Question by jaysomethin: How important is a mechanical engineering freshman’s summer job to future employers?
I just finished my first year of mechanical engineering at college. There’s a paid graphic arts internship that I’m interested in and can easily get. Getting a mechanical engineering-related internship or job would be much harder because I live in NYC and things are competitive. How much should I worry about getting engineering-related experience in my first summer?
Best answer:
Answer by Ferf
I am a 51-year-old mechanical engineer who had to hire, on different occasions, two experienced mechanical engineers and one right-out-of-school mechanical engineer. So I have some but not a heck of a lot of experience hiring.
My two cents: Don’t sweat it, take the graphic arts internship . You are too early in your studies to worry about getting an engineering summer job THIS summer. Do worry about getting an engineering summer job NEXT summer.
My reasoning:
1.-No offense, but if I remember freshman year right (it’s been a while) you probably haven’t had the serious engineering courses that would allow you to have a serious engineering summer job freshman summer anyway.
Basically, you can take the graphic arts job, be happy, not do any engineering work this summer, or you can search for a so-called engineering job, be miserable and STILL you wouldn’t get to do any engineering work this summer.
2.-One common complaint from **my** students now and from **my** classmates when I was a student is that engineering summer jobs pretty much suck. You basically end up, well, carrying my briefcase.
Even if the summer job is an engineering job you don’t get to do real engineering work. I remember being an engineer at one of the “Big Three” automotive industry companies, and the summer students rebelling because they wanted “engineering jobs”. We the engineers told the bosses “Never mind the kids! We (the engineers) want real engineer work because ALL we do all day is PAPER work”.
3.-By all means, put your very best effort to get engineering experience in your next summer jobs, no question about it. However, when we (51-year-old engineers) hire right-out-of-school engineers we know you do not have experience. If we had wanted experienced engineers that’s what we would’ve asked HR to get. In any organization you do need a mix of experienced and right-out-of-school engineers.
But back to the non-engineering graphic arts job this summer.
Want to get the most out of the graphic arts job? Do it well. Be dependable. Have initiative. Be resourceful at work. Impress your boss(es). Get into project or management work as much as you can (do things like organizing, assigning work, setting and controlling schedules). By any devious yet moral ways try to become a group or team leader. Do your best to get “communication” tasks, meaning tasks that forces you to develop your verbal and written communication skills. Make verbal presentations to clients. Write reports.
Sound like very little engineering? All of that is what I do the most at work. And I am a design/R&D engineer.
What I am trying to say is, if you get experience in what I have just told you this summer **I** will hire you myself when you graduate because all of those things I mentioned are most of what you will do in a “real” engineering job anyway.
When you graduate, you tell your interviewer you did all those things I just mentioned, and you will be ahead of your classmates who were doing “engineering” summer jobs.
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