Internships

[sgreco]

If you're looking for an internship ask one of of your team's sponsors. My team has had a lot of success with this in the past. 5 of our current sponsors have employed team members and we have never had any of our team members looking for a job with one of our sponsors get denied. I am currently employed close to full time over the summer making SolidWorks models for a industrial vacuum pump company, and basically designing custom applications for their pumps. All I did was ask a sponsor if for a job, and they gave it to me.

[Andrew Schreiber]

My younger brother did some work for Delphi a couple years ago when he was still in high school. That internship was arranged through contacts we had in FIRST. He worked 4 hours a day 5 days a week while going to school (this was for class credit).

I am currently a cooperative education student at a software company in Michigan. I found this job at an employment fair. I currently work 40 hours a week (minimum). This is for college credit.

Both positions were/are paid.

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

Also, pet peeve of mine, do not say you are working as an engineer, or are an engineer, until you own a degree that tells you so.

Quoted for great truthiness. I am not a Computer Scientist. I am currently a student studying Computer Science. To bestow upon yourself a title which you did not earn is disrespectful to those that earned it.

[Joe Ross]

You are probably too late for an internship at a large company for this summer. Typically they will have structured programs that you should be applying for months in advance. Large companies will also screen based on GPA. In college a lot of them look for a 3.0 (and many a lot higher then that), I would expect it to be even higher for high school.

As others said, your best bet will be with smaller companies that you have personal contacts with, for example your team's sponsors, your mentor's companies, and family friends. At this level one of the main criteria will be how hard you work, so hopefully you've impressed your references. At a company without a structured program you could probably negotiate your hours. However if you want to do anything "real" you're probably looking at a 40 hour week.

Also realize that a lot of employers will google you now also. Thus it's important to make sure your online personality reflects your offline personality.

[Garret]

In the past members from my team have gotten internships at JPL. Our mentor from JPL would help them get the internships I think. from what I have heard from them the internships are really good.

I really do not know much else other than this because most of this happened before I was on the team. All I know is that they still offer them but nothing other that.

[MGoelz]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

You need to get pretty lucky to get them in high school.

It's not about luck. It's about who you know and how determined you are to get a position with a particular company.

During first semester of my senior year of high school, I was an intern at Rolls-Royce. Their system is really competitive. There's an application process and they only pick 6 students per semester. The experiences you gain there are invaluable, though. They rotate you through three different departments so you get a variety of experience and small projects. All but one of the students during my time there was on a FIRST team.

During second semester, I got into Allison Transmission via a mentor from my team. I've done a lot of organization and simple data analysis since I've been here. I got in the middle of a rather large project near the end of the school year, and my supervisor asked me to stay over the summer, so that's how I'm here. It wasn't hard to get the internship here at all.

Just a few pointers:
On your resume include a section about all that you've done with robotics and how that can translate into a particular company's needs.

Remember, it's a job. And you are the primary benefactor because in an internship, you are surrounded by highly knowledgable people. Always be respectful, and always be observant.

An internship is also very time consuming. During my last year of high school, I couldn't participate in very many after school activities because of it, but it was well worth it, in my opinion.

[rcmolloy]

Thanks to my mother and father, I will be interning at Concord Engineering Group in Voorhees, NJ. I don't know my hours and pay yet but it should be pretty solid. One of the co-workers I will be interning with and learning from is a BIG fan of FIRST and has been with it since it's EPCOT's days. I'm not sure if he has been to the recent competitions but I have heard he is a huge fan.

[davidthefat]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

Also realize that a lot of employers will google you now also. Thus it's important to make sure your online personality reflects your offline personality.

LOLS, not a good thing on my side... BRB erasing my internet profiles... Is that even legal though? Its personal life compared to professional life.. Does not seem right

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

LOLS, not a good thing on my side... BRB erasing my internet profiles... Is that even legal though? Its personal life compared to professional life.. Does not seem right

Why would it be illegal to use Google for anything?

Be aware you can never truly "delete" anything you put on the Internet.

[Joe Ross]

Here's a relatively old (in internet time) article about googling potential employees: http://www.seopedia.org/tips-tricks/...-write-online/

In more recent articles, I've seen that more then 50% of employers will google you now.

Communication skills is definitely something that they look at.

[EricH]

Personal life can often affect professional life, and vice versa. The habits you form in your personal life may or may not filter into your professional life. Employers realize this.

Let us say, for the sake of example, that I had a picture on some other website of myself and some high-school friends having a beer, and the person who was going to be employing me over the summer had access to that page (through legal means, of course--friend's father, let's say, is the employer, or privacy settings are at no privacy). What does that picture say about my likely choices? What does it say about the kind of friends I hang out with?

One picture might not do much. But let's also say that I have several pictures of that sort, taken on different days, mingled in with a few pictures of a family vacation or similar things. What pattern do you see developing if you're an employer?

If I was an employer looking at that type of thing, I'd see someone who might be having serious lapses in judgment; someone who might easily be late (hangovers); someone who doesn't follow the law (which may then come back to bite me, as you never know if they might cause something to disappear). That's what I'd see. The first two might not be a problem; the third one might be enough for me not to hire them at all.

(Note: I have no pictures of that sort that I know about, let alone having them online. The above is simply an example of what could happen.)

[davidthefat]

Oh darn, thats not good news for me in the future, I do not use good grammar nor do I use good spelling or high diction... "Davidthefat" also sounds unprofessional, but its also creative? Am I linked to criminal activities? I don't think so, but I do not have the vibe of a very professional person, but a very nonchalant person. But I guess I am also nonchalant in real life too.

[Zach O]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

"Davidthefat" also sounds unprofessional, but its also creative?

Unprofessional? Using "LOLS", "BRB", and random characters for anger, especially on this forum, is also unprofessional. It's completely legal for your employeer to Google you, and if I owned my own business, I'd do it frequently. Generally however, if you don't attach your name to a handle, you're good to go.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

Oh darn, thats not good news for me in the future, I do not use good grammar nor do I use good spelling or high diction... "Davidthefat" also sounds unprofessional, but its also creative? Am I linked to criminal activities? I don't think so, but I do not have the vibe of a very professional person, but a very nonchalant person. But I guess I am also nonchalant in real life too.

1) You can change your CD username

2) Consider changing your grammar and spelling if you don't think you are professional enough.

And, yes, companies do Google for employees. Where I work does it all the time.

[kjolana1124]

I'll give money to the first person who can find me on Google. I say that because no matter WHAT I DO I can't. It actually kind of depresses me xD Then again, that was before I was really active on Twitter and here, so that may change now. But before getting to my Facebook was impossible. If anyone finds me, tell me because I honestly want to know how to do it so I know what employers will be seeing.

Of course, as soon as I say this I check to find my Twitter as the fifth hit and a topic I started here the 7th

So yeah, they will find you xD

[Bmcdonnell]

I got an internship working with labview, designing a program that sets off alarms if 10000 gallon tanks over flow, theres more to it, but thats the basic jist.