[Erin Rapacki]

When it comes to gaining internships and/or other engineering jobs before you graduate college; it's true, you will have to start small and grow from there. Don't give up though - a start is a start (and it's better to start sooner than later). Get the boring Microsoft Office "slave labor to supervisor" jobs out of the way while you're in college and each year you will grow more into an independent role at whatever company(ies) you choose. When you graduate college you'll be much ahead of the rest of the crowd because you will have that foundation in job experience.

I had my first engineering-related internship at Hamilton Sundstrand when I was 17 years old. I had just graduated High School (no college yet at all). Yes, there were times when I couldn't stand making any more copies, retyping documents, or play with excel spreadsheets anymore. However, I found a place for myself by teaching other engineers how to use Microsoft Access. After that I began receiving more responsibility. That summer was also about becoming acquainted with the office environment (it is a really different environment for a person that young and only has High School as a frame of reference).

I’ve continued to have these internships:

Summer 2002: Hamilton Sundstrand JSF Electronic Controls
Summer 2003: Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems: EMU (space suit) Project Group
Jan-June 2004: DEKA Research & Development: iBOT Test Technician
Jan-June 2005: Pratt & Whitney GP7000 Commodity Management
Jan-Aug 2006: unconfirmed location (some company near Boston)
May 2007: GRADUATION in Industrial Engineering!

Unless you commit yourself to a company for every one of your internships don’t expect too much responsibility either. Large companies, in particular, have issues with developing procedures for certain tasks. Instead, they pass along a task to a certain individual and BAM! That individual owns that task for life. Therefore, because an internship is temporary help; if the supervisor has an intern do a specific task the supervisor will be struggling after the intern leaves to find another person to take on that task later on. Haha, in some ways, an intern’s presence can mess up company’s method of work.

Of course, I can’t be speaking for all companies, only the overly bureaucratic large ones that I’m familiar with (you’ll notice a lot of sarcasm among engineers too, it’s somewhat refreshing). Research internships are probably really different as well. DEKA was very different in expectation and responsibility from the UTC companies I’m familiar with too. Yes, one recommendation, vary your experiences. 1) You’ll get a better idea of what it is you actually enjoy doing. 2) You’ll be well rounded for when you figure out the kind of job you want. You’ll know what other people’s responsibilities are from a personal perspective (makes you a better leader).

It's the little things that matter during your first internships. Such as "what is my supervisor talking about? Asking for? Where can I find that information? How should I nag this person for that information I need?" Learn to ask for details, ask questions, and approach people. Another over-looked skill not only to figure out what questions need to be asked, but also how to ask the question so the other person understands what you want (language barrier because of acronym over-use).

Ok, I think that’s enough random advice for now.



erin
"Professional Intern"