Meet the Interns Shaping What's Next

What led you to apply for a QTS internship?

I applied for a QTS internship because I’m aware of the growing need for data centers and try to keep up with news in AI. QTS stood out as one of the companies that actively participates in outreach with the communities where new data centers are being built. After further research, I also saw that QTS is a growing player in an industry where the demand for servers, and the data centers to house them keeps increasing.

What was one or more of your favorite projects from your summer internship?

My favorite project has been the Grafana dashboard that displays different metrics of bad quality data coming from each data center. This will help the DCIM team pinpoint where vulnerabilities exist within each campus and down to which panel. Inaccurate data can cause several issues inside a data center, so giving the team a clear view of where the problems are makes a real difference.

What are your future career goals and how did this internship help you toward them?

My future career goal is to continue down the road of industrial automation. This internship has exposed me to different areas of the process and how each piece fits together, from field devices to SCADA to data storage and visualization. The data acquisition side especially has shown me how important proper structuring is, since clean, well-organized data is what makes everything downstream actually useful.

What led you to apply for a QTS internship?

I applied for an internship with QTS development because I was drawn to be a part of a company that is at the forefront of technology. QTS combines both construction and innovation on each project that I’ve seen. While I study building construction, QTS offers a broader outlook on developing land and the overall construction industry.

What was one or more of your favorite projects from your summer internship?

As this is my second internship with QTS, I was assigned to assist with the buildout of the network system onsite. This has become one of my favorite projects this summer as it has introduced me to a detailed and specific data center scope.

I was able to learn and contribute to the team by meeting with our QTS internal teams and communicating our specific needs/requirements with the general contractor.

What are your future career goals and how did this internship help you toward them?

My goal is to build a career within QTS as we are the fastest growing data center company in the industry. This internship has helped me develop a stronger understanding of project workflows, budgeting, and the technical aspects of construction. I was fortunate enough to be assigned challenging scopes that deepen my understanding of what QTS does.

What led you to apply for a QTS internship?

Data centers are an extremely important and growing field with many areas of work, I saw the role on QTS’s site and felt as though this would be an amazing opportunity to work on teams that leading in developing these datacenter’s as well as making sure this data is properly secured. On top of this having previous AutoCAD experience led me to believe this would be a good fit for the specific role.

What was one or more of your favorite projects from your summer internship?

I was able to help assist with training sessions for internal and external parties that will be using this new system in the field. During this phase I was able to learn the system myself and actively help with these training sessions. In addition, I was able to go onsite and help on a training session in person in Dallas, Texas.

What are your future career goals and how did this internship help you toward them?

I come from a background in computer science and current studies in information systems, I am interested in pursuing a career in some sort of cybersecurity field potentially as an analyst or GRC-focused role. This internship has helped me strengthen my technical and analytical skills while gaining experience working with enterprise systems, data, and cross-functional teams.

What led you to apply for a QTS internship?

Over the past year or so, I’ve become particularly interested in data center construction. It’s become a rather large national topic, and after researching data centers, I wanted to try and get into this part of the construction industry. I like being challenged, and the complexity and schedule of data centers had a very large draw for me. I love to learn, so getting into an industry I knew nothing about sounded like a great opportunity for that. Funny enough, I applied to QTS on handshake, so I wasn’t all too confident about my application, but I got an interview and went from there.

What was one or more of your favorite projects from your summer internship?

I have been working with a project manager to start planning and tracking network live. It required a lot of basic knowledge about low voltage/fiber, so I had to read hundreds of specification pages, utilize QTS resources such as the Data center academy, and conduct my own separate research to even understand what I was looking at. I now have a ton of knowledge regarding networking, Low voltage, fiber, etc., which will be very helpful down the road if I decide to stay in the data center environment. I’ve had to learn how the building works, how all the different internal systems integrate, and how QTS oversees this process to ensure but buildings/systems properly function.

What are your future career goals and how did this internship help you toward them?

I’m not sure of the exact career path I want to take yet. At first, I was interested in being in the field (GC superintendent), but after this internship with QTS, that may have changed a bit. I want to be involved in large-scale commercial construction, and I’ll probably look at starting in the data center sector, if possible. I enjoy challenging myself and trying to absorb as much knowledge as I can, and this environment provides that. I’d also see myself in a leadership position down the road, but right now, I’m focused on figuring out where I’m going to start my career. This internship helped a ton, as I wouldn’t have had the exposure to construction at this scale if I went with another company. I also did not know the extent of what the construction process looks like on the owner’s side, and now I have a decent understanding of that. Overall, this internship has given me a lot of insight into career paths within the construction industry.

What led you to apply for a QTS internship?

As this is my first internship, I wanted an opportunity that would challenge me and expose me to a large-scale project where I could learn from experienced professionals. With my engineering background, I’ve always been interested in understanding how complex systems work together, so the data center industry caught my attention. What really interested me about QTS was the opportunity to see a facility come to life from the ground up. I wanted to understand not only how a building is constructed, but also how all of its systems (electrical, mechanical, networking) are integrated to operate as one. Being able to watch project progress from an active construction site into a fully functioning data center was an experience I was eager to be a part of.

