Life as an Intern at WP Engine—Sales Operations, Marketing, Accounting, & Talent Acquisition

At the beginning of every summer, a batch of eager interns walks through the doors of the WP Engine office in downtown Austin. This year, a record-breaking number of interns—25 to be exact—joined the WP Engine team for the 10-week-long internship program.

Many internships promise hands-on work experience but fail to put that into practice; not here at WP Engine. From day one, interns are expected to hit the ground running. But what does that really mean? 

To find out, we asked the summer interns to fill us in on their daily lives at WP Engine and what they’ve learned during the experience so far. To start off, we talked to the interns from WP Engine Sales Operations, Marketing, Accounting, and Talent Acquisition departments. 

Here is what they had to say: 

Sales Operations 

This summer, the Sales Operations team welcomed in three interns: Somya Dwivedi, Mubeen Ahmed, and Hila Friman. Most days when they aren’t in meetings, they sit next to one another in a prime corner of the office with arguably the best view of the Austin skyline. 

As a team, they work on projects that encourage the use of the WP Engine CRM system, Salesforce, and analyze data that helps the sales management team work more efficiently. They spend their days discovering patterns and deriving meaning from data in order to help the WP Engine Sales Department reduce friction and become more effective. 

“I think my highlight of the internship is the fact that I really feel like an important part of the team. It doesn’t just feel like I’m the ‘intern.’ It feels like I’m a valued member, which makes coming in every morning so fulfilling.” – Hila Friman

Marketing 

Likewise, the Marketing team also brought on three interns: Shreeti Sigdel, Anna Edelman, and Sydney Arceneaux (me!), to help for the summer. Although we all work within the marketing department, we have wildly different day-to-day tasks. 

Shreeti, the Brand Intern, spends her time working closely with the brand team to analyze industry and competitive trends and using data to implement an effective social media strategy. On the other hand, Anna, the Demand Generation Intern, spends the majority of her time in Google Sheets and Slides researching our customers’ journey from the perspective of a marketer. As for me, the Content Marketing Intern, I find myself on Google docs most days preparing content for WP Engine’s blog and other WP Engine publications.

“It’s refreshing to be a part of a company that performs at such a high level while genuinely caring about its employees and their career development. It makes me excited to come to work every day.” – Anna Edelman 

Accounting

The Operations department received a little help this summer too! Linette Rios, the Accounting Intern, has spent her summer assisting the operations teams by researching technical accounting matters, helping with quarterly financials, and performing ad hoc tasks around the office. In her free time, Linette also started her own blog documenting her life and lunches here at WP Engine.  

“I chose WP Engine because I wanted to be able to practice Accounting at a deeper level. Additionally, I wanted to work for a company with a strong culture that encourages its employees to be constantly challenged and customer-inspired.“ – Linette Rios

Talent Acquisition 

The talent acquisition team plays a pivotal role in molding the WP Engine community. Gatlin Stewart, the Talent Acquisition Intern, has been learning what goes into recruiting the right people at the right time for the WP Engine family. He spends much of his day searching for hidden talent and talking to potential candidates over the phone. 

“The best part of the internship has definitely been getting to come to work every day with the people from Talent Acquisition. The culture of this team is so supportive. We work hard, but we also play hard. Last Thursday we had a team bonding day at one of our team member’s lake house. I didn’t think companies like this existed!” – Gatlin Stewart

The WP Engine internship program offers a great opportunity for young adults to experience working at a customer-inspired, employee-driven company. 

Check out the WP Engine Career Page for more information about our Summer Internship Program and career opportunities at WP Engine! Stay tuned to the WP Engine blog for more highlights from this year’s interns.