Technical Program Manager Review

Running daily check in meetings with my team, as well as running grooming sessions to develop tickets in my technical teams backlog. Prioritizing their workload and discussing goals for the upcoming period. Running planning sessions, reviews and retrospectives so that my team knows what work is needed to be completed but also has a good understanding of the already completed work and improvements if needed. Worked on initiatives to improve processes within my team and across the organisation. Getting to the bottom of any risks or blockers my team might be experiencing. Learning about the company and attending sessions to improve my business skills. Creating surveys for stakeholder feedback and presenting the findings. Taking these findings and implementing changes to our upcoming goals. Meeting with other program managers, product managers, senior managers, directors and leaders to discuss our current workload, blockers and future intentions for the team so we can all keep aligned with company values and goals.

Learnt how to use Jira, Confluence and Miro. Gained an indepth understanding of Agile Scrum methodology. Learnt the program life-cycle and how to run a program. I also learnt how to work cross-functionally and internationally. I now understand the complexities and challenges of working in a large company and the steps that need to be taken in order to implement a new process. I also gained an appreciation for the networking culture and the importance of getting to know not only those you work with directly but also everyone you can who might have experience and advice to share.

By the end of the internship, I had taken responsibility for running my program completely. I feel this is a lot of responsibility for the company to give and felt trusted to do well in the job. I also lead an initiative to create a new process across the organization. I also was given the responsibility to create a survey and interact with stakeholders directly, which again could be considered a great risk for an intern to take on but the training and guidance given meant I felt I was able to do the job well and trusted to do so.

The support and guidance throughout this internship was probably the biggest takeaway from this role. The culture and work environment meant I never felt like I was on my own or felt I had to struggle with my work. I always had someone I could contact for help or advice. Colleague's were always willing to spare 10-15 minutes just to point me in the right direction. As I said before, this is the best thing about working in Expedia, the people.

Amazing. Many companies talk about their working culture but it is not often you find somewhere that genuinely feels like a positive working environment. There is a lot of care taken by everyone, HR, People team, managers, colleagues to ensure people's well being and to look after each other. I always felt looked after and that people always had the best intensions at heart. The atmosphere in the office can vary depending on how many people are in the office at the time (with hybrid policy in place) but on the busier days, the office is lively and positive. Everyone seems happy to work for EG.

I enjoyed my internship. The only downside was that the onboarding process took a lot longer than I expected. I spent the first half (of 10 weeks) reading documentation and taking online training sessions. I did attend meetings but I didn't really get assigned any work till after halfway through. This opinion may vary from person to person, but I think that I didn't need a whole 5 weeks for this, and I would have had more time to achieve meaningful work if I was assigned tasks earlier. Having said this though, after the halfway mark, I really enjoyed the internship. I felt really part of my team, the intern cohort, the company everything. I really enjoyed being given mini project/initiatives to work on outside running my team. Starting a new job is always hard, but Expedia made it feel easy!

Yes

Attitude means everything. The way you approach your tasks, your team, your manager makes all the difference. If you show a 'can do' attitude and a willingness to throw yourself in, you'll excel. I would also recommend that you research your role well so that you can come in and be prepared for the tasks you might be asked to take on. Expedia group is very accepting of new ideas and new voices, so don't miss out on the opportunities if they arise.