Summer Internship Spotlight: Tatyana Guzman (MSBA‘24), Data Analysis at U.S. General Services Administration

Each year, Georgetown McDonough students spend their summers in Washington, D.C., across the nation, and around the world working in corporate, nonprofit, and government organizations. Meet a few of our graduate and undergraduate students in our 2024 Summer Internship Spotlight series.

Tell us about your summer internship.

I am currently part of the Pathways Program where I am interning at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) in the Office of Travel, Transportation, and Logistics (TTL) under the Federal Acquisition Service. This is a full-time, paid role where I am doing ad hoc data analysis on various business functions, such as contracts and sales. TTL is responsible for supplying government agencies with motor vehicles, travel, and transportation solutions. The Pathways Program is unique, as it allows for a way to be grandfathered into a full-time federal employment position after graduation with a ladder to a higher salary in three years. 

How did your internship relate to your professional or personal interests? 

I have always been passionate about working at the intersection of public policy and international business. My undergraduate studies focused on international relations, and I quickly learned how lucrative data analysis is for making critical policy decisions and how valuable it is to be able to communicate data effectively. This internship allows me to apply the business and data analysis skills I’ve learned at Georgetown McDonough to inform policy-changing decisions.

How did you find your internship? 

My best friend works at GSA and I heard many great things about the agency. I went to various virtual career fairs and once I heard about this opportunity to have a path towards federal employment, I knew I had to apply. 

What’s the most interesting or impactful thing you worked on during your internship?

I have been working on a data analysis project where I am running weekly reports on federal contracts. These reports inform how long it takes to complete a contract, what the contracts are for, and what companies these contracts are with.

What did a typical day look like? 

A typical day varies greatly depending on what reports are asked of me. Usually, I am working in Microsoft Excel and trying to find new and intuitive ways to communicate data to stakeholders through comprehensive visual dashboards. Oftentimes, I spend time cleaning data and making sense of it myself before I can make it easily digestible for colleagues. I plan to introduce a way to automate some of the reports I am working on in Python – but that is just my personal project!

What advice do you have for other students when it comes to internships?

Always advocate for yourself. You truly get out of the internship what you put in – meaning you should always keep yourself busy, network, and learn as much as you can.