Bennett Kahn Post #2

It’s only noon, but my day at Lucid has already been packed with learning! From 9 am to 10 am, Steven Childress, the Lucid employee I am shadowing during the first week, talked to me about the processes of networking. The “lecture” started quite organically, as he was just showing me one project he is currently working on involving using the SQL computer language to search a website’s database. I asked one question about how the language knows which database to access, and we were in a room with Steven diagraming the whole networking process of the internet within a matter of seconds! The conversation was especially great because I was able to add a little bit as well because of my computer science class this year. After that, we headed back to his computer where he got into the details of the SQL syntax; I loved this part especially because coding really fascinates me at this point in my educational career.

In only a few days at Lucid, I have already been exposed to the software systems Lucid uses and how they have already or are in the process of connecting one system to another. Transferring massive amounts of data across different programs presents a huge challenge (something I was entirely unfamiliar of previously), so Steven has met with executives from companies like Lever and WorkPlace this week in an attempt to better integrate Lucid’s systems. Today, there was a 10 am meeting regarding the financial element of one of Lucid’s key programs--Audience. Basically, there is a huge problem with how Lucid is charging their clients right now. To sum it up, Lucid’s technology in this sphere of the company is not yet adapt enough to process transactions seamlessly; certain systems they are using are incompatible with each other. The meeting was so that Steven, whose one of many roles at the company is back-end coding, could be educated on the finances regarding Audience so that he and his team can build a system that will help the Audience finance team save precious time and be able to better analyze their revenue. This was a perfect example of how different teams within companies collaborate to better the company. Watching the process is awesome!

Also, shoutout to Stephen as a whole for being awesome this week! He’s been so helpful and eager to inform and has helped me to get the most possible out of this week.