The Official Online Newsletter of Pilipino Americans in Science and Engineering
at UC Davis
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The Unsaid of Internships
The Unsaid of Internships
By Al Simmons
These past quarters have expired so quickly. I’m amazed at the amount of time and money I’ve spent at the Silo... I mean here at Davis. There have been a few times I’ve scavenged for an old-PASEr for advice on my schedule of classes for the following quarter only to find that I’m that old-PASEr. The usual response I get is, "Do I need to take that class?" Since I accepted my status as one of the few that remember when Taco Bell used to occupy the same space as that overpriced crepe cart and Primero was just a field to play mud football, I have been preaching to the PASE disciples about the mysterious "Internship or Co-op."
I’ve approached many PASErs about their internship hunt and they often express their desire to acquire new skills and contacts. At the risk of being redundant, I cannot stress the importance of having an internship. The rewards are endless especially if it is a paid internship ($$$). However, none of these student-geniuses had a desire to share a small office surrounded by vineyards and the Budweiser factory with 11 other co-workers. After my shock subsided I realized that my internship was a little unorthodox from the usual Intel, Chevron, or NASA internship. Why would a computer science and engineering (CSE) major choose to work for a Civil and Environmental engineering company? Honestly, I did it for the women. Yes all two of them were young and slightly married. But seriously, underneath the civil and environmental façade was a firm that developed hydrologic JAVA applications for a worldwide clientele. If there ever was a lumpia in the haystack, this was it. Needless to say, I learned how to program in JAVA as well as share a pitcher of ale with engineers and software developers with an average age of 35.4 years (of course this was only every Friday afternoon and only after I surpassed the legal drinking age).
Of the many things that I learned during that solitary summer, only a few of them probably haven’t been addressed before. One of the unspoken aspects regarded the way that I was able to relieve my nerves when I first began interning. Introducing myself to JAVA during the spring quarter prepared and enabled me to adapt to my position easier. Inquiring about the types of skills needed for a future internship position is good way to prepare for success. This will also help construct personal long term and short term goals to be accomplished during the internship period. Forming a type of mission statement maintains a focus for the duration of the internship period. These checkpoints should exist on a personal level outside of the company’s interests.
With a paid internship comes responsibility. Prior to the inaugural day of an internship, it would be wise to form a budget. Financial discipline, when initiated early, reaps many rewards in the long run. Fraternizing with co-workers is good for networking, however eating out with co-workers on a regular basis can be costly (packing your own lunch is healthy and inexpensive). Accounting for all expenditures such as lunch, work clothes, as well as that occasional silver scooter, helps develop smart spending habits. Eventually this will enable the possibility of investment planning via an E*Trade or Ameri-Trade account.
An internship may offer some academic perks given enough foresight and preparation. Applying for internship units or transcript notation may seem tedious, but documentation that you’ve had an internship can be an advantage when applying for a job. Some curriculums may accept internships as substitutes to course electives, decreasing the number of classes to be taken to complete a major. Essentially, the internship becomes a class that pays its students to attend. The Internship and Career Center as well as any academic department will be glad to direct anyone in this direction.
Woody Allen once said, "ninety percent of anything is showing up." However, success in anything begins with preparation.