Engineers are able to everyday build magnificent objects that people truly love. It can be a skyscraper, or even the newest prosthetic leg but both are the work of an engineer. In my research paper, I am looking to explore the world of civil engineering and by doing so further my search into the career of building highways and railroads. I want to do this so I can better understand what it takes and what I need to accomplish on my way to my goal of becoming a civil engineer. I am going to do this by receiving a first hand account of what one must do in preparation and what one must do once already an engineer. This is achieved by my interview with assistant project manager Jean Sas. His personal experience and stories should help really build my paper with relevant facts and bolster my arguments and findings. Through this research paper, I am going to explore the internship process that is very crucial for college graduates in trying to find a good internship. Internships in the field of engineering are very important and what you learn from them is invaluable considering you cannot learn these kinds of things in a classroom.
In today’s job market there are a lot of people that are going to be just as qualified as the next person looking for a job. So therefore being able to distinguish yourself from the others when trying to find a job is very important. The most essential qualification that employers look for while trying to find potential employees is work experience/internships. This is because most bosses don’t want to have to take time away from their day to train the new guys so they are expected to be able to already do their job by the time they show up for their first day. In my interview with Jean Sas, he explained to me that when he was at the Florida International University (FIU) he was blessed with the opportunity to be able to do an interview with the Oderbrecht Group, a civil engineering company in Miami. When interviewing Mr. Sas he told me the story of how he got to be the assistant project at the De Moya Group, another engineering company in Miami, he began the story by telling me about how he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life but he knew that math and science were his specialties. He told me a story about how he always hated the traffic in Miami especially when there was construction happening at the time. On his drive to school he would take the same street everyday and it was bumper to bumper every day due to construction that he would have to leave his house 30 minutes earlier than normal. But then once they finished construction and he saw that all the roads were newly paved and a new lane was added he knew that all the terrible traffic caused by the construction was worth it because now not only was he able to leave his 15 minutes later than before but it made him happy to drive on the newly paves roads. This is when he started researching exactly who was responsible for this new road. The group that was responsible for this road was the Oderbrecht group. He immediately looked for an internship with this company. The interview process was very intense and they had multiple interviews to see who was right for the two internship spots they had at the company. So he made sure his resume was in perfect condition and that he had done his research on what exactly the company does. The man that was interviewing Jean was the man that he would be working under during this internship so he really wanted to impress this man in order to better his chances of getting this internship. Jean was lucky enough to get one of only two internships available to college students. This internship lasted three months but at the end of it Mr. Sas’ was doing such excellent work that his supervisor was able to give him an extended internship with them. This was huge in his career as he was now going to have a significantly larger amount of work experience than most other people trying to get this job. Due to all the work he had done for the company in his last two years of college through this interview his supervisor promoted him from the intern position to Assistant Project Manager. This internship not only helped him get this job but through it he was able to meet many people and establish connections throughout the field of civil engineering in Miami. So once he wanted to move on to bigger projects it was the man that gave him his first internship with the Oderbrecht Group that had previously switched companies to the De Moya group that was able to provide Jean with the job at the De Moya group with the same title. He told me that the connections and personal experiences that are made in internships are invaluable for undergraduate students in their search for jobs when the graduate.
During high school, I already had an idea that I wanted to pursue a career in civil engineering so in order to receive an insight on the field I asked my interviewee to take me with him to work one day and see exactly how it was. On the drive in the first thing that I noticed was the sign that exclaimed “HARDHAT MUST BE WORN” this was a bit intimidating as you never know what can happen at a place with so many moving parts whizzing by you at all times. As I looked around at the site I was in awe, I had never seen so many trucks and heavy machinery in one place. Mr. Sas’ and I walked into his office and there were just mountains of blue prints and paperwork that I was astounded by, I never knew an engineer would have to do that much paperwork. This place was very loud and by that I mean there were people shouting jobs at each other, there was the bulldozer knocking down whatever was in its way and pile drivers digging into the ground in order to make sure that when they laid the concrete it was deep enough into the ground that whatever they were building that day would be stable. At that moment, the de Moya group was building a major highway in Miami. So they had all their employees working in all different areas in order to try to finish the project as quickly as they could. I then walked over to these four guys and watched them as they were mixing around this sandy solution with water and aggressively stirring it. They screamed at me “move out of the way kid” as they had just moments before the what I now know was concrete was going to harden up and become useless unless they poured it around the pole that was the hold up a bridge for the highway. Mr. Sas’ told me that he had told them before just how much water and solution to use so that they would have the longest lasting concrete. This seemed like such a difficult task to me, as I had never dealt with any real world problems in school before. So this really helped me learn that the only way to really be prepared for a career is to have experience in the field you wish to pursue.
