Navigating the Path: A Guide to Project Engineer Internship Requirements

Engineering is a vast field encompassing innovation, design, and problem-solving across numerous sub-categories. Landing an engineering internship can be an exciting prospect, offering valuable experience and insights into the life of a full-time engineer. These internships provide opportunities to connect with mentors, learn industry tips and tricks, and build relationships with colleagues possessing diverse expertise.

The Allure of Engineering Internships

Engineering internships offer numerous advantages, helping students strengthen their resumes, secure valuable letters of recommendation, and potentially transition into full-time positions. They provide a taste of real-world engineering, allowing interns to apply classroom learning to practical projects.

Skill Development

Internships allow for building both hard and soft skills, and you’ll even network with people who could help you down the line. In any case, you’ll gain skills that range from technical, interpersonal, and problem-solving. Internship opportunities in engineering can foster mastery of using both soft and technical skills to enrich and change the way we think and how we live. During your engineering internship, you’ll learn some great soft skills like time management, accountability, organization, and teamwork. Additionally, you’ll be immersed in the world of engineering which will help develop knowledge of quantitative aptitude, how to manage engineering projects effectively, and about your company’s personal impact on the industry.

Networking Opportunities

Whether they’re industry professionals or fellow interns, it’s important to treat them with equal respect. You never know what insights they could lend, or who could be a valuable connection down the line, five or ten years from now.

Real-World Experience

Our University Internship Program gives students the chance to apply classroom learning to real projects. By participating in our engineering internship program, you get to experience the heavy-civil industry and Granite Construction.

Types of Engineering Roles

With so many sub-categories of engineering, it’s not easy to neatly synthesize what exactly all engineers do. Here are some different types of engineering roles to think about when assessing your career path:

Software Engineers
Chemical Engineers
Aerospace Engineers
Industrial Engineers
Biomedical Engineers
Civil Engineers
Electrical Engineers

Behind your favorite inventions, products, or even the device you're reading on right now, there’s an engineering team brainstorming the next latest and greatest. Depending on the type of engineering you’re interested in, you could be coding or building inspirational and innovative content.

Finding the Right Internship

Internships in engineering can fall under any of the sub-majors of engineering. Internships in any type of engineering are meant to guide you towards your desired career path and your summer or fall 2021 engineering internship could kick it in the right direction. By searching through engineer career paths and utilizing Handshake filters when applying for engineering internships, you can guide yourself in the right direction.

Companies Offering Engineering Internships

Many companies hire engineers for both full-time and internship roles, including:

Procter & Gamble (P&G)
Honeywell
Philips
Vertiv
Boeing Company
Kiewit
Kimley-Horn
SteelFab
Ralph L. Sundt Construction
W.W. Clyde
Amazon
Merit Medical

Even companies that don’t seem to have a main focus in engineering are looking for bright interns to help them develop.

Read also: What is Project-Based Learning?

Utilizing Online Platforms

When searching for engineering internships, it’s key to use the location filters provided on Handshake. You’ll be able to pinpoint engineering internships easily by selecting the city you want in the search bar. Easy engineering internships in your preferred city are just a search away.

Preparing for Your Internship Journey

Resume and Profile Optimization

Before you start sending out applications, make sure your resume is up to date and that you have fully filled out all your Handshake profile details! Recruiters are much more likely to message a student with a complete Handshake profile that says you want to work in engineering than an unfinished one. When putting together your resume, make sure to have all your skills, courses, and accomplishments laid out for employers to view. Also having your preferred job role and location on your Handshake profile is a great way to signal your interest to potential recruiters.

For engineering interns, some great skills to list would be specific technical skills, time management, ability to follow through and execute, and ability to contribute and collaborate in a team setting. It’s also key to mention organizations or projects that you led and can explain thoroughly.Required: High level competency in PDF’s, Microsoft Project, Excel and Word, and common computer skills.

Interview Preparation

When you land your first interview, be it a virtual interview or in person, make sure to come prepared and dressed to impress. Review your resume and cover letter to make sure you have specific examples of your experience to share, from clubs or coursework. You can even schedule a mock interview with your university’s career center or, if you’re tight on time, ask a trusted friend to grill you on some common interview questions.

Networking Strategies

Once you’ve landed an internship in engineering and settled into your day-to-day, start chatting with your coworkers! Don’t be afraid to ask your new colleagues out for quick coffee chats, or request 15-minute informational interviews about their career trajectory.

Read also: Benefits of Service Learning

What to Expect During Your Internship

Common Tasks and Responsibilities

Engineering interns learn how to plan and execute technical production, communicate their visions effectively, and collaborate with a team on a shared goal. As an intern you might be expected to take care of some basic tasks and then move further up once you’ve grasped them. As a Project Engineer Intern at SteelFab, you’ll work closely with our Preconstruction and Project Management teams. Project Management duties will be based on project schedules.

Learning and Development

During your engineering internship, you’ll learn some great soft skills like time management, accountability, organization, and teamwork. Additionally, you’ll be immersed in the world of engineering which will help develop knowledge of quantitative aptitude, how to manage engineering projects effectively, and about your company’s personal impact on the industry.

Compensation and Timing

Paid Internships

Yes, you can find paid engineering internships on Handshake by using the search filters! Engineering interns’ earnings are dependent on the employer and the field they’re working in-just like how full-time positions of each respective industry of engineering vary.

When to Apply

It’s always a good idea to start earlier, rather than later when it comes to internships! Once you’re adjusted to your university workload and other engagements, you should apply to a few internships that seem interesting to you-even if they don’t exactly line up with your major. If you’re unsure about how busy you’ll be later on in college, it never hurts to speak with your career advisor or an upperclassmen in the same major. That way you’ll get an idea of what your schedule might be like and then can begin thinking about when to start applying for an engineering internship.

The Boeing Company: A Case Study

Boeing is more than airplanes. More than satellites. More than cutting-edge cyber solutions. We work together with advanced technology on projects for the defense and intelligence communities.

Diverse Engineering Roles at Boeing

Electrical engineers work closely with our customers to develop electronic and electrical systems for Boeing aircraft, and world-class autonomous robotic systems for space, terrestrial, and underwater hardware.
Flight engineers are essential to the development, safety and success of our products and solutions.
Discover how you can make a difference at Boeing as an industrial engineer.
As a Test and Evaluation Engineer at Boeing, you'll ensure that our next-generation commercial and defense products and systems meet the highest standards.
As a software engineer at Boeing your code will power products that defy gravity and fly faster than the speed of sound.
Mechanical and structural engineers at Boeing develop and apply innovative technologies that shape the future.
Discover how you can make a difference at Boeing as a product security engineer.
At Boeing, our production engineers use their skills to build the future of advanced manufacturing.

Boeing's Commitment to Talent Development

Our tuition assistance program pays your institution directly so you don't have to. Suellen achieved her dream to become a Boeing engineer. Since interning, Emily completed rotations in four business units and worked on the cargo air vehicle program. Boeing's partnership with Thurgood Marshall College Fund is an initiative supporting HBCUs through campus recruitment, career immersion, scholarships, and more.

Additional Resources

A good way to delve even deeper into your career path growth is to attend a virtual event or two. Not only will you be getting more advice about your own career, but there will also be chances to network with employers, industry specialists, and other students sharing different perspectives.

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