Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering Internships

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greenman1
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Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2019 3:49 pm

Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering Internships

Post by greenman1 »

My nephew is starting junior year in college and recently switched to a Mechanical Engineering major. He took a few courses for the ME major before making the decision to switch He is a good student with a 3.72 GPA so far. However he have not had any jobs or internships. His dream job is to work for NASA or Tesla or such companies as a design engineer.

I am trying to advise him on his plans but I am not familiar with the field or the companies that may hire entry level mechanical engineers. Any advice is appreciated, especially from Mechanical or Aeronautical engineers here, on companies that may offer internships and how to become a good candidate to land one of those internships next summer.

Will working as a entry level technician in a local Auto shop help internship chances, even if just to demonstrate work ethic and time management skills?
rmdashrfsplat
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Re: Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering Internships

Post by rmdashrfsplat »

I used to interview engineering interns and new hires for my group on-campus. It's been almost 10 years, so my thoughts may be outdated.

I recommend your nephew discuss this with his university's department of engineering's career services group. They will have info on which companies recruit and when, career fair info, interviewing information, etc.

Most of our internships and coops were offered to juniors and above - it's possible to land one as a sophomore, but one has to stand out (excellent interview, novel experience, etc) or the hiring company had bad luck interviewing older students.

The auto shop job wouldn't matter one way or the other to me if I were screening his resume; however, it might give him good stories for the behavioral interview questions.

Internship candidates can often look the same on paper since theyre all often taking the same classes and there isnt a lot of opportunity to differentiate. Good GPA or novel skills (e.g., actual experience with CAD/CAE tools) can land an interview. The ability to handle their half of a conversation and tell a cogent story to make an impact during the interview (interviewer might conduct 10 interviews in a day for one or two spots) can land an offer.
little_star
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Re: Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering Internships

Post by little_star »

Your nephew should look at the NASA "Space Grant" website for his home state and for the state where he goes to college (if they are different). I believe that almost every state has a Space Grant consortium, usually run out of one of the universities, but with scholarships and internship opportunities for anyone affiliated with the state. My state's version of this lists all NASA internship opportunities, in addition to small scholarship awards. All NASA internships are competitive, but they have to be awarded to someone...and your nephew is only eligible if he applies!

In addition to the above, your nephew should consult with career services at his college. There are often good relations between specific schools and specific companies.
SRenaeP
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Re: Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering Internships

Post by SRenaeP »

I agree that your nephew should coordinate with the engineering school and/or career services. He should also start looking on the jobs/career sites for his target companies. A lot of companies will start posting internship requisitions now. It seems early but it really isn't. At my Fortune 500 employer and others, the internship cycle essentially starts at the end of the summer once the former interns have returned to school and been offered a follow on internship/permanent position or not. Interviews are likely to start around October so that all offers have been finalized before the end of the year.
SlowAsMolassis
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Re: Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering Internships

Post by SlowAsMolassis »

+1

Luckily our son had an amazing HS career counselor that had him apply for the NASA Space Grant program. We can't say enough good things about it! It was one of a number of significant experiences that inspired and made possible his amazing career. It was about twenty years ago and he is now a brain scientist. (Ph.D) Such a great suggestion! Non-space nerds are more than welcome too! By the way he went to public colleges. *\O/*

In hindsight of posting wishing your nephew all the best! In the interest of time he may also want to run the question by his professors and/or teaching assistant ... a great conversation started to connect with them too.

Found this: 2023 Boeing ..ETA 2022 - Engineering Internship Program Summer 2023 (Multiple Locations) - AAEOY.
https://www.ziprecruiter.com/c/Boeing/J ... um=organic

little_star wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 10:56 am Your nephew should look at the NASA "Space Grant" website for his home state and for the state where he goes to college (if they are different). I believe that almost every state has a Space Grant consortium, usually run out of one of the universities, but with scholarships and internship opportunities for anyone affiliated with the state. My state's version of this lists all NASA internship opportunities, in addition to small scholarship awards. All NASA internships are competitive, but they have to be awarded to someone...and your nephew is only eligible if he applies!

