Step Reflection

1. My STEP Signature Project consisted of an internship at Vaughn Industries over the summer of 2024. I spent time working primarily with Autodesk Inventor to model electrical substations as well as other side projects.

2. As a result of this project, I learned more about what aligns with my career interests and what doesn’t. Firstly, I learned that construction and civil engineering fields don’t align with my goals and interests very well. While I enjoyed my time at Vaughn, as it stands, I don’t plan on developing a career in the construction industry. I also gained a deeper understanding of just how constructions and other industries have communication gaps within different departments. During my internship, I spent time learning about how to do engineering design while keeping in mind the practical implications of design choices. I learned about the manufacturing process’s capabilities and limitations. This informed me on some crucial aspects of how to think about the engineering design process. Overall, during my time interning for Vaughn Industries, I developed a more wholistic view of how the limitations and capabilities can affect the front end of a product’s lifecycle.

3. During my time interning at Vaughn Industries, I had many events that gradually transformed my mindset and or goals mentioned in question two. Firstly, I learned that I one weak point in my work life is my relationships. Secondly, the biggest realization I had was that the construction industry isn’t where I see myself making a career in the future. Lastly, I would like to get more time working under a supervisor to get more experience with the collaborative and approval process.

To begin, I’ll cover my main weakness that I discovered during my time at my internship. When arriving at Vaughn, I had already gone through an in-person interview process, during which, I met much of the team that I would end up working with. Although I spent much of my time working with just one supervisor, I found myself being the odd one out, not really knowing or talking with the rest of the people in the office. When my time at the company was coming to an end, I started trying to improve on this aspect of my work life and started building bridges with the other people in the office. Overall, this internship exposed some vulnerable areas of my skills, and I gained some insight into what I should actively work toward improving in my work life.

The next transformation that I had during my time at my internship was a realization in my career goals and plans. Going into this internship, I had no previous work experience related in any way to my future career. This internship was in the construction and engineering field. While I learned a lot, the main thing I learned about myself was that I’m not interested in a career in construction. This became apparent to me because of the side projects that I completed while there. I was given the opportunity to do projects on engineering and mechanical design and enjoyed these tasks much more. Overall, I learned what I wouldn’t like to continue my career in and something that I would like to continue in.

The last transforming experience I had during my internship was I learned a lot working for a supervisor rather than alone. While interning at Vaughn, I worked under a supervisor to learn the ropes of what my work was going to consist of. The main thing I learned about was getting feedback and receiving approval before submission. Throughout my school career, I’ve yet to have experience getting meaningful feedback and approval before a final submission. During my internship, I worked on projects, got feedback, revised and got a final approval before submitting the project to higher ups. This was an insightful experience into workplace practices that I’ve never really experienced in school.

4. Throughout my signature project over the summer, I learned many developmental things about myself and what I want my future career to look like. All these new insights will enable me to better prepare for my future work career. Most of the events and realizations I had over the duration of my signature project were insights into where I need or would like to work towards professional development. Having not known these weaknesses in my work life I would be none the wiser to my need to act. Second, gaining more insight into what my career interests are will better prepare me to pursue an interesting career for myself.