A Day in the Life of a Pype Intern
August 28, 2019
While traveling from my home in Santa Barbara to Chantilly, VA, I imagined what my summer internship at Pype had in store for me. I expected a pretty standard internship—some work experience, helping out with small tasks, grabbing coffee—nothing special. Man was I wrong. Even in just the first day as a Pype intern, I learned so much more than I ever expected.
The first thing I learned was what Pype is: a company that provides software as a service to construction teams to help them start and finish projects a lot quicker and with fewer problems. I was surprised and impressed by the different products that Pype offers to clients, and how accessible and easy-to-use these platforms are. I was also very impressed and motivated by everyone who works at Pype—they all care about the company and genuinely believe in the products. This inspired me to learn as much as I could about both the company and AEC in general. I was taken on a crash-course through the process of constructing a building, including how a GC firm is structured all the way from a PA to C-Level execs, and how a GC works with owners, designers, and subcontractors.
After I had the background info down, they took me through a deep dive of their software—AutoSpecs, Closeout, eBinder, and now SmartPlans—and how each helped GCs automate different tasks (like submittal logs and project closeout) while providing insights into different parts of the project. I sat in on demos and meetings to learn more about how Pype works as a business, such as how the Marketing Team promotes their products, how the Sales Team interacts with potential clients, and how Customer Success provides support to existing clients.
A surprising part of this experience was how much of it was hands-on—it was very different than listening to my teachers all day back in Santa Barbara. I spent most of my time with Sarah, Cheryssa, and Jason in the Marketing Department, and they taught me how to design ads, quote slides, and other graphics for Pype. They also taught me all about analytics and how they review audience engagement with each ad or article they publish to see what causes spikes in engagement. They even walked me through a mock interview where I wrote a cover letter, created a resume, and applied for a marketing job at Pype. It was challenging and took a couple tries, but by the end of it I was really comfortable interviewing!
About halfway through the internship, Jason starting involving me on some of their video projects. First, I helped him film a few people from Pype’s sales team, like AJ and Preston, to talk about each position in a GC, the pain points they have, and how Pype helps to solve them. I then went through those interviews and created a powerpoint presentation of the information. Jason also taught me how to create a footage log—a list of each interview subject, what file numbers they’re in, and a quick summary of their interview answers.
However, one of the most intensive exercises was given to me by John Bennett, Pype’s Director of Customer Success. He sat me down and taught me about specs, submittals, and submittal logs, and then handed me a spec book to manually create a submittal log. After six hours and 300 pages, and I tried AutoSpecs on the same spec book. When we compared my log to the one AutoSpecs made, it had caught over 100 submittals that I had missed. I was surprised at how efficient, accurate, and easy to use it was for someone like me—a high school student who knew nothing about construction.
Overall I had an amazing experience as a Pype intern. I learned a lot about construction, and specifically construction tech marketing. I am thankful for this great opportunity and all the people that helped me learn a lot. Pype exceeded my expectations and even though I could only stay for a few weeks, I’m glad I had the opportunity to intern at this amazing company.