Help finding an engineering internship

tim f wrote:I'm a senior staff member at Sandia Natlional Labs in engineering physics and we are always hiring interns in every area of engineering sciences. The work is cutting edge and exciting/difficult. As an intern, you are usually hired to work directly with a senior staff member and get a lot of one on one help/learning opportunities. I believe the pay for interns is good to boot. Experience at a national lab always looks good on a resume/CV. If you are interested, go to sandia.gov and browse for internships on the employment page and if anything looks interesting, PM me the job posting and resume and I can see how I can help put you in direct contact with the person who is actually hiring the intern. PM if you have any other questions about employment/school, I'd love to help anyway I can.

Just PM'ed you Tim. Let me know if you didn't get it.

Responses have been better than I hoped for, and all the info is really helping. Now I can just hope something turns up.

I recommend joining Likedin.com (it is free). The best place to do professional networking is on professional networking site. Connect to me, your classmates, your teachers, etc. This will help you with your job hunt now, and every time you do so again in the future. It has helped me land a job in the past. Since I now do contract work, I use it constantly since I am always looking for my next job.

Also look at volunteering. There are plenty of ways to build professional experience while volunteering. I moved to Boulder in 2002 (in the midst of a 26 month stint of unemployment as an engineer), and I volunteered in the office at the Access Fund. Since then I have also volunteered with groups like Engineers Without Borders and Water For People. Look for causes that you are passionate about, and offer your services part time. Things like this may not seem like much, but it shows that you have some drive and it may be the thing that sets you apart from your peers.

Good Luck!

Wyatt H is pretty spot on with the job description. there is potential there but be wary. PM me if you are interested in the field and want to know more.

Wyatt H wrote:understanding how equipment works so you can troubleshoot it when it goes wrong

Based on your knowledge of climbing slings I would say this is NOT the job for you. Also you should check out the school of mines in Golden, CO. It takes me under an hour to drive there from knoxville.

tim f wrote:Sandia Natlional Labs

Beware of the dark side (DOE), young grasshopper.

Evan, do you have any programming skilz? If not, learn. I ask because I once was in a similar situation to where you are now. I had just received a degree in mathematics only to realize that most companies don't need someone to do a whole lot of proofs and integration ... but they do need people with programming skills that know how to THINK.

dorseyec wrote: Based on your knowledge of climbing slings I would say this is NOT the job for you. Also you should check out the school of mines in Golden, CO. It takes me under an hour to drive there from knoxville.

I think it's adorable how sensitive you are about a little comment about a tv show. (By the way, I was only ten minutes off in my time estimate. Did the drive yesterday :).)

I've been through SOM before after climbing in Golden one day, nice campus. I wish i had the money for tuition for an out of state school, out of high school I got accepted to Brown University and CSOM, but couldn't afford either.

RyanO wrote: Beware of the dark side (DOE), young grasshopper. Evan, do you have any programming skilz? If not, learn. I ask because I once was in a similar situation to where you are now. I had just received a degree in mathematics only to realize that most companies don't need someone to do a whole lot of proofs and integration ... but they do need people with programming skills that know how to THINK.

I'm pretty proficient at using Adobe softwares, Matlab, and Wolfram Mathematica (God i do hate Matlab though. Valuable program, but it's so nitpicky about how you enter certain functions. Matlab and I have a very love/hate relationship). I can also do some HTML coding, but every year I don't use HTML (which is almost EVERY year) I feel like i forget half of what i learned.

I'm taking an tutorial course this spring about C++ coding. Not sure if that will ever be useful, but it's only an hour a week so I'm taking a chance.

Not really programming, but I've also been using SolidWorks a bit for CAD stuff. As a materials major I haven't used it that much, but I do know the basics at least.