Meet Salinka Dhamija: Q&A With an Illumio Marketing Ops Intern

‍‍In this ongoing series, get to know Illumio’s 2024 summer interns from across the org.  

We’re excited to spotlight the largest intern class in Illumio’s history! This summer, interns from across disciplines joined the Illumio team at our Sunnyvale, California headquarters for three months of career prep.  

This month, we sat down with Salinka Dhamija, a Marketing Operations intern at Illumio. Salinka shared insights about her role on Illumio’s Marketing Ops team, the challenges she faced with new projects, and the valuable career lessons she learned during her internship.

Q: How did your perception of working in tech change throughout your internship?

A: I expected tech companies like Illumio to be a very strict, busy environment. But at Illumio, I found that there’s a good balance between work and fun. Everyone is aware of their tasks and responsibilities and works hard to achieve their goals. At the same time, people care about collaboration and rest.  

I had basically no knowledge of Illumio and its products or purpose before joining, so I was a clean slate. I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of work culture and the structure of my internship. Now, when I tell people I know about Illumio, I only have positive things to say. My experience here has been beyond my expectations right from the first day of my internship!  

Q: What's a skill or practice you learned this summer that you're excited to use after your Illumio experience?

A: I learned a lot about collaboration in a corporate environment this summer. I was able to work collaboratively across both internal and external teams on several projects.  

One example that comes to mind is the Sojourn project. I had to clean up mismatched data from a third-party vendor and import it accurately. This required close collaboration with our vendors to solve the data mismatch issue. It was a lot of back-and-forth communication where we all had to work together to get to a solution.

Another example is when I worked on creating TikToks for the July Illumineer newsletter with Kayla Ishisaki, a fellow intern on the People Operations team. We split up responsibilities to ensure the project was completed on time. I learned a lot about task prioritization and time management because I was working on a few other projects at the same time. I also saw how each person's role comes together to impact the overall success of a project.

Illumio’s company culture promotes collaboration. Whether it's group work, having various open meeting rooms, the open desk layout, or even having spaces for seating both indoors and outdoors for lunch, HQ is set up to make it easy to meet new people and build relationships across teams. I’ve gained experience in networking, cooperation, and teamwork during my internship which I think are really valuable skills in any career.

Q: Is there a project that particularly challenged you? How did you overcome that challenge?

A: A major project I worked on this summer was the MarTech (marketing technology) stack diagram. Although the premise itself wasn't difficult, it turned out to be a pretty complex project. The work spanned my entire three-month internship and involved support from teams across the marketing department.

To build the diagram, I needed to learn about every app that was being used in marketing. Then, I had to understand how the apps were connected and where they fit into marketing processes.

At the beginning of the project, I took the time to take a deep dive into the list of apps the team was using. I went on each app's website and learned what their main functions are. Then, I reached out to various marketing team members to learn how they use the program on a day-to-day basis and what the main purpose of the program is in their processes.  

After building the diagram and setting up the flow, I reached out to those same people to get their insight on the diagram. I wanted to ensure it was depicting the information in an accurate way. Through this, I was able to complete an updated diagram that efficiently and correctly show all the programs being used by the Illumio marketing team.

Q: What was the best part about doing an in-person internship at the Illumio HQ?

The best part was the people. Illumio's culture is extremely welcoming. No matter if people knew you or not, everyone was always so kind and made me feel part of the team. It was easy for me to schedule meetings or start a conversation. Everyone was very willing to give their time and support, even to an intern!

Whether it was lunch or desk conversations, marketing team meetings, or large company-wide events, community and friendship were always celebrated at Illumio. That made it fun to come to work.

My advice for future interns would be to make the most of the opportunities to connect with your peers and mentors at HQ. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or reach out to people from different departments. Building relationships and learning from others will not only make your internship more rewarding but will also set you up for success in your career.

Interested in joining the team as an Illumio intern? Recruitment for next year will begin soon! Learn more about the Illumio Intern Program.