Major: Electrical Engineering
Company: CNH Industrial – CASE Construction
Location of Internship: Fargo, North Dakota
Internship Title: Test Engineering Co-op
- Why did you choose the company that you work for?
-
- When I first came to this university, I joined the Autonomous Snowplow project of Bison Robotics, and quickly grew to appreciate the wonderful engineering complexity that goes into making that skid-steered robot. The brand of CNH that I work for, CASE Construction, works on full-sized wheel-loaders, which are an awesome extension to that project that I started my university life with. It gives me the opportunity to not only work on electronics and software, but also forces me to understand the numerous mechanical systems involved.
- What were some of the requirements for your internship?
- Requirements: – Must be pursuing a minimum of Bachelors degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related degree area – Must be able to work in multiple settings: workshop/lab environment/office – (Preferred) Background with mechanical tendencies and/or exposure to vehicles or construction/agricultural equipment
- Some of my tasks: – Helping the full-time engineers carry out their tests on machines or components by setting up the necessary instrumentation, running the equipment, and submitting the results back – Carrying out tests on my own, which means following a procedure and adding on to that as I see fit, collecting the needed data, analyzing that data if necessary, writing a report, and communicating those results in meetings with the test and design full-time engineers – Doing small one-off tasks, like creating wiring harnesses that will be used for testing, soldering/desoldering boards to replace/fix components, – Spending time learning and working towards implementing the automation of certain tests with the software that we use for data acquisition. This involves scripting in C++, some digital signal processing, and perhaps even Bash scripting.
- What is your favorite part about your internship experience?
- The massive wheel loaders! Those things are huuuge and powerful! And I get to drive ’em!
- What is the most challenging part of your internship? How have you overcome these obstacles?
- The most challenging part of any internship I think is catching up and getting down with the language of the company, and then following that, trying to prove yourself as trustworthy, reliable, and competent so that you can get your hands on some of the bigger projects.
- How did you find your internship?
-
Through a personal connection (faculty, family, or friends)
-
- Why was it beneficial for you to register for credit(s) through the Internship Program offered through the Career and Advising Center?
- I want all the guidance and tips and help that I can get. Along with that, this certainly helps me take less classes, while still maintaining full-time status.
- What advice would you give a student who is in the process of applying for an internship?
- I’ve gotten a lot of rejections, and even worse, a lot of companies who just ghost me. If I’m being honest, the best way to help yourself is to get the right connections, because a good word in can make ALL the difference. You never know who it can come from, so be nice to people, socialize and don’t get stuck in a bubble, help people with their homework, take initiative in class so people are familiar with your face, go to networking events (consistently, not just one-offs), and try and focus your efforts in on particular subfields you’re interested in.
