Week One

Accomplishments: This week I accomplished a total of 32 hours as I became acclimated with the staff and the different applications I was introduced to at the Fireman’s Hall Museum.  Two of the applications I have been working with this week are the Volusion and Fogbugz applications.  Volusion is a cloud based application that hosts internet sales.  It serves as a web store and shopping cart for the Fireman’s Hall Museum’s gift shop internet transactions as well as an in-house system used to check out customers.  I was able to learn how the checkout process at the register works by shadowing the gift shop manager, Nancy.  In doing this, I became familiar and more knowledgeable of the technology used.  I also became aware of some of the technical issues being faced at the register.  One of the issues was with adding tax to items being purchased in the store.  Nancy had to manually add the tax before every transaction in order for it to be applied.  I plan to speak with the 3rd party host, Volusion, to have them help me troubleshoot the issue.  I was also able to work with her on the gift shop website, firemanshallstore.com, learning my way around the site and how to process orders online and prepare them for shipment.  This enabled me to learn more about the application further than what it actually does and the purpose it serves.  I managed to also become familiar with the Fogbugz application.  Fogbugz will basically be an application I use to keep track of certain tasks that need to be handled and resolve any inquiries that need to be resolved.  As I began learning more about the different types of software that exist at the firehouse, I began updating The Fireman’s Hall Museum Technical Support Guide (a guide the staff at the museum use when facing technical difficulties) with more information on the programs.

Highlights from the week:

• I had the opportunity to shadow in on a conference meeting at The Philadelphia Contributionship with my supervisor.  Although it was very difficult to understand the discussion, it was great to be able to get insight on the business aspect of the world and how meetings are conducted.
• I was able to be introduced to two past interns for the insurance company and the Fireman’s Hall that were also from Penn State Abington and majored in IST.  They were both currently full time employees for The Philadelphia Contributionship.  I had lunch with them and they shared some of their stories and experiences with being interns.  The employee who had interned at the firehouse had shared some insight on her experience and gave me advice on what it takes to put my best foot forward.
• I also had the opportunity to attend The Paramedic of the Year Award ceremony and see Thomas Rusby Jr. be honored for being one of the most compassionate and dedicated paramedics in the City of Philadelphia.  In addition, I was able to meet the entire executive staff of The Philadelphia Fire Department including the Fire Commissioner, Mr. Derrick Sawyer.