I liked the diversity of projects that I was given. I got to work on a lot of projects and got some hands on experience with different parts of the production process. My favorite part was designing in Solidworks and later testing the piece I designed. The people in the office were nice and willing to help if needed. There were also a lot of cool opportunities given to me such as visiting a customer to observer their plant and show them a new product, work with other IMI facilities across the world, and responsibility over parts of huge products. My experience may be different than a regular summer intern due to me being at the company for 2.5 years, but it has improved me as an engineer and would recommend it even for a summer internship.
What I wish was different
A few things that I wish were different was the amount of work given and it would have been nice to be involved in more meeting to be able to understand more of the process of a manufacturing a product. Some times I would go a few days without enough projects to keep me busy, so I would work on enhancing my CAD skill. Other times I had a pile of projects and had to try to do daily meetings with my managers to determine most important. I wish workload was more consistent, but it all was determined on how many projects were available and what stage of the manufacturing process they were in.
Advice
I have two pieces of advise. The first is to ask questions. I had originally had a feeling that if I was asking questions then they would see that I'm not very smart. I realized later after I got to know my coworkers more that they were more than willing to help with any of my problems and could guide or teach me with them. The second is to not doubt your own skill. I actually didn't get the job at first for what I presume was lack in confidence in my skills. Luckily I knew a vice president of the company and got a second chance and got the job in a different engineering group. Once I started working I was able to prove that I was actually more than capable of complete the tasks that I thought were above my skill level. Basically, believe in your capability to do tasks given and ask people who have experience if you get stuck.