In addition to the above, your nephew should consult with career services at his college. There are often good relations between specific schools and specific companies.
Last edited by SlowAsMolassis on Wed Aug 17, 2022 2:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
bfree32
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Re: Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering Internships

Post by bfree32 »

He should work on an extracurricular project. Formula SAE, Baja SAE, EcoCar, robotics competitions, something like that. See what the school has. These will give design experience that an auto shop job won't.
I'm not sure about NASA, but companies like Tesla will recruit heavily from project teams like these. A word of warning about Tesla though...they are known for overworking engineers to the point of burnout, so you have to really love what you're doing (or at least accept it in the short term as part of career goals).
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greenman1
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Re: Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering Internships

Post by greenman1 »

Thank you all. Appreciate all the responses. I have asked my nephew to talk to the university career center and he will look into the NASA space-grant/internship site.
tigermilk
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Re: Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering Internships

Post by tigermilk »

greenman1 wrote: Thu Aug 18, 2022 9:40 am Thank you all. Appreciate all the responses. I have asked my nephew to talk to the university career center and he will look into the NASA space-grant/internship site.
In particular, search for NASA Pathways. You can also find periodic postings at USAJobs.gov. Back when I was a student it was called "the co-op program". I was in that and am in m6 33rd year of employment with NASA.

We have had some great kids come through the program, and it is our first pool of people to hire from upon graduation. And right now the aerospace industry in general is facing an aging workforce crisis. Young guns are needed.
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Taz
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Re: Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering Internships

Post by Taz »

Daughter interned at Boeing the summer prior to senior year. No tech/mechanical related job experience. Did rocket team design/leadership.
Apply early. She met interviewers at job fair & an engineering society convention. They offered her FT position in the fall after the summer. Helps to have clean record to get security clearances.

DoD also has internships (USA Jobs). Near me there is a aircraft rework facility. Daughter's friend interned in a materials lab.
The destination matters. | "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't don't stop and look around once in a while - you could miss it." -- Ferris Bueller
nyone
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Re: Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering Internships

Post by nyone »

bfree32 wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 2:35 pm He should work on an extracurricular project. Formula SAE, Baja SAE, EcoCar, robotics competitions, something like that. See what the school has. These will give design experience that an auto shop job won't.
+1 for extracurricular clubs. DS found out about the Track program at GM with help from networking with EcoCar alum.
Parkinglotracer
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Re: Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering Internships

Post by Parkinglotracer »

Lockheed Martin Hires interns; Great place to work - check their website for opportunities - never too early to inquire about next year’s internships.
orange12
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Re: Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering Internships

Post by orange12 »

Now is the time to be looking! Hit the big employers first, most have job postings already — Lockheed, Raytheon, Boeing, Northrup, General Dynamics… all good places to intern for a summer and they have good name recognition on the resume when he goes to apply for full time jobs.
MrJedi
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Re: Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering Internships

Post by MrJedi »

One of the university car or robotics teams would be good to join.

Most, if not all, major companies for engineers have internship programs. But it is usually easiest to get the foot in the door with the companies that actively recruit at your particular university. There are often career fairs, luncheons, seminars, etc. to network and get interviews.
Itogliano
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Re: Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering Internships

Post by Itogliano »

Others have mentioned it but I think it's so worthwhile I'll throw it out there again: Formula SAE, and to a slightly lesser extent Formula Electric and BAJA, provide just as much, if not more value as an internship, ESPECIALLY if he's looking to work in the auto industry. When I was interviewing, once interviewers saw FSAE and rocket (another engineering team I was part of where you design, build and launch a sounding rocket) on my resume, those made up about 80% of what was discussed.

Another example just to emphasize how much value I believe Formula has, my cousin did NOT do Formula SAE when he was in school. He ended up still managing to find a job with a GT3 Ferrari team. He said even with that experience now under his belt, if he went to apply for similar jobs, he would still be at a large disadvantage compared to other applicants who did do FSAE.

Also not to mention, the experience itself was so much fun and I made some of my closest friends through those two teams. Nothing really bonds people like countless 3am work sessions
lws
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Re: Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering Internships

Post by lws »

Work with the university.
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