to the company would be from more of a mathematical standpoint, i.e. designing games and proving that the design is sound. However, the company's new focus has shifted more towards internet gambling and online casinos. For the first day, which was Tues 2/9, I mostly played some previously existing games online and gathered statistics such as frequency of hits, number of bonuses, and the recurrence of advertisements. I am so excited to be part of this process because it could ultimately provide crucial information on how the company should go about developing its games.But yes, if you're wondering, in simple terms, I just have to play lots of games online and basically just write how many times different stuff happens. Pretty chill. If you're interested in what trends I've discovered while playing and if they're helpful or not, there will be more of those in next week's post once I have accumulated more data. 

However, as I continued with the process, I was introduced to another important process: using excel. In hinds sight, I really wished I would have taken Mr. Mac's Excel term project (for those of you who attend my school, you'll get this). What we have to do, is read the game description of a new game, and copy code from other games that will make the new one run as designed. Now this may sound really simple, but it turned out to be really difficult and super detail-oriented. There were specific numbers I had to copy in specific places, and use a chart to turn specific letters into specific numbers, and then those specific numbers back into different specific letters, and specific orders that I had to do the specific steps in, and specific layouts the excel documents had to be in, or the programmers would have to specifically redo all the work and rewrite it in a specific way that suits their specific needs. And I had to learn it in a pretty short time frame, because everyone has work they got to do, so watching over my shoulder for every step was just impractical...

But it was alright. My supervisor has been very understanding and has told me repeatedly that during this transitional process, he will be happy to answer any questions I have. I am so lucky to be surrounded by so many patient and intelligent people. I do not want to let the team down, and I hope that my contributions will make a beneficial impact on the company. Now that I've talked about what I've been doing, I just want to take a few moments to discuss the challenges and victories--the highlights, so to speak. 

Challenges: I could not find the place on the first day! I knew this was a possibility so I arrived where my MapQuest told me to go 20 minutes early. But, as fate would have it, my MapQuest was incorrect. I parked in some free underground parking near the mall and wandered the area trying to find the office. Eventually, a yoga teacher in one of the suites noticed that I looked lost, and asked what I was trying to find. She had the directory on her iPad and pointed me in the right direction. Turns out I was at the wrong side of the intersection. 

Also, quite humorously I might add, when I finally got to the correct building and went up the elevator, the fifth floor was under construction. So when I was walking out of the elevator, I took a wrong step and had my right foot go partially through the floor up to my ankle. Luckily, my partner Armin was there to provide me emotional support after my embarrassing exhibition of clumsiness. 

Victories: My AP Statistics knowledge really came in handy when it came to testing games. Tests like z tests and binomial cdfs came up and I was so happy that I took the class in high school. I felt so accomplished being able to understand what my supervisor was talking about. I anticipate that other knowledge from my classes will also prove fruitful!

Thank you so much for reading my post! I look forward to letting you know more about my adventures. Hopefully next time I will have accumulated enough data to give some tips on how to win more while gambling!