My STEP project was a 15-week internship in the summer of 2023. I was a Project Management Intern at George J. Igel & Co., Inc. in Columbus, OH. During this project, I worked alongside professional civil engineers and project managers. I had the privilege of working on some large construction projects in the greater Columbus area. Most notably, $71M North Market Tower in downtown Columbus. I performed a variety of tasks on these projects. I most often worked on RFIs, submittals, purchase orders, quantity takeoffs, scheduling, and attending jobsite meetings.
This summer helped me take a large leap forward in my progress to becoming a professional project manager. Throughout the internship, I noticed that some things were very different from what I expected, while others were not. First, I realized that project managers spend more time in the office than I thought. In the first few weeks of the internship, I expected to be visiting a lot of jobsites, learning the work that is being done, and even performing some hands-on work. However, I quickly realized that most of the tasks I would be assigned to would be performed on a computer. Despite being upset at first, I learned to love working on a variety of tasks that helped my team perform efficiently and effectively on the computer. Going into this internship, I expected it would require a lot of communication to be successful as a project manager. This internship helped solidify this idea for me. There were many phone calls, emails, and meetings to attend to. Although this was stressful at times, it added a fun part to the job that allowed me to interact with and meet a lot of people.
Another important transformation that I had during this internship was the increase in my overall professional development skills. Throughout the internship, I did my best to meet as many people as possible. Some of these people were young staff engineers, while others were influential company vice presidents. Not only did I try to meet new people, but I also connected with them on LinkedIn afterwards. This shows the colleague that I remembered their name and found the conversation to be meaningful. All in all, during meetings and any other times I was interacting with people, I made sure to act in a professional manner.
Speaking of meeting new people, there was one week this summer that I got the opportunity to interact with the engineering department of my company. This was the most transformational experience that I had this summer, and it ultimately made me more knowledgeable in professional development. First, it helped me with technical skills; being able to see the work being done from a different perspective allowed me to get a better understanding of the overall process of how projects were completed. I found this to help me in my work on the project management side for the remainder of the summer. Working with the engineering team also allowed me to be mentored by professional engineers. One of the professional engineers gave me insightful advice about how to succeed as an intern. He taught me how important it is to gain experience in roles that are unique from each other. For example, try working in project management, design, and consulting in your three internships. You will be very marketable to employers coming out of college and have higher success rates of earning a high-paying job. He also taught me that with a degree in civil engineering, you do not need to become something related to civil engineering. He is a also a real estate developer and investor on the side, which is something that caught my attention. There are so many other professions that engineers can be successful at. This will change my outlook on internships and applying for jobs later in life, as I will be applying for many different roles and companies, rather than just one niche. Overall, this experience is what made me better at professional development, and it taught me a little more about the engineering profession.
This valuable transformation will be very useful over the next few years, and even into the ladder half of my career. If I follow what I was taught and work in different roles for my three internships I will have higher success rates in interviews with more prestigious companies. While I am still in school, getting experience in different areas of my major will lead me to success in classes. I already feel like I can connect some of my class projects to work I did this summer, and this will only increase. Professionally, I will be able to work for a top company in the industry and hopefully climb the ladder of management quickly. By gaining experience in many different areas, it will be very hard for employers to turn you away because you can be used almost anywhere in their company. This will also allow for ease in moving up the levels of management because if a position opens, there is a chance you are experienced with it. Personally, applying to different roles as an intern will eventually lead you to be happier with your career. I am not completely sure what I want to do with my degree in civil engineering, and interning for companies who do unique work may open a door for me. If I really enjoy an internship that I have, I will make turn it into a career. This will eventually lead me to being happy and satisfied with my career choice. All in all, the professional development skills and lessons that I have learned this summer transformed me in a way that will help me meet my academic, professional, and personal goals.