The author, Tyler Nguyen, joined the Developer Relations team at InfluxDB as a summer intern in 2022 to gain experience in the computer science industry. He completed an introductory course on InfluxDB and then worked on a challenge that required him to write data to InfluxDB using various methods such as client libraries, API, CLI, and Telegraf plugins. He encountered issues with his Windows machine but resolved them by switching to MacOS. The challenge also involved creating automated tasks and custom dashboards to visualize the data. Through this experience, Tyler gained hands-on knowledge of InfluxDB and its ecosystem, developed problem-solving skills, and learned about teamwork and community engagement.