Moshe Allen
Moshe Allen, a senior Management Information Systems (MIS) major, attended Behrend’s Spring Career and Internship Fair in February 2024 hoping to find a summer internship. He met a lot of recruiters and had a few offers, but the one he ultimately accepted was an unconventional choice for a business student: Meadville Forging Company.
“I thought MIS was purely database and statistics,” he said. “I applied at Meadville Forging Company because it piqued my interest as I’ve always been engineering-minded.”
Allen, who grew up in Freeport, in the Bahamas, started college as an engineering major at Penn State Berks. He earned quite a few credits in the discipline before deciding to switch to MIS at Behrend.
“I’ve always been more business-oriented, and the MIS program was a better fit for me,” he said.
His experience with Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) programming, database management, and Systems Applications and Products (SAP), combined with his knowledge of engineering principles, made him a good match for Meadville Forging Company, which manufactures automotive parts.
“It was a really educational experience,” he said. “I had the chance to work with robots and human-machine interfaces for the first time, and I learned a lot.”
Though he’d never worked with robotics, he found it analogous to his MIS programming experience.
“In MIS, you program something, take a look at it, test it, tweak it,” he said. “The same thing goes for PLCs and robots. You just need to give yourself time to learn.”
His advice for business students looking for an internship experience?
“Look for something that really speaks to you,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to leave your comfort zone and choose something that will challenge you.”