How a Bank of America Internship Changed the Way Pauline Lu Thinks About Technology
As a Business Analyst Intern at Bank of America, Pauline Lu spends her days helping one of the world's largest financial institutions navigate the complex relationship between people, processes, and technology. It is work that requires both analytical rigor and human understanding. For Pauline, those two strengths have become inseparable.
When she first arrived at Calvin, she was looking for an education that would allow her to connect seemingly different interests. Drawn to computer science, entrepreneurship, and philosophy, she wanted to understand not only how technology works but also how it shapes organizations and influences the people who use it.
Today, she is applying that interdisciplinary perspective in a professional setting.
Technology Starts with Trust
Like many students interested in technology, Pauline entered the role expecting innovation to be primarily about building products and creating new solutions. Instead, she discovered something deeper.
"People have to trust a tool or product before they'll actually rely on it," she explains. "It's not just about adoption. It's about user confidence."
That realization completely changed how she thinks about technology. Rather than measuring success solely by functionality, she began paying attention to the systems that surround a product: how users interact with it, how teams support it, and whether the solution can scale effectively over time. The experience pushed her toward systems thinking, helping her see how individual decisions ripple across an organization.
Seeing the Bigger System
Many of the lessons she encountered during her internship connected with ideas she had already been exploring in the classroom. Classes in design thinking, entrepreneurship, finance, and software engineering gave Pauline opportunities to approach problems from different angles and work across both technical and business contexts.
More importantly, they taught her how to translate ideas between different groups of people, bridging conversations among stakeholders, developers, and end users.
Pauline was also struck by the scale of a global financial institution. The complexity of the teams, processes, and systems revealed just how important communication can be in a large organization. Yet one of the biggest surprises was how often success depended on asking thoughtful questions.
"So much of the work came down to requirements gathering," Pauline says. "You have to ask the right questions to stakeholders to figure out what they actually need."
She started to understand that problem-solving begins long before a solution is proposed. Effective business analysts uncover the real challenges beneath the surface and consider multiple perspectives before determining a path forward.
Technology with a Purpose
The approach also connects with how Pauline views her calling and purpose. Studying philosophy alongside technical and business disciplines has encouraged her to think critically about the broader impact of technology while remaining committed to serving others. Her faith has reinforced the importance of empathy, stewardship, and seeking solutions that genuinely benefit people rather than simply advancing innovation for its own sake.
As she looks toward graduation, Pauline is focused on a career where she can use technology to solve problems that matter. Her internship reinforced a belief that has shaped her college experience: technology is most effective when it begins with an understanding of the people it is meant to serve.
