i'm getting a summer college intern..any tips?

[vash]

i'm actually getting a high school intern as well.

i dont know why i got both of them. i emailed them to bring their lucky trusty calculators..since they sure as hell not gonna touch mine.

i really want to keep them interested in being civil engineers. so having them do coffee runs and wash my work truck isnt going to happen.

any of you have interns? what do you have them do? just dump them into the deep end of the pool?

this is my first go at it. i want to make it a positive experience and hope they learn something.

[astrochex]

You have the right attitude. We have had interns in the past relegated to scanning documents as their primary task, talk about a buzz kill.

Keep their work interesting and as challenging as you think they can handle. You will do them a great favor.

Good luck.

[Arizona_928]

give them an exam and see what they know?

Make the hs school kid clean the truck if he doesn't have a license to do coffee runs.

[aigel]

Look at them as pipeline into employment - if they are good, get them later!

I like to pick technical projects that are at a level they can learn and perform. Sometimes it may be something a bit more repetitive or time consuming than what the average engineer wants to engage in, so it is a real value add if the intern does have the time and patience. Interns usually get to tag along with the engineers to learn and pick up the basics, then a couple projects are spelled out and they get to present on progress weekly to me and to the whole team when they finish.

G

[Seahawk]

We just started to hire and train drone pilots (currently interns have to have to have a sport or pilots license) as interns.

Mix the mundane with the practical with field work if you can.

We start them off with reading and helping us write our manuals. Then learn to work on the aircraft, then go fly. They have to rinse and repeat. No one gets to fly all the time. Sorry.

But you have to get them out of the office, even if you send them out with someone else.

Here is our Bird Abatement drone, Scarecrow:



The two new guys plus the designer of the drone and our field rep.

[djmcmath]

I did an internship, way back when. It was much like Peter described: the development team had a collection of "wishlist" projects, things they wished they had a full time developer to work on, but couldn't allocate proper resources to. They were things that needed to be done, but weren't critical to the success of the mission. I was encouraged to spend a week or so researching, then pick one, and spend the rest of the summer working on it, including mid and final presentations to the whole team.

So it mattered that I was doing something that was real, not just running coffee.

The other invaluable thing was the mentorship time. I didn't have an assigned mentor, but when other people on staff had time, they'd drop by for an hour and talk computer science with me. One older gentleman spent a whole afternoon giving me a personal hands-on tour of information theory, the principles of which stick with me to this day.

If your interns end up being sharp and motivated, they'll get a lot more out of it. But a lot of what they get out of it will also be your investment of time -- find meaningful projects they can realistically complete in the given time, and take the time to show them how much you love what you do.

[GH85Carrera]

Ask them what they know about buying a house!

[txhokie4life]

I was a high school co-op and college co-op.

Generally worked on wish-list items... Just make sure its realistic that it can be done in a reasonable amount of time. Stay on top of things without micro-managing. Give enough details and guidance to get the job done -- but if you detect your student is sharp -- give enough leeway to make some choices on their own -- they might surprise you.

Ensure that documentation is part of the project -- since they may disappear forever in a few months. (Most of my assignments were 4-6 months in duration -- co-op is more of a commitment than internship).

Also remember -- what you think is grunt work -- might be the coolest thing to them. Make their time valuable to you and them.

Mike

[RonDent]

Vash,
I've noticed one thing about the interns that I've had. Since they have all been younger people. Still in school or just out of school, they have been in the push mode rather than pull mode. Meaning, you give them an assignment, they finish and wait until you give them something else. Instead of asking for more work, they just sit and play games on their iPhone. You need to make sure they have more work to do than they could ever finish. Since you're working for CT, I'm sure there is plenty for them to do. My dad would always tell them to sharpen the drill bits on the core samplers.

[vash]

Great ideas!!!! Thanks. I'm actually nervous.

I love the presentation idea. And writing.


Sent via Jedi mind trick.

[LakeCleElum]

Be a mentor to them. Not just work, life in general. As said, mix up their duties and let them have fun sometimes. If their tasks are boring, challenge them with from time to time.

Have them leave their phones in their car then they get to work. They aren't being paid to stare at their device all day.

[Seahawk]

One other thing. Listen to them.

One of the guys solved a long standing problem with way point pixel smear on our quad. During flight planning, he said, "why don't we do it this way?"

We said, "Why not?'

He was right. Now, our Interns are really pretty special kids: Both are 20 and have their pilots license. One is getting his instrument qual. But you never know.

[stealthn]

Not one hot girl comment - you guys are slipping....

[aigel]

Yeah man, he works for CT - Lewinsky jokes would be weird!

[mreid]

I've got 320 college interns starting next week spread across the organization. They are each assigned a boss, a mentor, a project, and a set of deliverables. They work hard on real projects and have to make a presentation at the end that includes their project, deliverables and an assessment of their experience. We work them hard over the 10 weeks we have them. We also pay them and provide a stipend for relocation/housing assistance. And finally, they compete as teams to make a video of their experience. Here is the winning video from last year. They are fired up!

https://youtu.be/jnCRgI-qEqE

[Charles Freeborn]

On a different tangent - I would establish early, like in the first 5 minutes, what your policy is regarding smartphone use while on "company time".

[RANDY P]

don't hit on her

rjp

[wdfifteen]

I've had great experiences with interns. I give them a big project to be responsible for and also keep them busy with smaller stuff. We do have to teach and guide them, which takes valuable time, but it is very rewarding.

[Hugh R]

My daughter when she turned 16 wanted a Summer Job, rather than doing the waitress thing, I encouraged her to go to a local accountant/lawyer/doctor to get some office experience. She ended up with a local accountant for two Summers. Then he closed his practice to join KPMG in Los Angeles. He brought her in as a Summer after her Senior year in HS. KPMG resisted but let him hire her, normally they only hired Summer interns (paid) who were Juniors or Seniors in College.

Her work was so good, that she worked for them through college in the Summer and offered her a full time position two years before she graduated from UC Santa Barbara.

She ended up marrying a Partner who makes seven figures and they have two little kids.

[look 171]

Cliff,

You are a pretty level headed guy, so be yourself, they will enjoy that. This is a pretty big influence on some young people and many of them don't have that push from their families or friends. Remember, they are still kids. I use to be a high school shop teacher and was pushing kids to go after intern types jobs. Don't burn em' out the first week, you and them will be fine. They love to hear about you, your company and how you got started in this mess. You are fun and they will enjoy it.

One more thing they are doing this for free, which sucks so don't push them too much. For many, its their last summer before they go off to college.