Thoughts on Sem 2 and applying for internships

Howdy! Hope things are going well and all of your mid-sem tests have been manageable. Now, in this blog, I’m gonna talk about how I’m finding this semester so far and the courses that I’m doing as well as touch on the internship grind, which is beating me up a little at the moment 😭

So this sem, mechanical engineering students are doing ENGGEN 204, MECHENG 211, MECHENG 222 and MECHENG 236. 

ENGGEN 204

Now ENGGEN 204 is shared with all engineering students so I won’t go into too much detail. Basically, the course is centred around effective communication and collaboration, and its purpose is to prepare you for a professional setting. There is no exam for this course, which is a first for us mechanicals!! 

MECHENG 211

MECHENG 211 is Thermofluids, the first module being thermodynamics. Now, the first part of this course at least had a bit of an ENGGEN 140 feel about it, which surprised me a little. It’s a lot of states, processes, cycles, ideal gas equations, and for the most part, reading thermodynamics tables! 😆But it’s actually been a lot more manageable than I thought it was going to be, I think the real stuff is starting now with Fluid Mechanics but this stuff is for sure important for mechanical students.

MECHENG 222

MECHENG 222, alongside 211, are shared with mechatronics students. 222 follows on from the second half of ENGGEN 121, the dynamics section taught by Hazim. The first half of the course, which is what I have completed so far, has been kinematics which has been a lotttt different to what I thought it was gonna be like. It starts off feeling soooo theoretical ngl, like analysing different problems using 6 different coordinate systems. I’M NOT TRYING TO SCARE YOU, it’s not actually that bad in the end. The derivations of some of the equations are very complicated and we’re not expected to fully understand them so in the end, it’s just using equations but you still have to understand what they mean and when to use them. Apparently, we’re not even into the hard stuff yet. Hazim is gonna be teaching us vibration of particles, kinetics of particles, impulse and momentum, and rigid body kinetics so I’m putting my metaphorical hard hat on and brace for a turbulent landing 😬

MECHENG 236

Finally, MECHENG 236 will be your first mechanicals only paper. This course follows on from MECHENG 235 and follows a similar process. Lectures cover a variety of mechanical components and systems such as hydraulics, clutches, brakes, internal combustion systems and much more! And you’ll get to see a lot of this in labs as well! It’s super interesting and it’s probably my favourite course this sem. All the tron students are like eughhhh design, while they go off and code like a bunch of robots. Anyway, 236 involves a 12 week project and this year at least, we’re designing a three-wheeled urban car which is pretty sick ngl, but it’s certainly overwhelming. You gotta make sure you don’t procrastinate in this project cause it can all come back to bite you in the end.

INTERNSHIPS

OK NOW INTERNSHIPS. So, as you might be aware, all engineering students have to complete 800 hours of practical work to complete their degree. Normally, students try to complete these hours over two summers, usually at the end of 2nd year and 3rd year. But holy, it’s pretty rough ngl. It’s harder than ever before to get internships and even though mechanicals have a pretty decent number of options, it’s not that difficult to get declined. To give you some context, I have applied to 15 internships so far and I have been declined from 6, some will probably never respond.

So my advice to you as a first-year is, go do some projects outside of uni, watch for opportunities on your uni email because the UoA staff are excellent at letting you know about events for engineers. Join some clubs, particularly those related to engineering, something to put on your CV or cover letter.

This whole process can be stressful, I’m not going to make it sound like its easy. But if you don’t get an internship in second year, that’s ok, you can always finish your 800 hours after 4th year, you will just graduate a little later, and that’s no big deal.

So to sum up, don’t stress, you have time. Go join some clubs and prove to your future employer that you’re a good engineer. 🥳

Thank you for reading and happy running!

Rohan