Seemin Masood, Product Designer, Oracle
Seemin Masood is a second-year MIMS student. Prior to the I School, Seemin received her Bachelor of Business Administration from Bangladesh’s North South University in marketing and economics. This summer, she interned at Oracle as a Product Designer.
Describe a typical day at your internship.
In the first phase of my internship, I spent a lot of time setting up calls with team members, subject matter experts, and internal users to understand the nuances of Oracle’s vast enterprise products. My assignment was within the realm of financial users and payment error handling, but was very broad, so these conversations helped me narrow in on the most pressing problems for finance teams. As my design goals became clearer, my days shifted toward synthesizing findings and designing solutions in Figma, presenting and justifying design directions to leadership and the team, and iterating based on feedback.
What was the most valuable thing you learned at your internship?
The internship helped me gain practical experience navigating a large org. I learned first-hand the processes involved in managing expectations, presenting effectively to leadership and getting buy-in from stakeholders. Understanding what your stakeholder’s goals are, and calling them out and giving credit to their contributions in your designs during presentations goes a long way in getting buy-in.
Another huge lesson was that designing for enterprise is about shaping workflows that directly affect how effectively people can get their jobs done and, by extension, how hundreds of organizations achieve their goals. It’s vital to understand the problem before proposing a design change. In the enterprise context, “fail fast” gives way to thorough research and very deliberate iterations.
What was the biggest challenge?
My main challenge was narrowing down an open-ended prompt into a clear plan, given the blue-sky nature of the project. It was important that I balance feedback from multiple sources, and having a clear vision and structured organization of the feedback made it possible so decisions and versions were traceable, and I could iterate and communicate my collaborations effectively.
How did your work at the I School prepare you for this role?
Below are a few of my favorite classes from the I School so far. They provided the critical skills and frameworks that were essential for success in my internship.
Storytelling for UX with Mischelle Mulia in the Fall was invaluable. This class prepared me to present case studies for interviews, which was key in landing the internship. I also drew on that course to communicate design decisions in weekly presentations to the Director and in phase-end reviews with the VP of my design team.
Social Psychology and Technology with Judd Antin in the Spring helped me connect human behavior to design choices. Topics on trust and deception shaped how I anticipated adoption and trust in AI-assisted workflows, and guided design choices like when to use assurance cues and clearer disclosure to reduce the risk of mistrust in the system.
Designing Future Systems with Stefanie Hutka in the Spring prepared me to frame blue-sky, north-star visions and translate them into solutions that could be presented compellingly and implemented in phases toward the long-term vision.
Social Issues of Information with Morgan Ames in the Spring provided a critical ethical framework for my work in AI design. It trained me to think beyond the immediate user and consider the broader societal impact of automating workflow with AI, and helped me advocate for more responsible design choices during team discussions.
Any advice for first-year MIMS students as they prepare for their internships?
Before recruiting
- Try to create your portfolio and resume early so you can start applying and learn from the response rate for each round.
- Be careful if you want to design your resume in Figma. In my experience, exporting to PDF flattened the document and made it unreadable by the ATS.
- Keep your portfolio public and your resume viewable on Handshake. I did not apply for the Oracle internship, but a recruiter contacted me directly, which tells me they were keyword searching public resumes and portfolios.
- Make sure the first case study on your portfolio showcases your best work and aligns with the industry you are targeting, because your chances of landing a role in that industry are higher.
- Reach out to industry lecturers/ professors and career services at the I School because their feedback on my resume, portfolio, and interviewing skills played a big role in preparing me for the internship search.
During the internship
- When seeking feedback, avoid asking for it in general terms. Instead, share your proposed alternatives, explain your reasoning, and then ask for their input. This shows preparation, proactivity, and your ability to collaborate well.
- People are usually eager to help out interns. Take the opportunity to seek out mentorship and ask for design or career advice within your team and beyond.
Did your internship influence your career plans after graduation?
My project designing the end-to-end payment error-handling experience with a multi-agent AI flow showed me how interesting it is to design at the intersection of productivity workflows and emerging AI. I want to keep exploring the ethical design of AI for use cases that help people.
Also, my experience with Oracle’s design team was an amazing one. It’s very user-led, and I want to continue working on teams like this, where a passion for helping users is apparent.
