At Esri Eastern Africa, our internship program is designed to expose students and young professionals to real-world geospatial problem-solving. In this interview, we speak with an Electrical and Electronics Engineering student who shares how the internship reshaped their understanding of GIS—from a supporting tool to a powerful decision engine.

Q: What motivated you to apply for the Esri Eastern Africa internship, and what were you most excited about when you started?

I applied because I was curious about how maps actually power decisions. As an Electrical and Electronics Engineering student, I was already thinking about infrastructure; power lines, transformers, planning—but I hadn’t fully connected that to GIS. What excited me most at the start was realizing that ArcGIS wasn’t just about maps for display; it was about building systems that help people think better. Once I saw that, I knew this internship wasn’t going to be just another internship.

Q: How would you describe your overall internship experience in three words, and why?

Eye-opening, practical, empowering.

Eye-opening because GIS touches way more industries than I imagined. Practical because everything we learned was tied to real-world use cases. And empowering because by the end, I felt like I could actually build something useful.

Q: What was the most impactful skill or concept you gained during the internship?

Learning how to think spatially. It sounds simple, but once you start asking questions like where, how far, what’s nearby, or what changes over time, you realize many industry problems are spatial problems at their core.

Q: Can you share a project or task that truly challenged you—and what you learned from it?

My main project—ArcGIS Project Design and Management Tools for REREC—was the biggest challenge. Translating rural electrification workflows into GIS tools forced me to think beyond code or maps. I had to understand how designers work on the ground, how projects come to be and are actualized, and where inefficiencies actually hurt. I learned that the hardest part of building solutions isn’t the technology—it’s understanding the problem deeply enough.

Q: How did working with ArcGIS products shape your understanding of real-world problem solving?

ArcGIS taught me that good solutions sit at the intersection of data, context, and usability. A technically perfect solution that no one understands or adopts doesn’t help anyone. Seeing how ArcGIS tools are designed for planners, engineers, and decision-makers showed me the importance of building with the end user in mind.

Q: In what ways did the internship change your perspective on GIS and its role in society or industry?

Before this internship, GIS felt like a support tool. Now I see it as a decision engine. From rural electrification to urban planning and disaster response, GIS quietly shapes outcomes that affect millions of people. That realization gave the work more meaning.

Q: Which ArcGIS tool or workflow did you enjoy working with the most, and why?

The ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript stood out the most. It’s where everything clicked. Working with it helped me clearly see the bridge between developers and GIS experts—and more importantly, how to walk across it.

On one side, you have deep spatial data and GIS analysis; on the other, you have interactive apps that people actually use. The SDK sits right in the middle and translates both worlds fluently. As someone with a software engineering mindset, it was exciting to see how complex GIS logic can become responsive, intuitive web experiences that planners, engineers, and decision-makers interact with in real time. It made GIS feel less like a silo and more like a shared language.

Q: How did collaboration with fellow interns, mentors, and Esri professionals influence your growth?

It pushed me to articulate my ideas better. Explaining your thought process to people from different backgrounds forces clarity. The mentors didn’t just give answers, they asked questions that made you rethink your assumptions. That kind of feedback sticks.

Q: What is one moment during the internship that made you feel proud of how far you’d come?

Presenting my completed project. Seeing a concept go from an idea, to design, to a working GIS solution—and having it make sense to others—was incredibly satisfying. It felt like proof that the learning had actually landed.

Q: How has this experience prepared you for professional work in the geospatial industry?

It showed me what professional expectations look like—documentation, clarity, scalability, and communication. It also taught me that industry problems are messy, and that’s okay. You’re expected to navigate ambiguity, not avoid it.

Q: What lessons from the internship will you carry throughout your career?

Always ask why before how.
And never underestimate the power of simple tools applied thoughtfully. Efficiency often comes from better design, not more complexity.

Q: How has the internship helped shape your career goals or clarified your professional direction?

I now see my professional direction clearly at the intersection of engineering, software development, and geospatial systems. I’m drawn to building tools that help engineers, planners, and organizations make better decisions at scale—especially in real-world contexts like rural electrification and infrastructure expansion. The internship didn’t just add a skill to my CV; it gave me a lens through which I now look at problems.

Q: What are your immediate next steps after completing the internship?

Refining the skills I picked up—especially scripting, automation, and system design—and continuing to build projects that connect engineering problems with digital solutions.

Q: How do you plan to apply the skills and experience gained here in future roles or studies?

I’ll use GIS to frame challenges, reveal patterns, and add spatial context to engineering and software decisions. Rather than treating maps and data as outputs, I’ll use them as thinking tools that guide design, planning, and implementation. This mindset will help me build solutions that are technically sound, scalable, and genuinely useful.

Q: What advice would you give to future interns considering the Esri Eastern Africa internship program?

Read, explore, ask questions, and tie what you’re learning to something real. Once you do that, ArcGIS stops being a tool you’re learning and starts being a tool you think with.

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Interested in joining the Esri Eastern Africa internship program? Send your CV to careers@esriea.com and keep an eye on our social channels for upcoming opportunities and intern stories like this one.