Are you ready to rock your first engineering internship…but not quite sure how? I’ve got you covered. Below are actions that will not only help you look good in front of your employer but also ensure you get the most benefit out of your internship.
Internships are amazing opportunities to learn, build your professional network, develop new skills, and discover tasks you enjoy performing. This is also your opportunity to test out being an employee before committing to a full-time position. In other words, this is your chance to evaluate your company at the same time they’re evaluating you. Your new coworkers and managers will be watching to see how you fit into the team and if you have the potential to be a good full-time employee. Meanwhile, you should be considering if this company is a good fit for you.
Now, let’s dig into those actions!
Related articles: How To Get An Engineering Internship and What You Need To Know Before You Start Your Engineering Internship
1. Write down a few goals
Take a few minutes to write down what your goals are for this internship. What do you want to learn? What do you want to get out of this internship?
Here are some broad examples:
- I want to learn what functions engineers perform in the automotive industry.
- I want to apply my new CAD design skills to a real engineering project.
- This specific internship wasn’t my first pick, but I will go into this internship with an open mind, build my network, and learn new skills.
Why bother jotting down a couple of goals?
Goals can help you focus on what’s most important to you during your internship. You don’t want to get to the end of your internship and realize you missed out on opportunities that were important to you. Even vague, high-level interest statements can help you mentally prepare for your internship.
A great mentor or manager may even ask you what your goals and interests are before they assign you tasks. So, it’s good to be prepared!
Throughout your internship, reevaluate those goals.
Consider the assignments you’ve received. Do they relate to your current goals? If not, try talking with your mentor or manager about it. Depending on your goal, maybe they can assign you a special task, introduce you to more people, or give you a tour of various facilities.
Check out this likehack.org article for additional help on creating beneficial goals.
2. Be eager to learn
As an engineering intern, you’re never expected to know everything. On the contrary, you’re expected to learn new skills during your internship. Why? (1) Because you’re a student and are still learning engineering skills, and (2) because engineers are lifelong learners. Good engineers are always willing to learn new skills.
So, show your employer and coworkers that you’re excited and willing to learn from them.
Showing some genuine enthusiasm and gratitude for your new opportunity is a great first step. However, you don’t need to have a bubbly personality or excel at flattery to show how eager you are to learn.
Foster a growth mindset. It’s tough to show others that you’re willing to learn when your own thoughts are holding you back. When you run into a new challenge, instead of telling yourself “I can’t do this”, rephrase it to “I can’t do this, yet”. Get yourself in the right mindset and work on your self-confidence. You can do this.
Ask good questions. You may have heard the saying that goes something like “there’s no such thing as a bad question”. And maybe there are no bad questions, but there are definitely good questions (and there’s a good time and place to ask your questions). Focus on asking clarifying questions that show you’re paying attention. Ask for resources, like website hyperlinks, so you can find some answers on your own. If you’re struggling to keep up with a discussion in a meeting, simply write down questions and new acronyms/terminology. After the meeting, walk through your questions with your mentor or do some research (sometimes even a quick Google search can help).
Find mentors and connect with co-workers. You’ll probably be assigned a mentor by your company when you start your internship. But even if you aren’t, you’ll be surrounded by people who can help you succeed. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Just be respectful of people’s time and always show appreciation when others help you.
Do the work. You need to prove to yourself and your team that you’re willing to actually do the work. We’ll talk about this more in #6 below.
Redo the work. Your work won’t always be perfect. Be open to receiving feedback and modify your work accordingly. This is how you learn, especially in engineering fields where on-the-job training is emphasized.
3. Be open to new experiences
This goes right along with being willing to constantly learn new things. Internships are a time for new experiences.
Adapt to living in a new town and to working with new people. Maybe you’re the kind of person who’s willing to jump right into new situations. Go you! You’re already a natural at leaning into change. Or, maybe, you’re the kind of person that gets anxious in new situations. It’s okay to feel homesick, awkward, or nervous. It doesn’t make you any less awesome. You can do this. Just take it one step at a time and keep moving forward.
Experiment. Push yourself to try out new things. New activities, new skills… even new food!
Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Before you can grow as an individual, you need to be willing to try things that are outside your comfort zone.
Embrace the “beginners mindset” and rise up to new challenges. You won’t automatically be an expert at your assigned tasks, so be ready for the challenge. Break down your assignments into manageable pieces and find resources that can help you out. Use your beginner mindset to your advantage. Being new to the team can help you think outside the box and come up with creative solutions.
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.”
— Shunryu Suzuki
4. Build your reputation as a professional
You might still be a student, but this is your chance to practice being a professional. Show yourself and your coworkers how well you fit into their team.
I’m sure everyone has their own spin on what a “professional” is. And it looks different across different cultures, which vary across companies, regions, and disciplines. So, let’s focus on actions you can take that don’t depend on cultural variances.
Be respectful. Pull out all your lessons from Kindergarten here. Remember the Golden Rule (treat others like you want to be treated). Say “please” and “thank you”. Yes, I know this tip seems like a no-brainer, but it can be easy to forget. Especially when it feels like you need to prove your worth to others. Remember that you can still promote yourself while also being kind, polite, and respectful to everyone around you. Don’t be that person that brings others down to try to get ahead.
