OOOOOOH I AM SOOOO EXCITED FOR YOU GUYS. Y’all are about to get paid, have people think you’re really cool and active, and have a super hot LinkedIn. You’re welcome.
Hey engineers 👋🍂 When asking for engineering and university advice, it is too common to be met with “Join clubs”, “Volunteer”, or “Start a personal project”. That is all great advice, buuuut hearing it for the tenth time tends to make it lose all meaning. The next question naturally becomes “What club should I join?”, “Where are people finding these volunteering opportunities?”, or “But how can I find the resources or ideas to start?”.
Sometimes, I wish someone would just give me a fully comprehensive, hyper-specific blog post that tells me exactly where I can find volunteering experiences, what types of competitions I should be doing to look hot on LinkedIn, where to find all these great opportunities, what clubs I should join as a mechatronics enthusiast, advice and tips to get me ahead, and maybe even what the meaning of life is. Just real, helpful advice. Oh wait I’m a blogger and can do exactly tha-
clubs/groups to join as a mech enthusiast
- Formula SAE AKA the one where you build a racecar. If you get accepted into FSAE, you will spend long, rewarding hours contributing to building UoA’s formula-style racecar, which will be raced in the Australasian competition. People may or may not foam at the mouth when they see this on your CV, and your LinkedIn will definitely gain a new level of aura. FSAE requires a very high level of your time and commitment, but members typically intern at really cool companies (think: Rocket Lab).
- Robogals AKA the one where you teach kids robotics. All training is provided and it’s a super fun and easy opportunity to take advantage of.
- Maker Club AKA the one where you can make anything. If you have an idea, a project, or you just want to be around other creative people – maker club is the place to go. They offer A TON of free resources, materials, and tools to bring your projects to life (3D printers, sticker makers, laser cutters, and resources for everything from robotics to crocheting to fashion). And the people there are super experienced in tinkering, crafts, and niche activities. If you have an engineering project, or a fun and silly idea you want to bring to life, but lack the resources to make it come to life, you HAVE to go here (AKA the really orange area on level 4 of Engineering building).
- Robot Soccer AKA the one where you make robots play soccer. You (and friends!) will program the strategy for a team of robot ‘cubes’ to play soccer against other robots programmed by another team. Emails to sign up go out at the start of each semester.
- Rocketry Club AKA the one where you build a rocket. If you want to have a project on the side AND have something cool to talk about in interviews, rocketry club is a fun and easy way to have both.
- Aeronautics Club AKA the one for avid aviation admirers.
- Auckland Programme for Space Systems AKA the one for space and satellite savants.
- MECHA (The Mechanical and Mechatronics Student Association) AKA the one for mech/tron students. Each spec has its own student association. MECHA is your doorway to networking, social, and general fun events.
opportunities to grab
Hackathons
COMPETITIONS!!! They’re a fun way to flex your skills and meet new people. Most hackathons engineering students participate in are software-based 💻⚡(others exist too though!) where you are typically given a theme or issue and in a team, you will come up with and present a solution (and code of course). Quite a few software/comp-sci centred clubs host them, so keep an eye out on Instagram …or just wait for your designated LinkedIn warrior friend to ask you “PLEASE JOIN THIS HACKATHON WITH ME 🙏🙏🙏.”
Case Competitions
Case comps are sooooo cool, and tend to be more business/commerce-based ⚖️💸 University of Auckland Case Club (UACC) hosts A LOT of these events across a range of topics. Don’t worry if you are inexperienced – they have events for first timers, so join your business friends and take this opportunity to grow your critical thinking, communication skills, and teamwork skills!
UOA Distinguished Graduate Award
I rarely see ANYONE talk about this opportunity but since you are reading my blog, I will let you know about it too hehehe. The Distinguished Graduate Award is a cool award to have under your belt (and academic transcript) (and LinkedIn) (and on your CV) (and to talk about in interviews). To earn it, you have to do three things:
- Complete two Co-Curricular Recognition Programme Paths
- Attend a workshop for the programme
- Complete an interview with the programme’s panel members (and then hopefully get accepted of course)
There are four Co-Curricular Recognition Programme Paths, and each one requires 40 hours of service in a specific type of experience (the Leadership Path requires 40 hours of leadership role experience, the Innovation Path requires 40 hours of participation in recognised innovation programmes/workshops, etc). The best part about this award is that if you are a club exec, UniGuide, class rep, Part I Assistance Centre Mentor, or you just regularly volunteer, then YOU ARE ALREADY CONTRIBUTING HOURS TOWARDS THESE PROGRAMME PATHS AND ARE UNKOWINGLY HALFWAY THROUGH YOUR JOURNEY IN GETTING THIS AWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Like I am being so serious right now y’all. Here is the damn website: University of Auckland Distinguished Graduate Award. PLEASE check this website and the eligible activities for each pathway because it will introduce you to activities and opportunities that you have never even heard of. And some of those opportunities are PAID, Y’ALL. Go do yourselves a favour and read it right NOW.
