Gaining Confidence at KnowClick
Hi everyone! My name is Devin Downing, a senior advertising major with a brand strategy & research concentration. I just want to start out by saying that these past few years have been an absolute journey. I started out undeclared, then declared into STHM, and am now graduating in Advertising. With making so many changes, I felt like I had been playing catch up and was still unsure if I chose the right major. Interning at KnowClick this spring 2025 showed me that I did.
KnowClick is an internet marketing service that primarily works with Pharma Companies. It’s a very small company, consisting of only 8 employees (including me). Because of that, things are very hands on and everyone wants to help you in whatever way they can. If you don’t want to work under a big company where you’re kind of seen as replaceable, I’d definitely recommend KnowClick.
They use quantitative research, digital analytics, and qualitative research to conduct all of the work they do. My role is titled as Qualitative Analyst Intern, however, I barely did any qualitative research and I’m thankful I didn’t. It just so happened that the qual projects were finishing up as my internship began. This was scary to me because I thought I never wanted to do quantitative research. I just didn’t want to deal with math, numbers, and overly complicated things. However, I ended up learning that quant is nothing like that. While I do deal with numbers, none of it is complicated and the most math I may have to do is simple addition.
Like I mentioned earlier, I changed my major a few times. This led to a lot of a lot of insecurities regarding my decision making in school work and my current internship. The imposter syndrome was very real. Thankfully, throughout my internship, that faded and turned into confidence. I learned that my ideas, insights, and overall presence was very helpful to projects and to the company as a whole. Being able to contribute to real projects outside of school helped me learn and see that things aren’t just white and black in the professional world.
I’ve been so used to turning something in, receiving a grade, and moving on that I didn’t think about all the collaboration that really happens on projects. Understanding that I can contribute to things in more than one way really allowed me to grow and flourish in my role. So if you’re in the same boat as me, feeling the imposter syndrome and just trying to fake it till you make it, i promise that you’ll make it.
Hey Devin —
Really appreciated reading your post. Knowing you from a few classes, it’s cool to hear the full story behind your journey — I didn’t realize you started in STHM. I actually came into Temple through the Fox School for Marketing before landing in this program too, so I get the whole “trying to catch up” feeling. Same deal for me — it finally clicked once I made the switch.
I thought it was awesome how your internship shifted your view on quant. I know you said you were nervous about the numbers, but it’s great that it wasn’t as intimidating as expected. I’m actually really into quant and hoping to work in analytics post-grad, so hearing how you found value in it — even unexpectedly — was really refreshing.
Also totally feel you on the imposter syndrome. Once you start contributing to real work and people treat your input like it matters, that confidence builds quick. Was there a moment at KnowClick where that really set in for you?
And I’m right there with you on breaking out of the “assignment, grade, move on” mindset. Real-world projects are way more collaborative — messy in the best way. Glad to hear you found your footing, and I’m sure I’ll still catch you around in the Discords. The grind continues!
– Dylan