Internships
OPD&I seeks to empower students through interdisciplinary professional development and internship opportunities, bridging the gap between theory and application. It does so by preparing ֦Ƶ engineering students for successful careers at leading regional and national employers through a variety of offerings, including but not limited to:
- Personalized career services including resume reviews and mock interviews.
- Hosting industry events and networking with industry to enhance recruitment efforts. Events include company information sessions, industry speaking engagements, recruiting events, industry expos, and site tours.
- Bi-weekly emails and newsletters notifying students of upcoming events and workshops.
- Extensive lists of available internships that are sent to students twice a semester.
- Class presentations and workshops.
Hands-on, practical application of the concepts you learn in your classes only becomes real once you put them into practice in an industry setting. This is where internships and co-ops come into play! Internship and co-op experiences are invaluable when developing your engineering skillset and will assist with your employment efforts after graduation.
The main difference between an internship versus a job is that an internship is structured to be a supervised environment where there are learning objectives similar to what you would have the classroom (i.e. projects or job duties supplemented with on-the-job training).
There are so many benefits to doing an internship, including, but not limited to:
- Real-world engineering experience
- Exposure to industry tools, software, and workflows
- Stronger resume and portfolio
- Statistically improving your chances of getting a job after graduation and even before!
- The flexibility/opportunity to explore potential careers
- Putting your classroom knowledge to “work”
- Enhancing your professional skills, experience, and connections
