It’s a Covid-19 world for interns now, insights with DCU’s Patrick O’Brien

Times have changed rapidly since Covid-19 appeared, and yet for the Irish Tech News remote internship programme, now in it’s fifth year, many things have continued as normal too. We shared some insights from our latest intern’s experiences. Patrick O’Brien who is currently working with us tells us more about how he is finding it.

What is your background briefly?

I grew up in Dublin. I went to secondary school in CBC Monkstown Park Dun Laoghaire. They were some of the best years of my life where I made some of my closest friends. I then went on to study English and Film at University College Dublin. That was another terrific experience, where I did a lot of socialising and traveling whilst focusing on my studies.

After I graduated, I took a gap year where I got a taste of the working world in a lot of different roles such as a shop assistant a kitchen assistant, and an intern. After my gap year was over, I started studying a Master of Journalism in DCU, and that takes me up to the present.

Does it feel like a logical choice for what you do know? 

I chose journalism initially because I have always enjoyed writing, and I wanted to avail of the different communication skills I could learn from a journalism Masters. I initially wanted to go into teaching, but I found the role of a teacher would be very settled, and I would not be in the right mind frame for that yet. From journalism, I feel there is a lot of opportunities, such as the world of PR for example which I have a great interest in.

How was your last 12 months? What were your big wins? 

My last 12^th months were enjoyable. After a gap year, it was nice to be back in a college schedule within a new environment. I made a lot of new friends and found the DCU campus to be an inviting place. I would say my biggest success of the last 12 months would be achieving good grades in my masters so far, whilst also completing two separate courses along the way, the 1^st being a TEFL (Teach English as a foreign language) course, and the second being a Kubicle online business training course. So, in terms of my last year, it has been challenging yet rewarding.

What would you have done differently? 

In terms of what I would have done differently, I probably would have chosen the masters in public relations and strategic communications that is available in DCU. But to be honest I would not have known that I would enjoy a role in PR without having initially chosen to do the master’s in journalism. So, I guess you can say it was fate.

Aside from this, I would not have too much more regret over the last year. The year I had just finished was more difficult than this one. There was a lot of confusion over what I wanted to do whilst engaging in the daily monotony of the working world.

Internship experiences during Covid-19

Techies4TempleStreet 2020 – Raising support through tech https://t.co/vShZ1gBOVS via @irish_technews

— Patrick O'Brien (@obrien_writes) August 7, 2020

One minute pitch about what you are doing now? 

I am currently working for Irish Tech News as an intern. I initially chose Irish Tech News as it was one of the options available to us whilst looking for placement work and thankfully, I started writing for them. I have found the experience a change of pace, but a refreshing one, nonetheless. My first week gave me a taste of how I would be working within an online news outlet and must say it has been a pleasant experience.

I had no real notion of how interesting the world of tech would be. There is a lot of variety in what to write about and it is fascinating learning about the number of entrepreneurs doing innovating things across the world.

I am learning a lot of new skills, that were not touched upon in the course. Obviously, I have a lot to improve on, but I feel with patience I will succeed. I am currently working from home, and I have found it a strange experience. It is the entire opposite of an office setting and certainly takes getting used to, especially in terms of communication. But I will persevere, and hopefully benefit myself and my temporary employers along the way.

How have you managed COVID-19? 

In terms of how I have managed times during the COVID-19 lockdown, I would say I have tried to maintain a steady head during strange times. It was a surreal experience having to engage in social distancing and only speaking to my friends via zoom and my phone. I had a lot of college work during the lockdown and I have to say it did aid me in getting through a lot of different assignments in a short period of time.

Without it being forced to stay at home, I could have found the coursework more difficult, due to how far I live away from DCU. To get to the college I had to engage in a 2hr bus journey each day. So simply having to stay at home and work as if I was in the DCU library, did potentially improve my grades overall.

Why did you choose Irish Tech News? 

In terms of tech news, in a couple of days I have worked for ITN, I have seen how relevant the world of technology is in terms of telling a story. News to do with technology goes hand in hand with the world of business. So essentially it is a lot of business writing which is exciting as you get to learn the ins and outs of how different business sectors run and work and get to see behind the mind of difficult industry players and pioneers.

Technology plays such an intrinsic role in the society of today. It is important to learn and see how it both benefits us whilst also in many ways inhibiting us. The more we use technology the more socially unstable we can become. It is important that people are informed frequently about the new technology coming into their lives, so they can comprehend it and use it to their advantage.

You can contact me at [email protected]

Or also my twitter handle @obrien_writes

Where do you get your information from?

I get my inspiration from my parents mostly. They worked hard their whole lives and I would like to emulate them. Since my mother died, I try to make her proud and do the best I can in each circumstance. My dad has always been my main role model, so I try to be like him in how he deals with situations and the way life works.

I also get inspiration from my wonderful group of friends and my girlfriend. They are the people who are most important to me, so I would say they inspire me to persevere through trials and tribulations.

Why American History X is Essential for the Netflix generation https://t.co/loDiCAGoia via @irish_technews

— Patrick O'Brien (@obrien_writes) August 11, 2020

More about Irish Tech News and Business Showcase here.

FYI the ROI for you is => Irish Tech News now gets over 1.5 million monthly views, and up to 900k monthly unique visitors, from over 160 countries. We have over 860,000 relevant followers on Twitter on our various accounts & were recently described as Ireland’s leading online tech news site and Ireland’s answer to TechCrunch, so we can offer you a good audience!

Since introducing desktop notifications a short time ago, which notify readers directly in their browser of new articles being published, over 50,000 people have now signed up to receive them ensuring they are instantly kept up to date on all our latest content. Desktop notifications offer a unique method of serving content directly to verified readers and bypass the issue of content getting lost in people’s crowded news feeds.

Drop us a line if you want to be featured, guest post, suggest a possible interview or just let us know what you would like to see more of in our future articles. We’re always open to new and interesting suggestions for informative and different articles.

Contact us, by email, twitter or whatever social media works for you and hopefully, we can share your story too and reach our global audience. We are agile, responsive, quick and talented, we look forward to working with you!

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at [email protected] or on Twitter: @SimonCocking