BOO!
I do apologise for that horrible jumpscare, but I reckon it’s time to talk about something every Part II student must go through the 5 stages of grief for: Int*rnships (censored for your safety). Don’t worry, I’ll be taking you all through it gently.
As I’m starting this blog, it’s around 7:30 pm. The sun and its warmth have left for the night, and I’m tucked away in my study. Currently, I’m listening to “A New Kind of Love” by Frou Frou (a must-listen!) I invite you to get yourself comfortable, maybe get a snack, as we navigate this burning mess we call an int*rnship market.
Oh, almost forgot! Today’s Bad Joke:
Why aren’t electrons so fun to be around?
They’re always so negative!
(Crickets…)
ENGGEN 499: The Rundown
I’m sure you’ve heard of something like this. It’s pretty much a requirement of 800 int*rnship hours before you graduate. I know what you’re thinking: “HOLY SH*T!” That was my reaction too…and kinda still is.
Let me break it down for you: These 800 int*rnship hours are a combination of general and sub-professional work. General work involves working with trade skills and engineering processes directly, like working with machining tools. Sub-professional work is about your responsibilities as an engineer, such as work within a consultancy. You can choose to do fully general work, fully sub-professional work or a combination of both, so you won’t be penalised if you don’t like getting your hands too dirty (or you like getting your hands really dirty!)
One unfortunate downside of this is that our summer breaks will be (or should be) taken up by int*rnships. That’s actually a good thing, because we’ll be productive instead of rotting at home playing Valorant or Marvel Rivals or something…
Now, let’s address the elephant in the room: graduation will be delayed until you do all 800 hours. When I was a Part I student, that was pants-crapping information for me. But there’s a little bit more to that rule than I first thought. You see, you could get a graduate or int*rnship role lined up for after your fourth year, and that will still count for your 800 hours. That’ll pretty much guarantee your graduation, if not a bit later than usual! I’ve heard through the grapevine that in cases like these, you can ask for an exemption to graduate “on time” because you’re gonna be doing all 800 hours anyway.
In the next few sections, I’m gonna talk about ways you can get yourself heard. I promise, job hunting isn’t completely hopeless.
Going to the Right Places and Meeting The Right People
I want you to close your eyes (metaphorically, so you can still see my blog) and imagine what you think a chemical engineering job is gonna look like. Do you imagine rows upon rows of metal tanks and pipes, twisting and turning all over the place?
Okay open your metaphorical eyes now. It’s not always like that, unfortunately. I mean yeah sometimes it is, but there are a few more options than that. These include:
- Power/Energy
- Water/Wastewater
- Oil and Gas (Not too common in New Zealand)
- Chemical production (e.g. Methanex)
- Metals manufacturing
- Consultancies that branch into any of these industries
Now occasionally, in Semester One, these companies will come for industry events. These are great! Go to them! If not for the countless opportunities to get to know people in the company and what they do, go for the free pizza and stationery! (I still have a notebook from when Jacobs came to uni).
Sometimes, more CHEMMAT-specific industries will host industry evenings with the help of CMESA, our glorious Chemical and Materials Engineering Students Association. CMESA will also have industry tours and information evenings about CHEMMAT industries in general. These are even better! AND there’s more food! AND, you can get to know your fellow CHEMMAT students.
If you already know anyone who works in one of these industries, PULL THOSE STRINGS. Whether it be your dad, your mom, your uncle’s friend’s friend that you met at a housewarming once…try out those opportunities.
The Way of the LinkedIn Warrior
Have you ever seen LinkedIn posts like these? I swear, I’ve been a lot of these “What being XYZ taught me about B2B marketing sales” types of posts recently.
I know how bloody corny these are, but they can help greatly. Especially if you’ve decided to connect with any industry people you’ve met on LinkedIn. Obviously, Clash of Clans may not be a solid talking point, but I’ve seen quite a few topics from my friends and connections, including:
- New jobs, whether it be CHEMMAT-related or not
- Being the highest-ranking student in a particular course
- Attending an industry event or seminar
You may have noticed me saying “connections” a lot. And you might be wondering, “What even is a connection?” A connection isn’t just some person you remember the name of, no. A connection is someone in the same industry who you have genuinely bonded with.
It’s also a good idea to comment under your friends’ posts or other posts that you find interesting. Dunno if you noticed, but in that picture I myself commented under that post with a joke (?) combining Clash of Clans and chemical engineering. Now, this is probably the lower limit of professionalism allowed on this forsaken app. When in doubt, use the auto-generated replies or build off of them.
To Recap (Plus, a Special Guest)
So let’s say you took away a lot of info from this blog (and I really hope this helped ease your anxieties!) And, God willing, you secure an int*rnship for next year! “What will I actually be doing?” you may ask. Now I haven’t done an int*rnship yet, but I knew one person who did: my Dad, who did civil engineering and hated structures so much he went into Wastewater for many years. Here are his thoughts on his first int*rnship, which involved highways and roads. (Paraphrased, he’s overseas right now and I had to bear with some not-so-great audio quality.)
“I learned from the basics. I learned how the drafting was done. I saw how the draftsmen hand-drew their engineering drawings (this was before AutoCAD was industry standard!) My boss provided me with opportunities, and I explored them, even client-facing opportunities. I was really really nervous (when meeting clients) because I was only in my 3rd year, but my fellow engineers sat beside me as I talked to them. The training was multi-faceted: client-side situations, drafting, softwares, CAD, report drafting. The engineers were very open and very helpful. And that actually built my confidence level and my character. Not only did I learn technical skills, but stakeholder engagement skills too. If you end up in a good company where they provide you with these opportunities, this is what you will learn.”
If you’re drooling at the thought of these situations, then I’ve got great news for you: Chemical engineering has some of the most rewarding work environments ever. If you’re thinking you should apply what I said earlier and try to find my dad on LinkedIn, that would be really funny, but maybe hold off on the “Connect” button…
Anyway, as I’m writing this sentence, it’s around noon. I am sitting in my fluid mechanics lecture and…there is no lecturer. We are literally just chilling (Turns out, he actually forgot we had one!). Anyway, I do hope you enjoyed this blog, and I will catch you in the next one!