The Juniper Experience

"Connect Everything, Empower Everyone"

While looking for my first internship, I pictured long hours of grabbing coffee and filing paperwork – you know, being the office “help” and assisting with the mundane tasks that people push off - perhaps because of Hollywood and mass media – in movies like “The Devil Wears Prada" or the starting scenes in “The Proposal.”   

However, here at Juniper, the role of an intern takes on a whole new meaning. The possibilities seem endless: generating a webinar library from scratch on the company web page, to evaluating test boards, to meeting vendors such as Oracle, Salesforce and Adobe. The University Talent here at Juniper Networks has made a large impact and the executives here take note of that. The millennials are an image of the future tech industry and are recognized as such at this company. Let’s get started- 

The Valley

So, let’s get one thing straight before we begin – for those that live in the Silicon Valley, we tend to forget the limitless corporate possibilities here. For those of you lucky enough to live here, be thankful – there are so many experiences to learn from and so many stories to be heard. 

My Two Cents

My journey began when I applied for an internship at Juniper through Santa Clara University. I was hired for the summer between leading up to my junior year in Services Marketing. For the summer of 2015 I have transferred to working on the Digital Experience Team to enhance the user experience though content migration and testing global responsive sites for high-priority bugs for France, Germany, Japan, Korea.

People tend to ask – “Why are you interning twice at the same company? Isn’t that a bit … well, uhm, odd?” 

After leaving my first internship to go back to school, I realized that there was so much more to learn and that there were still many untapped opportunities. You know the phrase, “A magician never reveals his secrets?” It’s a good thing I’m not a magician – continue below to find out what I have learned. 

“If you don’t ask you don’t get” – a PSA from my first manager here, Pamela Morgan. I was initially a timid intern, hiding in the background of a meeting filled with senior directors. After reminders of this to speak up and to work on my public speaking skills – I contributed input on how to enhance the processes to expedite high-priority deliverables. They recognize that drive. Look for ways to stand out – If you have a good idea, speak up. 

Be adaptable – Things change. The digital team has taught me that change can be for the best. As long as you are able to adapt and step out of your comfort zone, you will do well. This is what makes the tech industry so dynamic and stimulating. Since my time here there has been a new CEO, Rami, who actually began his career at Juniper as an engineering intern when it was a startup. Rami has been well invested in the company and understands the strong value of recruiting the top talent. After beginning his role as CEO, the company trajectory has moved in a positive direction and shows strong promise for the future. 

Nobody is out of reach – Network the hell out of this place. Everyone here is friendly and interested in what you have to offer. I have had lunch with the CMO and his leadership team and scheduled 1:1s with VPs in their office to learn more about how I can contribute the most during my short time here. People that I have met here are some of the most curious and intelligent people I have encountered. 

Millennials & Juniper

My experiences in the valley as a corporate intern began here at this very company. I distinctly remember walking through the large doors and being greeted with friendly smiles at the front desk. The architecture and the atmosphere was refreshing and the campaign ads stood out vibrantly against the large white walls. This was a good first impression.

Juniper Interns are granted an opportunity to work on a large-scale project with global stakeholders as well as side assignments with other departments. We work forty hour weeks for twelve weeks with access to feedback and approval – a company trait that millennials seem to crave. The intern experience is busy and packed with projects that enable company growth, while still enabling us to have fun at off-site events. At the end of our internship we display our work to the CEO and VPs as they circulate the showcase dome. This is an opportunity for our work to be noticed and to receive feedback for future steps.

So at this point – you may be saying to yourself, “I get it, it’s a good company, but is it still the right fit for me?” From my experiences here – I have noted two main things that Juniper seeks in its talent recruitment:

1. Innovative Aspirations
2. Enthusiastic Leaders

Juniper realizes that we don’t learn these skills in academia and helps interns with professional development along the way through speaker series and professional networking events. In return, we must make sure to put our best foot forward and show progressive development throughout our short time.  

Intern Insights

But don’t just take my word for it – Here are some insights from interns in different departments from engineering, to finance, to customer-face branding.

Finance Insights, MBA

Angus Hsu, an MBA candidate from UCLA Anderson School of Management, currently works at Juniper as a Development and Innovation Finance Intern.

His main focus was to examine pricing models for security competitors and determining the future revenue models for the company’s security business. Angus explains, “I was expecting the scope of my assignments to be very strict but they so far have been very much dictated by my intellectual curiosity instead.” He emphasizes how important it is to, “Be forward-thinking and express yourself transparently and that getting to personally know the team is essential. To highlight this, my manager took the whole team out to a happy hour spot after quarter-end to celebrate."

Hardware Engineer Insight

Sarah de Leon, a recent graduate from the University of Maryland with a degree in Electrical Engineering currently works at Juniper as a Hardware Engineering Intern. Her project focus was to design a test board in a way that the lab engineers could test their PICs on the bench instead of having to wait to hook it up to a chassis to decrease testing wait times and allowed for the engineer to test power and certain protocols, such as I2C or PCIe.

She explains, “Being a female engineer, I have been told to be cautious of the subconscious sexism that exists in the tech world. However, Juniper had provided me a safe space to have my ideas heard. I have experienced team members dedicating hours to acquaint me with unfamiliar and complex software systems, while allowing me the space to manage my project freely. The teams that I have encountered are brilliant and yet so down-to-Earth, which creates an open and enjoyable work environment I couldn’t imagine elsewhere.”

Demand Generation Marketing Insight

Julia Montgomery, a recent graduate from UC Santa Barbara, with degrees in Communication and History is working at Juniper as a Demand Generation Marketing Intern. She had the opportunity to work alongside field and partner marketing, human resources, and analyst relations – which highlight the company’s collaborative atmosphere. 

Julia explains, “In the realm of networking, Juniper is on the brink of something ground-breaking; it may be harder to see while simply looking, but these three months have shown me the details of the inner workings more than I could have ever imagined.”

She continues, “As a Demand Generation Marketing Intern I am the campaign manager for a national marketing campaign that targets the retail and educational verticals. It is the first campaign that is "evergreen" and continuous. The responsibility of planning, managing, and executing a campaign that will be running indefinitely has been both challenging and rewarding. I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to work on such a large-scale project with a meaningful impact.” 

Thinking Ahead 

Throughout my two summers at Juniper Networks - I have viewed it much like a 12-week long job interview (twice through). The thought that runs through my mind every morning before coming in is, “How can I prove to be an asset to the team I am on and remind myself that I am here to make a positive impact on the company.” In turn, Juniper has shown me and other interns the genuine and innovative environment it holds for its employees. All in all, I am glad that this internship has been so much more than simply grabbing coffee and filing papers.

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About the Author

Travis Ta is a recent alumni with a degree in Marketing from Santa Clara University. With project management experience working with companies including Juniper Networks, GrandCanal Solutions and LinkedIn (HR hack-a-thon), Travis is passionate about the intersection of business strategy and tech across a wide spectrum of different industries. To find out more, visit his LinkedIn profile here.