From Zero AI Interest to Building a Chatbot: My Summer at Transact + CBORD

August 8th, 2025 • 12 min read • Internship Experience

The Call That Changed Everything

On April 23rd, I got the call — the one every college student dreams of getting.

“Hey Mark, congrats. We’d like to offer you the Software Engineer Internship at Transact + CBORD this summer.”

I was speechless for a solid minute. Then I immediately called everyone I knew. It felt unreal. Months of hard work had finally led to something tangible.

A New Perspective on Artificial Intelligence

Now, here I am on my last day of the internship, looking back at how quickly these ten weeks flew by.

Honestly, I didn’t expect this experience to change the way I think about tech — especially not artificial intelligence.

When I first started, I had zero interest in AI tools. I knew they were trending, but I didn’t see the hype. I wasn’t curious. I wasn’t excited. I had no plans whatsoever to enter that world.

That changed on day one.

The Project

During my first one-on-one, my manager Nathan introduced the main project I would be working on.

It focused entirely on artificial intelligence.

My task?
Build a chatbot that could answer user-specific questions about one of CBORD’s core applications, NetMenu — and pull real-time data from a database.

NetMenu is a tool used by hospitals to manage meal logging, patient dietary information, and daily food service operations.

I was excited, but also nervous. AI wasn’t my cup of tea at the time.

But quitting has never been in my vocabulary.

I spent the next two weeks learning everything I could about:

• artificial intelligence agents
• Model Context Protocol (MCP)
• large language models
• how the workflow fits together

Discovering a Passion for Artificial Intelligence

That’s when my interest in AI really took off.

The more I learned, the more fascinated I became.
I started seeing how powerful this technology is — and how much real-world impact it can make.

I went from unsure → locked in.

I couldn’t wait to start writing code and bring the chatbot to life.

Bringing the NetMenu Chatbot to Life

Chatbots seem to be everywhere now, and NetMenu wanted the same — but with more intelligence behind it.

With the help of:

• AI Agents, and
• Amazon Web Services Bedrock,

the NetMenu chatbot was born.

AI agents made it possible to handle complex, multi-step queries.
Bedrock provided access to powerful AI models and let us integrate them into our system.

It even mimicked some MCP behavior, which made applying those concepts way easier.

By creating a powerful AI agent, we ended up with a chatbot that was way more than a basic Q&A bot.

It could deliver accurate, real-time information to users exactly when they needed it.

Facing My Weakness: Presenting

That brought me to the next chapter of this internship: presenting everything I built.

Presenting has never been my strongest skill.
Public speaking makes me nervous, I talk too fast, and “umm” appears way more than I’d like.

Honestly, this part might’ve been harder than the coding.

I still remember the first dry run with Raghav and Eyal — directors of the Software Development Department.

It did not go well.
The demo broke halfway, completely throwing me off.

But somehow… they still liked it.

That’s when they told me something that stuck:

Be more confident in your work, and in yourself when presenting it. Because if you don’t believe in what you built, no one else will either.

And all of it paid off.

After multiple dry runs, I eventually gave three full presentations — to other developers, the product team, interns, school admins, and more.

Was I still nervous? Absolutely.
But I trusted what I built, and that confidence carried me through.

What I Learned

This was without a doubt the best internship I could have asked for before entering my final year at UCSD.

I learned what the full software engineering lifecycle actually looks like.
I completely shifted my mindset on artificial intelligence.
And most importantly, I gained clarity on what I want to do next.

I now know — without a doubt — that I want to become a software engineer.

I can see myself doing this for years to come.

The path ahead may not always be clear, but one thing is certain:

I’m not giving up.
I will keep learning.
I will stay curious.
And I will keep building.

A Bittersweet Ending

It’s a bittersweet moment now that my internship is coming to an end.

On one hand, I can finally enjoy the rest of my summer.
On the other, there’s so much more I wanted to build.

Gratitude

A few shout-outs:

• Carmelita and Aubriana — for running this entire internship program.
• Zak Wiatr — even in a short time, you became an amazing mentor.
• Nathan and Harsha — thank you for every laugh, every standup, every struggle and win.
• The entire Transact + CBORD team — for welcoming me and making me feel like part of the team.

Final Thoughts

This wasn’t just an internship.
It was the beginning of my career as a software engineer.