Build trust. Be reliable. Get your tasks done on time. Be on time (or even early) to meetings. Be honest. Prove to yourself and your team that you can be trusted.
Be presentable. What you wear will depend on you and your company’s culture. Regardless of what you decide to wear, avoid showing up disheveled. I’m talking about good personal hygiene and wrinkle-free, well-fitting outfits.
Have a positive attitude. You don’t need to have a naturally cheerful personality to have a positive attitude. You don’t want to earn a reputation for being “that negative person”. Don’t constantly complain. Avoid gossip. If you see a problem, can you also try to see potential solutions? Is there a silver lining? If you’re having a horrible day, what do you need to do to avoid taking it out on your coworkers?
Work towards proficiency. As a professional-in-training, prove that you have the potential to become competent in your discipline. Show your team that you have a strong work ethic and that you’re actively working to improve your skills.
5. Connect with people
Learn to communicate and relate to the people around you. The goal here is to surround yourself with people who can teach you new skills and provide you with new perspectives… which can literally be anyone! In the process, you’ll naturally build a supportive network.
Talk to people. Get to know your co-workers. Connect with your fellow interns. Join a professional organization as a way to meet new people. Say hi to the random people you see in the hallways from janitors to CEOs. If you’re not interning in the USA, yes, I know small talk (and excessive smiling) is a very “American thing.” But, it’s still served me well in countries all over the world, especially in international classes and conferences where networking is expected.
Learn names. Here are some simple tricks I use to remember people’s names.
- Repeat the person’s name back to them. This helps you remember the name and ensures you can pronounce it correctly.
- Repeat their name in your head a couple more times.
- Write down their name when you get a chance, along with any helpful notes or pronunciation tips.
- Connect with them online, like through your company’s Microsoft Team or on LinkedIn. Profile pictures can help you remember faces and names.
- In meetings, quiz yourself. Write down or mentally say the names of everyone you know.
Learn about your co-workers. Learn what work experiences your co-workers have. Also, take an interest in your co-workers’ lives. What’s important to them? Family, a hobby?
Have a question or nice comment queued up when you run into your coworkers in the hallway. It can range from a simple “hey, how are your kids?” to a question about a recent meeting you all attended.
Show your appreciation. Besides just saying thank you, look for other ways to show appreciation. Is there something you can do to help a coworker? Maybe they could use help with a task or maybe they could use a coffee break.
Learn how different people (and teams) like to communicate. Effective communication is key in any career! So, use your internship as an opportunity to observe how people’s personalities or a company’s work culture affects their communication methods and preferences. Some people prefer a phone call over a text. Some prefer formal emails while others rely on emojis or gifs. As an intern, this is a great time to experiment with different ways to communicate.
6. Complete your tasks
Last, but certainly not least, you need to actually complete the main tasks assigned to you during your internship. This goes right along with #2 and #4 above. If you want to make a good impression as an intern, show your team how much they benefit from having you around.
Focus on your priorities. Some teams may give you a whole bucket list of tasks that will be impossible to get through in one internship. Make sure to ask your manager or mentor which tasks are the highest priority for the team. Or maybe you’re working on an ongoing project and your team just wants you to get as far as possible before your leave. Make mini-goals for yourself to ensure you’re continuously progressing throughout your internships.
Understand your tasks. Make sure you really understand the tasks you’ve been assigned before you start. What resources (materials, people, websites, etc.) do you need? What do you need to learn to complete the task? Why is this task important?
Are you on the right track? For tasks that will take a few weeks, or maybe even your entire internship, make sure you’re frequently verifying your progress with your mentor. You don’t want to spend tons of time working on something only to realize that you wasted all your time heading down the wrong path.
Fail forward. It’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay to go down the wrong path. It’s okay to fail. The key is recognizing your error as quickly as possible. Then learn from it and move forward. In my opinion, you never truly “fail” if you don’t give up. Shake it off and keep going!
Go above and beyond. How can you be proactive? How can you go “above and beyond” on the assignment you’ve been given? Do you have time to pick up an extra task to help out the team? If you’re waiting on someone to help you with an assignment, what can you work on while you’re waiting? If you want to make it on the “best intern ever” list, be proactive.
7. Enjoy being an intern
Most importantly, take time to enjoy your internship! Enjoy the process of learning new things and meeting new people. Enjoy the new experiences. Enjoy being the newbie in the office.
Go on fun tours in between your assignments. Participate in interesting events or training sessions if you get the opportunity.
Yes, engineering internships are important. But try not to stress yourself out. It’s not the end of the world if things don’t work out the way you hoped. Find ways to enjoy, or at least appreciate, the challenges you encounter.
Your internship is what you make of it.
What’s your action plan?
You don’t need to try out all these actions all at once.
Think about which action you want to practice first. How can you incorporate it into your life today? How can you customize it to fit your specific situation? Write down your plan or talk it through with a friend or mentor.
Then, most importantly, show up for yourself and put your new plan into practice. Practice being the keyword here!
Come back to this page when you’re ready to practice a new action. And note that these actions aren’t just limited to your internship. I’m ten years into my engineering career and I definitely still follow most of this advice myself!
Go forth and be an amazing intern! You got this. ✨ 🚀 ✨