This summer, I had the amazing opportunity to intern at the Okta headquarters under the Technology, Data, and Intelligence Productivity Engineering team. Our team is composed of eight system engineers, all with a wide range of experience in programming and various technologies.
At most companies, a systems engineer is the backbone of IT, helping manage and oversee various platforms, cloud services, and automating complex processes like software deployments or user provisioning. While that’s one part of what the team does at Okta, our scope broadens significantly since we’re a large enterprise security company. This can take the form of setting up comprehensive log auditing, developing internal tools to streamline operations, and researching new features to understand the potential security threats that may come with them.
In my first week, I was granted access to our sandbox environments for all of our enterprise applications. As an intern, I was a bit intimidated at first to be working on the admin side of all these new platforms. However, through Okta’s Udemy membership, I’ve been able to take courses on all these applications for free (which I highly recommend checking out if you haven’t already).
I also received a lot of one-on-one support from my team members, who encouraged me to ask questions from the start. This experience was the perfect opportunity to apply the concepts I’ve learned from school and competing in cybersecurity competitions to real-world scenarios here at Okta.
My manager allowed me to get started on projects right away, where I got to work on testing and developing an agentic AI platform called Google Agentspace. Agentspace is an all-in-one agent-powered platform that enables users to carry out streamlined workflows using integrated application connectors.
I primarily focused on creating use cases for Agentspace, developing custom AI agents, and reporting any bugs to Google’s engineering team. It was exciting to work directly on company-wide AI projects as an intern, and I even had the opportunity to present my work at Okta’s inaugural AI Day and the Women in Tech Intern Talk event.
Technology, Data, and Intelligence AI Day
Hosted by our lovely communications team, Technology, Data, and Intelligence AI Day was a great opportunity to learn about the various AI initiatives happening across different teams at Okta. I gained insight into how Okta is shaping the AI industry and how we can securely leverage AI to enhance organizational productivity.
Getting to present my work at a large internal event as an intern was an incredibly impactful experience and significantly helped improve my public speaking skills. I highly encourage other interns to speak at internal events if the opportunity arises.
Meeting the IT interns
Working within Productivity Engineering has allowed me to collaborate with various teams across Okta. This connected me with two other IT interns in the San Francisco office, Bryan Lai and Jesus Ortiz Rivas.
Lai is a part of the Executive Support IT Team, where he provides IT support to all of Okta’s executives. His role is involved with software development, including creating a smart agenda tool that helps executives manage their schedules more efficiently. Throughout his internship, he’s learned the importance of “putting 100% into everything you do.”
“My team has taught me that you should always hold yourself accountable for the work that you do, Lai says. “No matter where life takes you, knowing you worked your hardest every day and tried your best is what’s important.”
Lai said his favorite part about working with the Executive Support team is the kindness and support he’s received from day one. “Everyone is super nice and helpful, he says. “Any questions I have or things that I find hard I know that they will help me through it.”
Both Bryan’s and my team collaborate with the Workplace Technology Onsite Support team, primarily responsible for providing hardware support and onboarding new employees. Rivas is part of the Workplace Technology Onsite Support team.
Throughout his internship at Okta so far, Rivas has learned how to enhance his time management skills to meet deadlines. “At my previous job, the volume of work was lower. Since Okta is a larger company, I have to decide how I want to spend my time more efficiently, Rivas says.
Rivas’ team currently consists of five people. What he likes about his team is the “work hard, play hard” mentality. “What Okta is doing in terms of workplace culture helps prevent burnout. We work hard, but we also get to socialize through intern events and team events.”
Part of his intern project involves producing an MDM iPhone enrollment video for the new hire onboarding presentations. This saves time for his team, who no longer have to explain the enrollment process during onboarding. Instead, new hires will be able to follow along with the pre-recorded video.
“What I like most about working in IT is getting to meet new people and help them,” Rivas says. “I’m always meeting new people every day.”
We all came to Okta with prior experience working for our university's IT departments. For me, it was interesting to see how my prior skills translated over to my current role. I discovered that being in the tech industry means you’re constantly learning new things, keeping up with the latest technology trends, and you have to be ready to adapt to new changes on the fly.
Rivas found that the specific tools he'd used in his previous role aligned directly with his work at Okta, which allowed him to get started right away. Lai, on the other hand, made it clear during his interview that he wanted to apply his software development skills, and he felt valued by his team's willingness to give him that opportunity.
Working in the San Francisco office
Working in the San Francisco office provides a unique opportunity to connect with some of the full-time staff in person. As an intern, I highly recommend reaching out and scheduling coffee chats with those in other departments or roles you may be interested in. Be sure to take advantage of the office amenities such as the gym and speakeasy, especially if you plan on coming into the office often.
There are also plenty of activities to do after work in the city, which I recommend exploring with your intern cohort. Some things we did included Dogpatch Boulders, SF Bay Cruise, Downtown First Thursdays, and running the JPMorgan 5K.
Final takeaways
My time interning with Okta has been an incredible learning experience. I’ve been able to improve my technical skills, gain real-world experience in a large corporate environment, and build invaluable relationships.
Okta’s work culture truly fosters a sense of community and space to grow and learn. I’m grateful for the numerous opportunities to step outside my comfort zone, including presenting at AI Day, working on Agentspace, and networking with full-time employees. My biggest takeaway is not to be afraid to make mistakes and try new things, even if it’s scary. You never know what opportunities might arise from them.
Learn more about internship and early career opportunities at Okta.
