Twice the Experience: My UX Design Internship Return to Appian

Yiwen Zhao goes to Georgia Institute of Technology where he majors in Industrial Design and Digital Media. During his studies, he found that he is very passionate about the design process and problem solving and that’s how he discovered UX design. Yiwen joined Appian for the second consecutive year as an UX Design Intern, so read on to find out what made him return to Appian for his final summer internship. 

What attracted you to the internship position at Appian in the first place?

I met Appian at our university career fair during which I talked to one of the recruiters. I was really interested to learn more about the company and the recruiter encouraged me to apply. Shortly after, I went through the interview process, and was extended an offer to be an UX Design Intern. I truly enjoyed talking to the people I was interviewing with – they were all mostly UX designers and I gathered from the conversation that they had a wealth of experiences. I also asked them for feedback on the designs I was presenting and they were so open and helpful in sharing their feedback. 

What made you return to Appian for the second year of your internship?

I think it’s the people here. I had a great time interacting with everyone last summer and the supportive and collaborative company culture once again offered me a lot of opportunities to grow. Additionally, some of the problems that we were trying to solve were interesting to me. I worked on a lot of unique use cases and personas and since I am a big problem solver, I enjoyed tackling challenging projects and making it easy for customers to use Appian products. 

How would you describe the company culture?

Appian’s culture is so friendly to early talent. I don’t feel like there is a wall that keeps me away from executives. I sent out invites for coffee chat to a lot of senior leaders and everyone was so willing to meet with me. It’s a very supportive, collaborative environment and everyone is willing to answer any questions you may have.

Tell us about a project you worked on during your internship that was your favorite.

At Appian you have a lot of opportunities to work on different projects. Last year, I worked on an AI feature to break down very complicated machine learning concepts and communicate them in a simple way so everyone can understand. This year I am redesigning a documentation site for Appian. 

“This project is really high visibility with large scale impact, because anyone who wants to do anything with Appian must visit the documentation site. As an intern, I’ve been given a lot of ownership for this feature I worked on – my leadership trusted me to own it.” 

How has the experience impacted you?

I am actually working on my lessons learned right now. As I reflected, I’ve always viewed UX as the advocate for users, but now having the experience in the business world, that’s not the only thing you have to consider. You need a business case that you present to your stakeholders, so you connect the designs to something tangible with business value. 

Can you describe some of the ways that you grew during your time as an intern?

I will cover it as it relates to both – hard and soft skills. I worked with corporate level toolkits to make designs, so getting the hands on design systems experience I needed. It’s also about the processes, as you have to follow very structured ways like design process or release, etc. In terms of soft skills, you need to be able to articulate the business value, while you defend your design decisions. Because I had a lot of experience collaborating with developers, I could think through how to best hand off your designs to the developers. I learned how to understand their needs and what they cared about. 

What are you most proud of that you’d accomplished at Appian?

It’s the moments when I am presenting designs that I came up with to other teammates. They provide me with feedback, so I can iterate and when I show it to them again; it’s amazing to see their excitement, because my design solved their problem. I also get the immediate feedback that my work helped to solve something. It’s the moments when you see the user value of the design being validated. 

How have you expanded your professional network for future career opportunities?

We had many networking workshops during the internship program. We also had very helpful sessions during which we got insights on how to network, or how to make a cold email not so cold, etc. These were very helpful, and if you want to have more of these opportunities, the Internship program managers are more than willing to arrange these for you. 

“Appian is really great at making your internship, YOUR internship.” 

I loved to talk to people through coffee chats – I met UX designers across various levels and learned from their backgrounds how they got into UX. I also talked to the marketing team to understand how to market the product. 

Finally, what advice do you have for other students considering an internship with us?

Research yourself first, then the company. Find that sweet spot where your talents, passions, and the company’s needs align. 

Learn more about internship and campus hiring opportunities at Appian.