In the source by Stuart Tennant about students finding higher placement positions in the civil engineering field he explains that “Not only is industrial placement likely to reinforce prior academic studies: a student working as a co-opted member in a ‘live’ engineering environment, tackling engineering problems, and liaising with highly qualified engineers will in all likelihood develop expectations, shift perceptions and enhance his or her individual comprehension of the civil engineering profession.” (Tennant 1). At this point in the education system, there is not as much interaction between companies and universities and this is a problem because as colleges are looking to get their graduates jobs. This makes it harder for them. As more and more new jobs are being created colleges are not able to keep up with the new companies that are starting up and where their graduates would be a best fit. Instead they stay with the older companies that have been around for a long time that might not always be the best fit for some of the graduates that are studying different fields. For sometime universities have been looking to use these connections with industries to “engage students, faculty members, and practicing professionals in collaborations that lead to better-trained engineers, produce research that is relevant to industry practice, and accrue research and development benefits to companies” (Smith) This source explains how students that are presented with the opportunity to intern at a company during their undergraduate are able to learn from first hand experience and have mentors to show them exactly how they should be handling different situations that arise in the day-to-day agenda of civil engineers. Not only do these programs provide insight into the jobs that civil engineers perform but also insight into how the workplace is. This allows students to engage in dialogue for their first time in a workplace and gain valuable skills that will help in the future when they eventually get hired for a company.
At Florida State University, the text that civil engineering students use to find internships is Handshake. This web site is apart of The Career Center at FSU and it is very easy to use and very user friendly. Essentially they ask you for what kind of position you are looking for, for example internship, full-time job, or part-time job. The website then goes on to ask you what where in the world you would like to do this internship and if you are unsure of where to would be good for you it lists the most popular places that FSU students go for their internships so this is good to base your search off of. After that there is a list of industries that students in your major choose do their internships in so this helps you more into narrowing down in what kind of place you are going to do your internship in. The next question to help the program find you the perfect internship is what kind of company culture you want and the type of employers you would want to work for. This is very important as choosing the company that suits the student the best is good for boosting their involvement in the internship and how their experiences are. If a student isn’t happy in the company, they are interning for they are less likely to try to do more and be proactive in their internships which would limit just how much they are able to learn and grow from this internship. Next on the list of your personal wants for an internship is what skills you could bring to an internship which helps the employers know how you can benefit them and where exactly you would fit in their company. Once the survey is completed you get to your personal profile and this is where you get to see just how useful this website is. They are able to connect you with all the other students that are looking for the same internships and help create connections with all these other students. Not only does Handshake connect you with students around campus but also has an extensive amount of internship and employment opportunities, as you are able to continue scrolling and scrolling down and see more. What is particularly useful is that when looking for these internships you can see what students from FSU have worked at these companies and get to look at their profile and see if you have the same credentials as them in order to get the internship. Another thing that this website offers is the ability to schedule mock interviews in order to practice your skills and make sure you do perfectly on your interview. The last helpful thing that this website provides is information on The Career Center. The Career Center is in the Dunlap Student Success Center and is a place that is made to help students on searching for a job and everything that comes with the job search, this would include resume checks, mock interviews, and providing information on careers and companies to help people become better informed.
In the world of civil engineering, the only way to move ahead of the rest is to make yourself distinguishable. This is huge when it comes to finding high paying jobs in the field you are seeking to join. The best way to get noticed by these companies is the STEM Career and Internship Fair. This is an annual job fair that happens at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. This is just one way how this community tries to find new members by offering jobs and internships to students who are interested in civil engineering and who are willing to work. The Career Center is the group that hosts these career fairs and they even offer help and tips on how to approach these employers and how you can make a good first impression on these people in the short time you have talking to them at the job fair due to the number of other people that want to talk to the same employer that you do. They also host workshops in order to provide students with other ways to prepare for these career fairs.
The number of civil engineering jobs is increasing every year due to infrastructure getting older so in most big cities that use highways and roads extensively they are always looking for new engineers that could bring in fresh ideas that could benefit the whole field. For example the newest design for bridges that would allow them to use less materials and it be sturdier than bridges from the past or a new idea could be a new formula for concrete that would make the base of bridges or highways more firm and allow construction workers to be able to relay more on the base and not have to put up as many support beams. This is how careers progress with the changing times; the younger people that have different mindsets are able to see things with an open mind and solve problems in different ways.
While driving on a highway and you see that there is construction happening you now know that it’s a civil engineer that is behind all of it. They are able to help the populated cities traffic issues and find ways to alleviate them by planning out the construction of these highways in order from them to be the most efficient and cause the least amount of accidents. Through taking very rigorous courses that are required by the civil engineering program at FSU and by the many internship/work experience that are offered by FSU finding the perfect job for a civil engineering major is made very easy. The use of Handshake and utilizing all the tools that the Career Center offers are essential to being able to find the perfect internship and career.