What was one or more of your favorite projects from your summer internship?

One of my favorite projects during my internship was learning about the submittal process and how documentation is managed across large-scale data center projects. I was tasked with reviewing OFCI submittals for the CLT1 campus and comparing them against QTS’s “Perfect Submittal Guidelines” to identify gaps and areas for improvement. Through this project, I worked with the CLT1 MEPR team and the OFCI Submittal Catalog Managers, which gave me valuable insight into how submittals are created, maintained, and distributed across campuses. I also helped verify that project documentation was aligned across multiple platforms. Most importantly, this project helped me understand the critical role submittals play in ensuring equipment is properly reviewed, coordinated, and approved before installation, helping projects run more smoothly and reducing potential issues in the field.

What are your future career goals and how did this internship help you toward them?

Coming into this internship, I knew I wanted to work in the construction industry but wasn’t sure which area would be the best fit for me. I wanted to be on a job site, involved in real projects, and learn how large-scale facilities are brough to life. Through my experience at QTS, I’ve gained exposure to development, quality control, safety, and project coordination, which has helped me better understand where my interests lie. Having an internship at QTS has shown me how much collaboration and planning goes into delivering a complex project, and it has strengthened my interest in pursuing a career in construction and project development.

What led you to apply for a QTS internship?

Last year I did a co-op on the Richmond QTS site working for one of the controls integration vendors; I found the work that went into building data centers fascinating, and wanted to see how the process was like on the commissioning side of things.

What was one or more of your favorite projects from your summer internship?

My favorite project so far was gathering and then “sanitizing” L4 templates for every piece of equipment that goes into a QTS data center, so that there would be a directory of ready-to-use “break-fix” templates that can be used to commission new equipment in the future. This project was very helpful for getting an idea of what points and processes are important to test for in different pieces of equipment, along with understanding how everything is supposed to operate.

What are your future career goals and how did this internship help you toward them?

I am planning on working in the construction industry locally; this internship helped me understand how different vendors work together, and the processes and planning that goes into setting up a hyperscale data center campus.

What led you to apply for a QTS internship?

A family member of mine, who is an employee at QTS, always spoke very highly of the company. They shared how great the culture was, how friendly everyone was, and even mentioned the intern program as an opportunity that could help me expand my horizons and better understand the future of using technology as a tool. That really piqued my interest, and now here I am, living the dream.

What was one or more of your favorite projects from your summer internship?

Learning and applying the digital twin within the data center has been really enjoyable because it feels like a constant opportunity for discovery. Since QTS continues to expand, the project is always evolving, which means there is always something new to learn, test, or improve.

What excites me most is exploring the “why” and “how” behind the process. Is there a more streamlined way to do this? Can information be loaded automatically? What happens if I try a different approach? Learning a new program and experimenting with different workflows keeps me curious, and that discovery process is what makes the experience fun and meaningful for me.

What are your future career goals and how did this internship help you toward them?

With my background in mechanical engineering and focus on aviation, I hope to learn as much as I can about digital twins from this internship and explore how those ideas and processes could one day be applied to the aviation industry. The potential to make flying safer, more efficient, and possibly more affordable is exciting to me. I believe the ability to fly is one of humanity’s greatest achievements, and I want more people to be able to experience it with confidence and without fear.

What led you to apply for a QTS internship?

I wanted to secure an in-house legal internship for my 1L summer to gain exposure to an industry. The data center industry was particularly appealing because it sits at the intersection of several legal areas that interest me: commercial real estate, energy, construction and infrastructure development. I felt confident that QTS’s robust summer internship program would be a great opportunity to learn and gain exposure to this sector.

What was one or more of your favorite projects from your summer internship?

One of the experiences I found most valuable was assisting with contract review and document preparation. These types of projects gave me a greater appreciation for the level of precision required in legal drafting. This experience helped me strengthen my attention to detail, and I enjoyed seeing how seemingly routine legal work contributes to a larger business objective.

What are your future career goals and how did this internship help you toward them?

Through this internship, I have learned that data centers play a critical role in supporting modern technology, and their development raises unique legal questions around land use, utilities, energy procurement, environmental considerations, contracts, and regulatory compliance.

While I am still exploring different areas of the legal profession, this internship sparked a particular interest in energy and infrastructure law. The dynamic nature of the data center industry offered firsthand exposure to the legal challenges surrounding critical infrastructure and energy demand. This internship has reinforced my desire to explore future opportunities within the energy sector as I begin my legal career.

What led you to apply for a QTS internship?

I had a desire to get into the data center industry because with the rise of AI, this field is going to take massive leaps as far as opportunity and growth. This opportunity also closely aligns with the principles that I am learning in my mechanical engineering classes at school so I wanted to seize any opportunity I could to see those principles applied in a real-world application.

What was one or more of your favorite projects from your summer internship?

Working with our contractors and collaborating with clients to help track the progress of data halls soon to be turned over to the customer. I have also enjoyed participating in various volunteer events through the company, more specifically the Pack Our Campus volunteer event where we prepared lunches for kids.

Meet the Interns Shaping What’s Next

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