This summer I completed my STEP Signature Project while working for GE Aerospace as a Systems Engineering Hardware Intern. I worked on a wide variety of projects working on power generation for commercial and military applications.
My step signature project showed me what it is like to work a 9-5 job as well as see the real world applications of what I am learning in my ECE coursework.
Experiencing working a standard 9-5 job is very eye opening because it shows you how the majority of people in the US balance work and life. College is much different from a 9-5 in the idea that there is no set amount of hours that you will work, some weeks may be more and some may be less than 40 hours. Aside from classes, there is no set time where you must do your work. It is very independent on how you manage your time and if you do not do your work, your grade reflects that. Work is much different in that you can expect to work 40 hours this week and you know when you are going to work those 40 hours. In my experience, once you leave the office, you are done with work for the day. This signature project has shown me that I enjoy the flexibility that we are given in college, but enjoy the my projects and work more in industry. The work in industry was very independent and open-ended allowing me to choose how to solve each problem I ran into.
Another thing I learned this summer was the real life applications of my ECE coursework. I am on the electrical engineering track so I was able to pull from my knowledge of electronics to help me design and build various circuit cards. There are so many different applications for circuit design. Semiconductors and circuit cards support many of the technologies that we use on a daily basis. Most people just think of phones and laptops, but advanced electrical systems are in the car that you drive, the plane that you fly in, the AC and heating that keeps you comfortable. On top of all these components, many custom circuit cards are designed and built in order to test the cards that will go into everyday products. I believe our electrical systems will only become more advanced in the future as we shift to clean energy and EVs.
During my signature project I was given ownership of my projects, helpful guidance from my coworkers and I was treated fairly with deadlines on projects.
I had lots of authority on how to solve different problems in projects that I was given. In some cases my coworkers knew the best way to solve a certain problem, but they wanted me to work through it on my own to develop my problem solving skills. This really helped me learn the connections from my coursework to real world applications. I had plenty of time to research, try different solutions, and no one was every mad if I failed or messed up.
Now, if I was ever working with a sensitive piece of equipment or a dangerous level of power or even if I just did not know what to do next, my coworkers were incredibly helpful. I had project leads that I could go to frequently if there was something that I did not understand or needed extra help with. I was very lucky that the team that I worked on was predominantly young engineers in their early to late 20’s. Although, I could not relate directly with them on everything, they had been in my shoes not too long ago and were very helpful if there was anything that I did not understand.
Finally, I was treated very fairly at GE and no one was ever on my back about a project or report. Deadlines were flexible and as long as you kept in close contact with the project lead to let them know what was going on. There were times when a project was given priority over everything else, but I never had to come in after hours or on weekends to make sure I hit a deadline. I was very grateful for this and it was definitely a change from college where deadlines are much more strict.
This experience that I had this summer was so valuable for me because it gave me industry experience and showed me what it is like to work a 9-5 job like most of the population does. This is very important to me because I will probably work an electrical design engineering job after I graduate from college. I am not exactly sure where I want to work or what I want to do, but I became an engineer to help design and build clean energy systems like the hybrid engine program that GE is currently developing. Working at GE after I graduate would be a great next step and I have applied for a return offer!
