CHS Internship

Overview

During my internship at CHS, I focused on two tracks: improving how data is documented and discoverable (metadata curation), and contributing to the Seed portal experience. Each project had its own triumphs and pitfalls.

Project 1: Metadata Curation (Data Lake)

I built a Python script to help curate metadata across CHS's data lake giving clear descriptions and improving catalog usefulness so people can trust what they are reading and find the right data faster.

• Automated extraction/processing steps and produced upload-ready outputs.
• Generated titles and descriptions for 1,962 database tables and 84,232 columns.
• Making titles go from "knumh" to "Condition record number".

Project 2: Seed Portal

I also contributed to the Seed portal, with an emphasis on refactoring and consistency. The goal was to make UI patterns easier to maintain and safer to change over time.

• Worked on table/UI patterns (sorting, filtering, pagination consistency).
• Reduced duplication and improved readability for future development.
• Shipped changes within sprint cadence and team review workflows.
• Developed Retail Order Summary page enhancing operational visibility across 100+ locations and supporting hundreds of millions of dollars in business value.

What I Learned

The biggest things I learned at CHS was not the technical skills, although of those I learned a lot, it was people. People matter, they are the ones that use the product and develop it. With my Python Script I was able to talk to a different team within CHS and was able to get a jumpstart on my own project. While working on the Seed Portal, being able to talk to my coworkers and Senior Engineers was invaluable to me.