California
industries provide engineering internship
opportunities
By Joseph Serna
Online Forty-Niner
Assistant City Editor
Paid or unpaid, local or distant, internship opportunities for engineering
students at Cal State Long Beach are abundant and in demand.
“
Right now, construction management and mechanical engineering are the highest
[in demand],” said Michael K. Mahoney, dean of the College of Engineering.
Thanks to a boost in the defense industry and California’s ever-expanding
population, students now have large companies like Boeing offering on-the-job
experience with their internships, Mahoney said.
Unlike internships in other career fields that provide hands-on experience
from the beginning, for the most part, Mahoney said, interning engineering
students start with shadowing, and then progressively work toward taking the
reins themselves, if at all.
While an intern in any field is expected to have a minimum amount of knowledge
and education in that career, its the “soft” skills that are highly
valued, Mahoney said.
Soft skills are skills not emphasized in an engineering classroom, such as
oral, written and inter-personal communication skills. Giving presentations
and working well within a team are also major positive attributes.
Also in high demand are civil engineering students whose work can range from
individual homes to macro-scaled projects like planning highways and city layouts.
One cause for the abundance of engineering internships is the marketing of
the companies that offer them.
“
They market their company towards the younger generations,” said Marie
Burks, Program Coordinator for the CSULB Internship program and Veteran Affairs.
An attractive benefit for many of the internships is students get paid, an
advantage internships in other careers do not often have.
Burks said the majority of CSULB students favor the local internships, though
she has worked with students who have gone considerable distances, like all
the way to Sacramento to work with constituents.
She also emphasized the “soft” skills Mahoney referred to, and
said while on a résumé classes and qualifications are valuable,
the intangible qualities are what can set a potential intern apart.
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