Atkins' Internship Program Jump-Starts Careers

In many offices across the US, we equate summertime with empty workstations while folks are away on vacation, slightly more casual attire, and fewer team-building events, lunch-and-learns, and other occasions to get to know the colleagues we work with daily.?

This is not the case at Atkins’ Houston and Austin offices. In fact, summertime marks the start of the Atkins Summer Internship Program, which brings career growth and mentorship opportunities. As an added bonus, the Employee Activity Committees plan extra company-sponsored events, happy hours and lunches to support the integration of our interns into the broader team and give our interns a seat at the table.?

A Program Built by Early Career Professionals

It's because of Atkins’ people like Marco Castro, P.E. , Shaquille Lowe , Sydney Sziber, PE , Max Ginn , Neil Mehta , and Maria Monica H. that our interns in Austin and Houston had such a rich experience this summer. The program relies on dedication when building a curriculum that fosters interest and engagement throughout the learning process.?

This year, Marco, Neil, Monica, and Sydney were appointed to Atkins’ inaugural “Internship Success Committee” along with 11 other full-time employees throughout the US. The Committee comprises five focus groups, including Curriculum development, Marketing & Recruitment, Mentorship, Intern Experience, and Supervision Essentials. The Committee is led by Shaquille Lowe (Shaq), who plays an instrumental role in intern recruitment and the overall success of the program.?

Hands-On, Immersive Field Experience

Both the Houston and the Austin groups participated in weekly Friday meetings, where interns took turns facilitating the meeting and presenting on a topic of their choice. Guest presenters from several different departments were invited throughout the summer to speak to the interns about day-to-day roles, career paths and offer general advice.?

What made each of the programs unique were the different site visits. Many remarked that these were among their favorite aspects of the program.?

The Houston group toured Houston TranStar, which is the traffic management center used by City of Houston, Harris County, METRO, and TxDOT. The group also caught a glimpse inside the Houston Police Department’s main operations area and received a full tour of the Emergency Operations Center attached to TranStar. ?The summer internship was closed out with some competitive fun, when the group went bowling together on the last day of the program.

• The Austin group participated in site visits of the Oak Hill Parkway and CapEx North Project sites, visited a Wastewater Treatment Facility in San Marcos, built a Hot Wheels Racetrack, and spent a Saturday morning together at Top Golf.

?“It's been a privilege leading our internship program in Austin this year. It was great getting to work with such a wonderful group of interns and seeing them progress throughout the summer. Having begun my Atkins career as an intern, I believe that our internship program is one-of-a-kind and allows the interns to not only perform meaningful work but also feel connected to the company culture at Atkins, and I hope to see the program continue to grow across the country. I also want to give a big thank you to my other Austin intern coordinators, Sydney Sziber and Max Ginn, and all intern managers, mentors and buddies for helping make this program so successful!” ---Marco Castro, Internship Success Committee Member

Program Success and Future Opportunities

Since 2015, on average, 30% of our Austin interns are hired on a permanent basis at the close of the internship. In 2023 alone, more than half of our Austin interns either received an offer of full-time employment, or an invitation to continue their internship part-time. In Houston, 75% of this year’s interns received an invitation to extend their internship into the fall semester or resume next summer, and 25% received full-time employment offers.

Intern Spotlight - Ryan Lott

Ryan Lott is one of the interns from the Austin program, who is continuing his internship on a part-time basis this fall.

Having just entered his junior year at Texas Tech (last week!!), Ryan is on track to complete his Civil Engineering degree with quite a bit of real-world engineering experience under his belt.

Ryan’s first internship experience was last summer (2022), where he worked in TxDOT’s Traffic Management Section under the Traffic Safety Division (TRF). At that point in his academic career, Ryan was pursuing a degree in Computer/Electrical Engineering. While Ryan always knew he wanted to be an engineer, it took some hands-on experience and guidance to figure out exactly what kind of engineering he wanted to do.?

At TxDOT, he collaborated with the strategic planning division to evaluate crash data and supported research on connected and autonomous vehicles (CV/AV). He also contributed to plan development and created a daily newsfeed to capture articles and updates on CV/AV, drones, EV, and other relevant topics to keep TxDOT staff informed. ??

At the close of the 2022 summer program, Ryan returned to Texas Tech, but took on a new role part-time as an intern in the TxDOT Lubbock District office, where he worked mostly on highway safety projects that came out of the HSIP program, which often spanned multiple counties and had a significant traffic/ITS focus.

This summer (2023), Ryan joined Atkins’ full-time internship program, where he thrived in a role that allowed him to connect with the work and the broader team on a whole new level.?I assigned a "mentor" from the software design field and a "buddy" from emerging professionals to ensure Ryan would receive guidance from experts with varying career paths that were related to his career interests.

Working closely with the Traffic/ITS group, he spent the majority of his time on a major ITS project for the TxDOT El Paso District, including CCTV/DMS, wireless/fiber, and solar/hard wire installations.

Ryan was critical to development of design justification memos, which outlined the decision-making process during design. Ryan quickly learned...it is not always about the "how," but also about the "why."

Ultimately, Ryan helped get the project team to a 95 percent submittal on five separate PS&E packages before the close of his internship.?

“My internship experience at Atkins really sealed the deal for me in terms of how I want to shape my career going forward,” said Ryan Lott. “And I have officially changed my major to Civil Engineering at Texas Tech.”

?Experiencing work environments in both the public and private sectors was beneficial to Ryan. He knew that he liked working on cars on and motorcycles, and while he enjoyed computer and electrical engineering, it wasn’t until he experienced the private consulting projects that he found his niche. Exposure to opportunities within a variety of career paths is important to Ryan, and something that will continue to drive his decision-making as he advances in his career. ??

As his Atkins supervisor, I was very impressed with Ryan’s skills, work ethic, and familiarity with production tools, and I offered him a part-time, remote internship during his fall semester. I look forward to being a part of his early engineering experience, and helping to get his career where he wants it to go.

A Model for Career Success

The success of Atkins’ internship program is no surprise, given the effort invested in providing aspiring industry professionals with hands-on learning and development. At the same time, it also strengthens leadership and supervisory skills for early career professionals throughout the business.?

The program uses a dual mentorship model where each intern is assigned a "mentor", and a "buddy". The mentor is an experienced professional who guides the intern in their future career planning and provides connections throughout the business. An intern’s buddy is an early career professional who is available in person daily to provide support and focused attention and help navigate the professional work environment.?

Another factor that makes the program so well-rounded is the diverse makeup of the Internship Success Committee. It includes full-time staff from a variety of Atkins’ business units across the US at various stages in their career. This helps to ensure their experience is truly representative of Atkins.

?Accepting an Offer

The Atkins' intern coordinators guided interns how to evaluate and compare multiple job offers, especially when an apples-to-apples comparison cannot be made.?While a bigger salary may be the shiniest object, type of work, day-to-day activities, health benefits, flex hours, travel time to the office, and others should be factored in when considering future opportunities.

Overall, the Atkins National Internship Program was a great success this summer. With offers being made across the country, we are confident and proud to have such an elite group of young engineers joining our workforce; ready and eager to improve safety, efficiency, and mobility for the traveling public. Let's get to work!

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