The Internship Period in the Abu Dhabi Police - Report Example

College of Technological Innovation Internship Report Introduction The report will depict the various activities carried out during the eight week internship period at the information Technology and Telecommunication department. The department is very important in the Abu Dhabi Police, the police provide several services in Abu Dhabi that include; traffic services, security services, community service, public safety and emergency services and suppliers services among others. The report will document all the activities that I undertook during my stay. The report will also provide all the information of the challenges I encountered, my achievements and all the lessons learned during the internship period. The report is organized into different sections. The first section immediately after the introduction is the department profile. It contains information containing the department, the industry in which the organization operates the department structure and department culture. The second section will provide all the information about the job description and work plan according to the responsibilities given to me. The third section will focus on the internship objectives that include; technical objectives, business objectives and personal objectives. The fourth section will give detailed information on the accomplishments during the internship as well as the lessons learned and lessons not learned. The last section will give a conclusion of the report by providing major highlights during the internship. Company profile To achieve a safer society in Abu Dhabi the police department works with other agencies to maintain law and order, to reduce crime and reduce sense of fear, to preserve stability and to contribute positively in achieving justice among the public in general. The main core values in the Police department are integrity, fairly provision of services, honest and respect for human rights and promoting team work. The Abu Dhabi police has a clear organization structure, Commander general of Abu Dhabi police chart is in charge of Diwan department, Strategic management & Performance improvement department, Vehicle renting department, security information department, MOI Centers for qualifying & Employee Disabled persons department and Decision-Making support center. The security information department plays a crucial role especially in combating cyber crime. Job description and work plan As an information technology and telecommunication trainee, I was introduced to the information technology and telecommunication department of the Abu Dhabi Police. Some of the roles and responsibilities given to me were mainly to assist in any IT related tasks in the department. The department has a very supportive internship coordinator who took me through there expectation from me. We had lengthy discussion on my career plan and expectations on the internships. Together we were able to designed a comprehensive work plan that enabled me put in practice what I had learned in class. He told me that he was expecting professionalism from me and to be a team player in the information technology and telecommunication department. According to the schedule, I was to encounter four sections in the Information technology and telecommunication department. The four sections were technical support section, Mobile section, TETRA section and the Electronic Systems section. The first week was an orientation week where I was introduced to various sector heads in the department. In the second and third weeks I was under the technical support manager, the manager assigned me daily duties and I was introduced to the open systems interconnect (OSI) as well as given tasks on implementation and configuring Cisco. I was able to configure switches and routers using an emulation program called putty. I was also shown how to make police network in hardware simulation and in packet tracer program. In the subsequent week four, five, six and seven saw me work under different sectors, Mobile section, TETRA section and the Electronic Systems section. Mobile section is part of the communication section; the section has outsourced Etisalat Company to support it. During my stay I managed to attend a meeting with Etisalat Company which exposed me a lot. After I was through with all the sections in the Information Technology and Telecommunication department, I was given an opportunity to visit the criminal investigations office during the eighth week. They agreed to have me in the laboratory of electronic evidence. The laboratory of electronic evidence first specialist laboratory to examine electronic evidence, followed by criminal investigation department (CID) at Abu Dhabi Police management, and contributes in providing laboratory support in investigating various cyber crimes. In the computer unit they use different powerful programs from it; they can extract all the existing information in the computer, mobile, external memory or other electronic devices. Also, they use a program to make an image (copy) for the data. For example, FTK manager, Helex and Dossier. Before working in any case the examiner must work in a clean and secure environment. For example, if we have a hard drive, we want to make a copy of it. First of all, the examiner must check that his computer is in the baseline using a program called Ghost. After that he must check that the write blocker is working well (write blocker verification) by a program called Win Hex. The Write blocker is a device that allows acquisition of information on a drive without creating the possibility of accidentally damaging the drive contents. On the other hand, he must check the device that he will make the image (copy) in it and be sure that he didn’t contain any data in it. This process, called Wiping. Wiping a drive is a data-security measure that consists of overwriting the actual data (byte for byte) with for instance random characters make confident data non-retrievable and is a time-consuming process because the entire surface of the drive has to be read and overwritten and sometimes even multiple times. After that he uses the Win Hex program to check that the drive is wiped successfully to be surer. After that when he is sure that everything is working well he starts the imaging (copying). Information is obtained in a compressed version (E01).Also; they used to change the program if there is no result, or if the program could not copy. When the copying is finished, they extracting the digital fingerprint for the copy which is called MD5. The digital footprint must be an exact copy of the original. After taking the image (copy) they make an image verification to be surer. Other than learning on how to manage matters related to information technology system, there were other professional attributes that were considered as necessary learning points throughout the internship. These included proper communication and interpersonal skills, teamwork and high ethical standards in addressing organizational issues. Internship objective Before starting the internship I had to go through the Zayed University