Summer design internship

1.
My STEP project was to get an internship for ESM Group Inc. I was a mechanical engineering intern, and mostly did engineering design.

2.
One of the things I ask myself when learning new material “why do I need to know this?” Often, we are taught the theory, but not how to do something in practice. My internship focused almost exclusively on how things are done in practice, with very little theory needed. I found myself feeling distraught that I was learning all these things in school, but if I wasn’t going to use it in my job then all my hard work wouldn’t be worth much. I quickly changed my perspective when I realized I was using the stuff I had learned in school, just not in the same way I had before. While I didn’t solve any problems similar to those that I see in school, I used the intuitions I’ve gained from my coursework to guide my problem solving. It has led me to a new way of thinking about my education. Obviously I never expected my boss to come in and say, “Jake I need you to do these 20 integrals by u-substitution and get them on my desk by Wednesday”, but I wasn’t quite sure how I was to incorporate my education into my day-to-day life as a mechanical engineer. Now I have a little more clarity on that.

3.
One of the projects that I did over the summer was to design a platform on which a wire bending machine was to be mounted. The machine weighed 2000 lb. and there were six other heavy fixtures that needed to go on top of it. Additionally, each of the six fixtures needed to have a 10” hole in the floor below them, so they could receive material from below. This task was unlike any of the tasks that I have been assigned in school and made me really think critically about just how to approach it.

My task had many design difficulties associated with it. I had to keep in mind all of OSHA’s regulations on raised platforms, and I needed to consider many other variables. The holes in the flooring would mean I wouldn’t be able to use the full strength of the grating and it also restricted the location of the frame beneath the grating. I learned an important lesson with this design where initially I was supposed to have the holes be 8” in diameter, then, after completing the project, my boss told me the holes actually needed to be 10” in diameter. This caused my previous frame design to not work (as the holes would then intersect the frame underneath the platform) and I had to redo nearly half the project. This was a learning moment for me because I realized how important a flexible design is as well as how difficult it can be with having your work be invalidated due to things that are out of your control. These are two lessons that are hard to teach in a class and are important in a real-life work setting.

These difficulties (along with many more) lead me to learn things about the design process that would have been difficult to learn in a classroom setting. Along with those concrete and easy to explain examples, there were also concepts that I learned that were a lot harder to pin down. There were many choices I made for the design that wouldn’t be able to be validated until I had sunk three more hours into designing off that choice. This was a large source of frustration, as I couldn’t find any resources online to guide the initial choice, so a handful of times I had to scrap half a day’s work solely because I followed my gut in the wrong direction. Many of the mistakes I made seemed like they were mistakes that a design engineer would only make a small handful of times, and I felt as though I had learned a lot just by making them and seeing the ramifications of my poor choices. By learning from these mistakes I felt like I was honing my “engineer’s intuition”, and I feel as though I am a lot more qualified now than I was before. Additionally, I feel as though I understand the demands and common difficulties associated with engineering design much better now.

4.
As I said in my previous answer, I feel as though I better understand the demands and common difficulties associated with engineering design much better now. This is important for me as I am still unsure about what field of engineering I want to go into. I have always pictured myself being happiest in a design role, but now I am less sure of that. This is good news for me, as it is better to know now than to know after I have spent a long time building my resume for a career path that I don’t think is right for me. While it is obvious how this relates to my professional development, it also relates to my personal goals. I don’t want to just have a job just to put food on the table, I want to have a job where I have passion for what I do. If passion is asking too much, I want a job where I am interested in the skills I am developing and enjoy getting better at those skills. I have always done my best work when I feel personally and intellectually fulfilled in what I am doing, so I feel like my personal goals feed into my professional goals since I would be doing better work if I am more personally fulfilled by that work. I feel that I am significantly more capable now than I was before at being able to see how a design role aligns with my personal goals. I think the big takeaway is that when the time comes to search for a full time job, I should be more willing to explore other fields than just design.

(No photos were uploaded as I don’t have the IP for what I designed over the summer and I do not think I am allowed to post images online of it.)