Casual jobs at the university
Speaking of paid opportunities, getting work in this economy as a student can be HARD. You have to fight hundreds of other people applying for one part-time retail job. You have to commute. You have to fit work into your busy study schedule. It is harddddddd 😓😥 But you know what ISN’T hard? Easily getting a casual job at the university. Working flexible shifts whenever you are free. Making easy money on-campus 😁😃 I am about to start yelling in all caps again BECAUSE PEOPLE BARELY TALK ABOUT THIS???? Nah, now I have to bring out the bullet points. It is THAT serious.
- Casual jobs at uni are usually super flexible
- They have jobs for EVERYTHING from student outreach work to blogging to literally going to uni in the morning and turning on the devices in lecture halls so that they are ready for the lecturers to use
- The jobs pay above minimum wage
- You can often get a staff ID card alongside your student one (I love my silly little staff card)
- I used to get confused as to why my printing balance didn’t change no matter how much I printed, until I realised that since I was technically a UOA staff member, ALL OF MY PRINTING WAS FREE !!!!
I currently have two jobs at the university (my first job being a Student Ambassador, and my second being a Faculty of Engineering Blogger), and uni work is honestly such an underrated way to make money while studying. Since I am in a super helpful mood today, here is ANOTHER LINK and MORE ADVICE.
Go to this website: https://jobs.auckland.ac.nz/. Scroll to the bottom. Turn on email notifications for casual employment to be the first person to know when new jobs open. Get paid.
volunteering
“Volunteering is good for the soul” – literally me (Arren Guanzon), 2025
🫵💛 Here are the deets you came for:
- UOA Volunteers Club: AKA your easiest gateway to cool, fulfilling, one-off volunteering opportunities you can do with friends and other university students. My advice: become a member to get monthly newsletters summarising their available events, and then pick whatever looks cool to you! I personally prefer to go to events alone, instead of with friends, because it forces me to meet new people in new environments, all while making a difference!!
- Volunteering Auckland: If you want to explore more volunteering opportunities, or even join some long-term volunteer work, then you know the drill. Here is the link for you: Opportunities @ Volunteering Auckland.
- Women In Engineering: Women in Engineering isn’t just about empowering women and having an enviably high food budget at each event. They also have volunteering opportunities for the girlies, so make the most of it!
final advice
I can’t make a post about opportunities without bringing up the best experience of my life. So here is my final piece of advice:
…look at walls.
One faithful semester two day, some first-years were walking past a wall on level four of Engineering when an interesting-looking poster caught their eye. One guy took it off the wall. One girl looked at it quizzically. “This looks cool.” And after a summer of design, welding, construction, and building a kart from scratch, my friends and I competed in a national Red Bull competition in front of tens of thousands of people – and came out with a top five position.
Clubs, projects, competitions, and volunteering are great for your CV and LinkedIn. Recruiters eat that stuff up. And it can be stressful balancing commitments and marketing yourself as the perfect intern to hire. But at the end of the day, I don’t go to sleep thinking “I’m glad I took all those opportunities to advance my chances at an int*rnship.”
I think about how good it felt to be at a food bank, knowing my day would be spent making sure food gets to the Aucklanders who needed it 🤝. I think about how good it feels having awesome people in my life that I never would have met if I didn’t join any clubs 🫶. And I think about the warm feeling of spending a summer with my friends on the engineering project of a lifetime, having mustered the courage to chase that opportunity 🤞.
I guess the meaning of life is to feel. To move through life with a full heart. All these opportunities are great, and your CV will definitely be full. But I also hope that through the people you help, the new experiences you embark on, and the connections you create, your heart will be full too.
Okay bye see you at the next blog ✌️