Meet the Splunktern: Fransiska Nauli

In this next installment of our “Meet the Splunktern'' series, we’re featuring Fransiska Nauli, our Field Engineering Intern in Australia. Fransiska is currently attending the University of Melbourne, majoring in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Keep reading to learn more about Fransiska and her time as a Splunktern! 

Your million data points: tell us your pre-Splunking story!
G’day! Just like Men at Work’s unwritten yet timeless National Anthem of “[coming from] the land down under,” I, too, have quite the Australian backstory.

However, as a fellow alumni of the ‘third culture kid’ phenomenon, I’m very aware of the ambiguous ‘enddate’ in my journey of self-discovery. While it’s true that my bizarre French childhood does feed into that notion, I wouldn’t trade any of the little snippets abroad for the world (pun intended). Regardless, I’m super grateful for my team in Splunk and their incredible commitment to nurture this personal growth.

Before stepping into the Data-to-Everything platform, I thrived working on my first STEM love: Biomedical Engineering, with a strong focus on CRISPR. All thanks to my local rotary club’s decision to sponsor a curious george to the 2018 National Youth Science Forum. But, as they say, “your first love never lasts.” 

How did you end up with Splunk? What motivated you to apply? 
Long story short: a series of misfortunate events and a fortunate typo. 

Short story long: as a Student Ambassador and Peer Mentor in my university, supervising and hosting career fairs is, typically, habitual and straightforward...right? Not so much during a pandemic. 

The sudden online transition ensued a series of hectic meetings and last-minute changes to our event itinerary. Tasked to proofread a “Careers in STEM” spreadsheet a few hours before the deadline, the amount of sleepily-induced and red-bull inspired typos made was astronomical. Peak stress-levels and sleep deprivation aside (the perfect, poetic rendition of any university student), I wouldn’t trade that fateful experience for the world. 

It was because of this I stumbled into the warm embrace of the ANZ Splunkternship Program. I got pulled in by the flexible and practical data-driven program but stayed for the world-renowned work culture and, of course, my best girl: Buttercup.

What does a “Day in The Life” look like for you?
As the sun eerily rises from the east to the west, its soft, yellow rays tickle my face. A warm, welcoming sign of a brand new day. I take a deep breath and force my body to move, one leg at a time, from beneath the sheets: the embrace is magnetic, too irresistible to break free, despite me wanting to. Somewhere, somehow I get the motivation to ease into the workout clothes laying and conveniently mocking me besides my bedside table. I silently curse the new gym membership and bullet journaling subscription I purchased not too long ago. Skipping breakfast would make do.

“Let’s do this,” I say, slightly cringing at the not-so-faint voice crack. I put in my ancient wired earphones and open the door to freedom.

And...CUT! Nope, this is not my reality. Melbourne’s infamous “4 Seasons in 1 Day” weather can’t even fathom this fictitious morning routine. Let alone any college student’s bank account for the impulsive new year purchases. Instead, with graduation not too far in the distant future, the majority of my early morning is spent dealing with post-tertiary dread, followed by its unrivaled close cousin: the motivation to complete unfinished work. 

With breakfast usually not omitted for an energy boost, following up unread emails, Slack messages, and the local news is my go-to. The internship’s flexible working hours and access to industry-level software like Splunk Enterprise, Confluence, and Figma, allow no two identical days. Customer-facing zoom meetings spanning from Splunk Proof of Concepts to the Value Platform are the highlights of my week. Why? Despite mainly shadowing both my Australian and American mentors, most of my learning and professional development is found here. 

What’s your favorite part about being a Field (Sales) Engineering Intern?
Field (Sales) Engineers, colloquially known as the “jack-of-all-trades,” has an amazingly diverse set of focus areas and skill sets, involving people-centred projects and a distinct technical acumen. Despite the role not being the most well-versed within the world of technology, it has a clear balance within three domains: The People, Technology, and Business. 

The overarching aim? To get a holistic understanding of the customer’s pain points by discovering their digital maturity and dynamic plan for future growth. 

This future-thinking mindset and productive “trinity” is no easy feat, but the globally supported team and the self-paced journey are both of what I love most about the career!

What has been the best part of your internship so far?
To this day, I’m honoured and flabbergasted at how seamless the transition was from a data-driven yet simply naive university student to, now, a full-fledged Field (Sales) Engineer Intern. Massive kudos to the legendary University Recruiting Team, my manager, Neil Gow, and mentor, Pamela Carey, who did an outstanding job throughout the entire process.

Almost by definition, Splunk can’t achieve success without the existence of Innovative, Fun, Disruptive, Open, and Passionate people (yay!). This is evident in every individual and partnered company that I’ve come across with. So, to be actively part of this growing and supportive community every day since February is still pretty bizarre to me.

Furthermore, not only were we, the ANZ interns, able to work in a team project that cleverly showcased Formula1’s telemetry data but we were also given full autonomy on our individual projects. This duality emphasized a need to be proactive in driving decisions for our data use-cases. Amazingly, the global Splunk engineering team and access to the flexible resources (i.e. Splunk Security Essentials, ITSI etc…) allowed just that! In spite of their intimidating hierarchical positions and lengthy careers, the people here are “freakishly nice.” In that, they were more than happy to help us out unconditionally. The catch? So long we reach out to them first! 

Where can we find you in your free time?
Aside from the automatic urge to use “peace signs” in almost every photo and my affluent meme bank, I have an incredible soft spot for volleyball and will stop at no cost to play if I either:

• See a volleyball net,
  
• Hear Haikyuu!!’s Opening Theme Songs and/or,
  
• Listen to the crisp sound of the perfect serve in the distance.
   

It doesn’t help the fact that I value the thrill of teamwork that was conveniently instilled in me by my avid PC gaming past. Strategising techniques to enhance performance and good ‘ol comradery was a simply natural direction. So much so that, as a little fun fact, I was honoured to receive MVP for the Under 17's Girl's Volleyball team that represented Queensland!

As one of my new year's resolutions, I aim to immerse myself monthly with people who selflessly share their passion/expertise for education’s sake. So far, a few of my treasured, wholesome memories include teaching primary school kids Arduino in a way they get it, learning AUSLAN, shamelessly laughing at my creative writing attempts and experimenting colour theory, albeit unconventionally, with oil and acrylic paint. In return, I was able to gain enough confidence to join them and share my raw love for the piano. 

Any advice for future Splunkterns?
There’s a strange but magical balancing act between the following:

2 Words: “Being Yourself,”

And 7 Words: “You only get what you give in.”

Within less than a month, it was clear to me that Splunk strives to create safe spaces for everyone, including underrepresented groups. Womxn + ERG and Splunk for Good are one of many Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs founded by making Data accessible for everyone, everywhere. This is your explicit invitation to proudly be yourself! Even if you’re still trying to find out who exactly that is. 

I can’t express enough how lucky I am to have people, inside and outside such groups, who can not only professionally vouch for my work but correct me for the sake of my personal growth and career. The industry-level tools and crucial feedback is the extra cherry on top.

“Sure, Frannie, but where do we start?” You ask. My take? By being proactive, asking questions, making mistakes, and reaching out to anyone, anywhere, anytime for help, even if it means you have to temporarily step outside your comfort zone. In this safe, open environment, the ability to take risks with absolutely no fear of failure is a privilege you now have because of Splunk! Trust me, your efforts won’t go unnoticed. Best of luck! :)

Want to learn more about the Splunk Internship Program? Visit our Splunk University Recruiting Facebook Page and LinkedIn, or check out open Splunktern opportunities.