DLE INTERNSHIP SERVES AS LAUNCH PAD FOR RONAK PARIDA’S REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE WITH GE

By Ronak Parida, Former DLE Intern, Senior Business Major at Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

It is hard to believe that summer is almost over, but I can say that the past 12 weeks were quite unique this year. Not many 21-year-olds can say that they were a point of contact for power equipment worth millions of dollars to places all around the world. But that’s precisely what my summer consisted of in my role as a sales development intern with General Electric Vernova, Gas Power.

My work connected me to customers from around the globe, who reached out with inquiries regarding new power generation units or parts for their existing systems. It was a fascinating dynamic where I would be in charge of routing customers to the correct contacts for their situations. I even encountered a lead coming from war-torn Ukraine regarding additional power for their facilities in Odessa.

A key responsibility was working on spearheading marketing materials for power generation units for the new era of renewables and decarbonized power equipment. As the world moves to combat climate change, priorities have shifted to ensure power equipment is efficient and decarbonized. Several nations have even put ambitious goals in place to reach net zero emissions in the coming decades. This makes outreach efforts even more important, by creating content that demonstrates how GE can help companies as well as governments around the world reach their power generation needs and meet decarbonization goals.

Recently, General Electric underwent a substantial restructuring, leading to the establishment of three distinct entities: GE Vernova, GE Aerospace, and GE Healthcare. My department, Gas Power, was part of the GE Vernova division, the GE answer to reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy for the future.

To be part of a company as storied and influential as GE, while simultaneously contributing to a new chapter in its history, presented an immense opportunity. My experience with the DLE helped me pursue and earn it. The DLE provided many opportunities for me to gain real world marketing experience. Writing social media posts and articles for the HUB that promoted DLE events built a foundation for me to use. This made the process of joining the GE team much easier because I had to do less on-the-spot learning.

Looking back, the DLE has come full circle for me, since I remember interviewing a previous DLE intern, Connor Joyce, who said that the DLE’s structured meetings helped him with the nature of day-to-day remote work. I felt the same way through my exposure to the remote work environment the DLE provided.

And finally, my time with the DLE instilled the importance of friendly, professional communication via email. Much of the work I did for GE was communicating directly with customers over email, and the DLE reinforced that aspect of reaching out to people in a cordial manner very well.

Looking ahead, I will be graduating from Syracuse University in December, and I can’t wait to update the DLE community on where I end up next.