My Internship Takeaways

A new semester starts tomorrow, so I decided to take the time to reflect back before life gets busy again.

I recently concluded my amazing internship experience with Nexen Energy ULC. I worked as a Facilities Engineering Intern on the Aurora LNG team for 8 months. Here are a few things I learned:

Collaboration to Unlock Potentials

Being an engineering student, formulas and equations are usually who I work with; but working on the front end of a project warrants exposure to different aspects that I never encountered: legal, regulatory, environment, aboriginal and community consultation, and of course, engineering. Everyone needed to be aligned on objectives for the project to move forward coherently, and one words that describes it is collaboration. By leveraging everyones' strengths, all aspects of the project was completed on schedule and on budget. That is the potential of effective team work.

Opportunity and Development

My mentality going into the internship was to learn as much as possible; but being a "student", I did not want to demand a lot of resources: time, money, or opportunities. I was wrong. If I do not actively seek out opportunities, no one will be able to help make them a reality. Throughout my time with Nexen, I toured 4 different sites, attended a couple of training sessions and listened in on numerous lunch and learns. I grew tremendously from these experiences. I had also reached out to other for help with achieving my own goals, and I am forever grateful for the opportunities I had and the people I met at Nexen.

Celebrate Achievements

Working in a depressed commodity price market appeared to be daunting. Projects are cancelled here and there, layoffs are occurring industry wide, and there does not seem to be a promising future in sight. I learned through celebrating achievements, minor or major, bring the team together, motivate individual performance, and ultimately pushes everyone to strive for greatness. I saw first hand how impactful a recognition, or a congratulation was to team morale, and focuses everyone from distractions of the industry. This also helps everyone to create tangible goals

Safety First

Being a new and young worker (under 25), I am at the highest risk of safety incidents. I appreciate when an organization does not just talk or practice safety, but live it with everything that they are involved in; and Nexen is one of these organizations.

Everything good must come to an end!

Thank you for everything Nexen and thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way!