internship handbook so as to have a clear mind of the expectations. I also had a lengthy discussion with my classmates who were proceeding for their internships too of their expectations and what to achieve. I also visited various sources like blogs and website to get information of what internship are expected to achieve. Armed with this crucial information of what was expected from an intern, I was ready for the internship. The major objectives of the internship are categorized in three major parts. They include the technical/professional, academic/business and personal. Technical/Professional objectives In this part I intend to learn more and upgrade my information and technology skills. The field of ICT is very dynamic and rapidly changing and it is the responsibility of every IT specialist to update themselves so as to remain relevant in their work place as well as the industry. Secondly, I intend to link the theory knowledge that I have acquired in class with the technical activities done in the company. Lastly, I intend to learn good morals that govern a professional IT that promote zeal for innovativeness in the IT industry. Academic/Business objectives As an IT professional to be, the industry is very competitive and I must look forward and align my academic qualifications and what the IT industry needs. It is very important to put in practice the theory part learned in class into practical and make sure that I have understood the two aspects clearly. I am also ready to learn of how organizational strategies work, such as team-operating amongst other professional approaches of operations and the strategies used by the company to improve its performance despite the economic challenges currently. Personal objectives The eight weeks of internship in this world class information Technology and Telecommunication department offered me an opportunity to experience real work place and put in practice what I had learned in class. This opportunity made me feel great as a professional IT to be. I intend to learn new things and improve my level of confidence as an IT professional. I also intend to create network with other IT professionals in the industry as well as business guru in the industry who can mentor me. Lastly I intend to create a positive impression in the Information Technology and Telecommunication department that will enable me secure permanent employment in the company after completing the internship. Accomplishments Internship programs are designed in a way that they should give work experience to new people in those industries. They prepare them of what they expect when they start work in their respective work places. Internship should present learning opportunities, what to accomplish and challenges in the industries. There are various lessons that I learnt during my eight weeks internship that I can term them as accomplishments. i. Implementation and configuring I managed to implement and configure Cisco switch layer 2, Layer 3 and routers. I also managed to make the police network in hardware simulation and in packet tracer programs. I also managed to configure the switches and routers. ii. Communication and interpersonal skills I may have learned communication skills as a common course at the university, but I was able to accomplish an objective of improving my communication and interpersonal skills during the internship. The internship program provided a perfect platform for the elevation of interpersonal relationship capabilities. This is because after numerous interactions with professional within the company, I acquired knowledge and skills on essential aspects that were essential in the development of effective teams when executing a responsibility. iii. Creating Networks and professional friendship Interacting with other employees at the work place provided an opportunity for me to create network and professional friendship. However, to achieve this requires a lot of professional discipline and commitment in the work place. I managed to learn a lot from other employee in the short period I was there and I also shared a lot with them. iv. Mentorship Mentorship is described as a friendship or professional relationship with a more experienced person who can help guide a less experienced person. I managed to identify and create contact with a mentor, a robust, hardworking individual with over 10 years working experience in the IT department. He previously worked for other multinational companies like IBM and Microsoft. He had achieved a lot in his career as an IT expert and was a person I was free to consult in matters concerning IT as well as my personal career growth (Dobrowolska, Kane, Pilewska-Kozak, & Linsley, 2013). Lessons learnt Various lessons were learned during my eight weeks internship period at the Information Technology and Telecommunication department. Lessons on; IT professionalism, work place professional relationship and life in general. Some lessons were learnt through observation, others body language and others through challenges that I came across and how I tackled them. I also learned how to relate with different people, people should be handled differently considering that each and every person portrays different personality. A good understanding of each one at the work place enhance a strong bond for team work and this will eventually lead to high productivity in the work place. From the professional point of view, I learnt learned how to make the work continues in the network, even if the major router is shutdown or crashes. By HSRP and VRRP protocols, in this protocol we determine an active router and the other is standby. Meaning that is ready if we have any changes in the network. Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP), provides default gateway redundancy using one active and one standby router; Cisco proprietary. Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) An open-standard alternative to Cisco's HSRP, providing the same functionality. Conclusion In conclusion, Interesting insight into how students’ internship should be organized and managed is well provided by the organization of the internship and the student careers office at Zayed University. Let me say that I received overwhelm support from this wonderful office and also from my internship supervisor who offered a lot of advice during this period. This internship created an excellent opportunity for me to explore my talent and put in practice what I have learned in class. Taking an internship in the information Technology and Telecommunication department provided a professional and personal opportunity to establish my career. The values and culture were conducive in terms of accommodating robust and fresh ideologies. From the historical background, it is possible to note that innovativeness and sufficient cognizance of the successive management teams of the department have assisted it gain potentiality in the information Technology and Telecommunication activities. References Dobrowolska, B., Kane, R., Pilewska-Kozak, A., & Linsley, P. (2013). Academic careers: the value of individual mentorship on research career progression. Read More