Making The Most of a Summer Internship

It’s that time of the year where everyone is updating their Facebook and LinkedIn profiles to reflect where they will be working for this summer. As I see the updates and additions to their profiles, I’m excited to see my fellow classmates and peers gain exposure and obtain experience in the industries their companies are established in.

As a rising senior, this summer is crucial to the full-time job search. If you perform exceptionally well within the workplace, you could be looking at a full-time offer from your employer before you set foot on campus for senior year! This would be a blessing for most as college graduates continue to face mounting student loan debt but are graduating into a promising job market.

I’ve learned a couple of key, valuable lessons from my past summer internships and semester research opportunities during the school year.  I’ve also have a better understanding of my weaknesses when I interact with others in the workplace, classroom, etc.

Here are some of my internship goals for the summer:

Getting to Know Everyone in The Office

As much as my main responsibilities and focus will be dedicated to the project and team members I’m working with, I still want to make a conscious effort to learn the names of everyone who I share office space with. Three months is a short time for any job opportunity, so I want to make the most of it and get to know other engineers – their name, who they are, what projects they are working on, their role/function in their team, their favorite color, what they like to do in their spare time, whether they root for the Auburn or Alabama college football team (it’s an Alabama thing, trust me), etc. Everyone around me has a story to them that has currently brought them to the workplace, and I would love to learn more about their background and views on work and life. There is more to an internship than just gaining work experience – it’s a valuable opportunity to see the different life paths others take to get to where they are today.

Understanding How My Role Fits into The Big Picture

In previous summer internships as a rising freshman, sophomore, and junior, I would always ask “What do you need me to do?” as any intern would, but rarely “How does my task fit into the project as a whole?” I believe it’s important to ask the latter question as often as the first – it’s important to know how your contribution to a particular project or workflow impacts the rest of your team, the project, and the company as a whole. For example, when I was performing design reviews of the 3D CAD Models for parts that would eventually be manufactured and installed on an actual Boeing 737, I was confused as to how my reviewing would impact others’ work. I went over to my technical lead to ask him this pressing question, and he explained that my structural reviews of the computer generated part models benefited the workflow in two ways: one, if I noticed that the model did not adhere to certain tolerances, I would mark it down and work with the structural designer who created that part to fix any raised issues; and two, for the structural analyst who would then receive this part after I give my approval, they would be able to perform the appropriate analyses on the part, knowing that the dimensions and geometry meet manufacturing and structural standards.

Having this knowledge allowed me to be more aware of the magnitude of responsibility I had within my simple task as an intern, and gave me the confidence that I was making a real impact on the final product, a Boeing 737.

Bonding with My Fellow Interns

I’ll be honest with you all – I haven’t made the best effort when it comes to meeting interns from other schools. Either work would keep me too busy, or I’d be too shy to muster the courage to meet others. But not anymore – I’m going to put my best foot forward when it comes to meeting other interns. Even though my school finishes around a month later than other interns, I’m still going to attempt to come to intern events to bond with my collegiate peers. Sometimes I feel that because they’ve already have established groups and rapport with one another, it would be too late for me to get involved as well. I don’t believe that’s the case though, and I won’t know for certain until I put myself out there and meet my fellow future engineers!

Being Upfront about My Future with The Company

I’m not here to hide my future plans – my immediate near-future goal is to go to graduate school for Aerospace Engineering to focus on subject matter of Materials & Structures, especially building simulations in Finite Element Analysis software and building better composite materials. It is important to have these discussions upfront from day one instead of waiting till the close of the internship. Some would argue it’s too early to talk about your future at the company you’re interning at, but keep in mind, this company hired you as an intern to see whether you have the skills and whether you’re ultimately the right fit to transition to a full-time employee.

The company clearly invested in your future by hiring you as an intern – it would be remiss of you to not recognize that. Therefore, you should do everything in your power to bolster this mutual relationship so your career gets off on the right foot, and the company has a strong, dedicated worker who is truly willing to help advance the cause and mission of the organization. I want them to know I am in it for the long haul to help move us towards their stated goals while the company is willing to invest in helping me further my education and improve my skill set.

Whether you’re a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior, what are your summer internship goals?

#StudentVoices

A version of this article was previously published on the Frederick Daso's blog. You can find out more of his writing at his personal blog: Millennial Aspirations.