I found my internship through the ECE career fair. I strongly recommend students attend their major's career fair, as it is a more conversational environment for students to better connect with employers.
Name: Ben Nolte
Major: Electrical Engineering
Company: L3Harris Technologies
Location: Ashburn, VA
How did you find the internship/co-op? What was the interview process like? I found my internship through the ECE career fair. I strongly recommend students attend their major's career fair, as it is a more conversational environment for students to better connect with employers. The interview process was 65% behavioral questions and 35% technical questions based on prior work experience. I would strongly recommend students review the company's values, look into projects that may overlap with the ones the student may be working on, and come in with plenty of questions to ask.
What have been the most interesting aspects of your internship? One of the most interesting aspects of my internship was learning about the systems design process. I really appreciated the prior research that goes into planning for a product, the formulation of system requirements, and the product timeline that is modeled to estimate the sequential evolution of the system over time.
What campus activities or courses do you think helped you, or would have helped you, with this internship? One campus activity that helped me grow in such a short amount of time is my involvement in Theta Tau. This organization has connected me with an expansive alumni branch with whom I have learned a ton of information regarding the current professional landscape. Theta Tau has also introduced me to so many driven engineers from diverse backgrounds and majors who all strive to help each other improve professionally, academically, and socially.
What advice would you give other UMD engineering students seeking an internship or co-op position? I would encourage other UMD engineering students to take their failures and learn from them rather than letting them deter them from trying again. I came into UMD as a freshman connection student. Instead of quitting on engineering, I decided to put my all into gaining admission to the Clark School. Thankfully, after two long years of courses both during the semesters and over the summer and winter terms, I was admitted and continue to strive no matter the situation I am thrown into.
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