Internship Spotlight: Cameron Beall, VMware

Cameron Beall is an Accounting and MIS double major graduating in the spring of 2022.  This summer he interned with VMware as a Sales Strategy and Planning Intern in Palo Alto, California.

What was the process for getting this internship, job, or summer experience?

Fortunately, I've had the privilege of this being my second consecutive summer interning full-time with VMware. Back during the Spring 2020 semester, I originally had my eyes set on pursuing an internship with a different company, however, it was cancelled due the start of the pandemic. As a result of this turn of events, I started to check LinkedIn daily for other possible opportunities. After a few weeks, I found a position of interest and noticed that I had several LinkedIn connections who work there. Without hesitance, I applied online, submitted my resume, and waited a couple weeks before I received an interview. After that summer working in a Data Analytics role, I decided to stay with the company for another summer and transition to a Sales role. These formative experiences have encouraged me to apply to VMware for a full-time position after graduation.

What was your favorite part of the experience?

One of my all-time favorite parts of the experience was meeting coworkers from all around the world, who come from completely different backgrounds and upbringings but ultimately share the same career aspirations as I do.

If you worked on a big project, please describe it below:

The objective of my big project this summer was to help scale the roll out of sales plays to help sellers identify high propensity accounts in the most efficient manner. To accomplish this as a Sales Strategy & Planning Intern, I queried vertical and partner data for the SD-WAN product to create a high propensity account list for focus partners to leverage sales plays, through working with the Data Sciences team to collect thousands of inputs. Next, I led quality assurance (QA) testing on a prospecting tool and provided architectural recommendations to include updated sales plays along with propensity scores to help sales specialists generate pipeline more efficiently. Finally, I identified SFDC source code issues related to Targeted Possibility Opportunity to support sales plays.

What advice do you have for other students looking for a similar experience, or advice for future students to be successful?

If I could provide advice for other students looking for a similar experience and wanting to be successful, I would highly encourage them to go outside their comfort zone in searching for an internship. For me personally, in my recruiting process, I was extremely reluctant in pursuing a sales position, mainly due to false preconceived notions of what it's like to work in sales. However, to my surprise, the experience was far greater than I could've ever imagined. For the better, it turns out that all the stereotypes I about working in sales were far from true. As a result, I developed a whole different set of skills that I wouldn't have learned otherwise. It's completely refined my understanding of the inner workings and mechanics of the business world, which excites me for the endless possibilities that lie in my future. All in all, a crucial factor of being successful is trying something new. After all, sky is only the limit for chasing your dreams.

How did Eller prepare you for this experience?

I don't even know where to begin in thanking Eller for having prepared me tremendously for this experience. The preparation began all the way back during my freshman year with my counselor, Tatum Rochin, who taught me the importance of networking and establishing relationships with both colleagues and industry professionals. I caught a good glimpse of the necessity behind allowing my personality and skill sets to come through in these beneficial encounters. Flash forward to my first semester in the upper division of Eller, BCOM 314 completely changed my view on the value of effectively communicating in a professional environment. From being in sales this summer and closely working with a wide variety of people, I was able to effectively apply developed communication skills of catering my message to differently types of audiences, so my talking points are received well. Moreover, Eller has inevitably taught me to think on my feet in real-time, work situations by problem solving in the most efficient manner.