Summer Internship

[Xicor01]

Hey zilvia, (I don't know if this is the right area, mods feel free to move it.)

I am a sophomore/junior undergraduate student at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology studying mechanical engineering and physics as a double major. If you have never heard of my school, that's okay. We keep a low profile but we have been number one in undergraduate engineering for the last fourteen consecutive years. We output hundreds of engineers each year and have found our place in the Midwest.

I come to you because I am tired of the big name, faceless companies that come to our career fair asking for us to sit behind desks and design parts without actually doing any hands on work. I have worked for Nook in the R&D department last summer designing some equipment for them and now I'm looking for an opportunity for this summer. I am interested in a summer internship in a fabrication / design for this coming summer of 2013.

I have recently found myself becoming interested in the automotive field and everything that it involves. I spend my free time on this forum and others like it finding out everything I can, but I just don't think that I can get the same level of experience as I could if I was put into a fabrication shop. I want to learn, design, and build products for cars and real customers. If this is really something that I'm interested in then I feel like i should probably get a taste before I'm out there looking for a job in a few years.

Any response is welcome and I will respond the best I can in a timely manner. I do have a resume that is being updated for those who request one.

TL;DR: Rose-Hulman mechanical engineering and physics double major is looking for a summer internship in fabrication and design.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from anyone.

[bc.]

First of all, my engineering school is better than your engineering school now that we got that out of the way, let me try to give you some advice!

Internships are always a good idea, but keep in mind, when you work for an auto company, it will also be a 'big name' company...

One thing to realize about working for an auto company is that you will most likely be working on emissions systems, so if that is what you want, cool. I choose to keep my job and my interest separate, when I want to do car stuff, I work on my car.

A true, hands on engineer, is most likely gonna be on a factory floor, working QA or something like that. I worked on machine validation at Goodyear in Kansas, very hands on, no desk.

You can PM me your resume if you would like, I don't mind helping a bother-in-trade.

[Xicor01]

Yeah, which school? I just see so many aftermarket parts being produced,"research" being done on suspension parts, race teams designing body panels for down force and tons of other examples in the automotive industry happening. I just want to be apart of that.

oh and yeah your right, Career fairs have the one or two automotive companies, and your right they are always focused on emissions and that's not really where I want to go.

Really i'm trying to make my interest a job, i know its not that smart of a decision, but i would rather do it for a summer and learn that its not for me, vs doing it as a career and have to bail in a year or two.

[bc.]

Originally Posted by Xicor01

Really i'm trying to make my interest a job, i know its not that smart of a decision, but i would rather do it for a summer and learn that its not for me, vs doing it as a career and have to bail in a year or two.

Doing what interests you as a job can be vary rewarding, don't get me wrong, it is just harder to find that. I see what you are saying about the aftermarket side of things though, I didn't realize that is what you were talking about. But I don't know how many "engineers" they actually have for that stuff, esp. when you think about how much of that is just copied from other people. Sitting at a desk and doing CAD would be a waste of your education in my opinion, I was doing CAD in high school.



Missouri S&T is my alma mater.
10 Best Value Engineering Schools

Rose-Hulman is private, so it is difficult to compare the two.
Full List of Schools - PayScale College Salary Report 2012-13

[Xicor01]

yeah I did, CAD all through high school. IDK i realize that they probably dont have too many engineers on that stuff but if some custom guys were looking for a little help on some stuff over the summer then i could help. i'm just trying to find a place to be this summer. My other option was to do an internship with NSA but their application process is so confusing.

yeah I know its hard to compare the two, I wouldn't be here if I didn't have scholarships.

[bc.]

Originally Posted by Xicor01

yeah I did, CAD all through high school. IDK i realize that they probably dont have too many engineers on that stuff but if some custom guys were looking for a little help on some stuff over the summer then i could help. i'm just trying to find a place to be this summer. My other option was to do an internship with NSA but their application process is so confusing.

yeah I know its hard to compare the two, I wouldn't be here if I didn't have scholarships.

Call up AMS and see if the would take on a ME as an intern. Or Cosworth or someone. They aren't gonna be able to pay like those big companies though and you will be relocating, but is probably gonna happen anyway.

[Silverbullet]

I wanted to follow up and see where you ended up this summer or if you are still looking.

Personally, i don't think the tuning industry has too much of a need for engineers just based on the market size. If you are intersted in the automotive field, have you thought about looking at Tesla Motors or any of the traditional manufactures? With the recent success of Tesla, the other manufactures are pushing hard to develop EVs that are competetive.

Good luck on your pursuit of becoming an engineer.