Hello. I am a junior year mechanical engineering major at Tufts. I have to make a decision between two internship offers by 5pm EST (VERY SOON):
One position is a mechanical engineering internship at Anderson Power Products in Sterling, MA. This position would be very design-oriented: using Solidworks to create designs, verification testing, finite element analysis, etc. The link for that job is here: https://careers-idealindustries.icims.com/jobs/1656/intern-mechanical-engineering/job
The other position is as a Summer Technical Assistant at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, MA. This position isn’t as technical in nature, but involves many duties that are assisting engineering managers: building a database to match program managers to subcontractors, assisting in the scheduling and budgeting for programs, looking at program performance metrics, etc. The position summary is: http : // i. imgur . c o m / J4jcFYX.jpg
In summary, one position is more technical mechanical engineering (Anderson Power Products), while the other has a lot of engineering management functions (Lincoln Laboratory), but the company is more interesting to me. I am leaning towards choosing the Lincoln Laboratory position because I think working there would open more doors and the company is more prestigious. Furthermore, I think it would be good to have the management side-experience to diversify myself as a senior applying for jobs. But because I would want a more technical, mechanical engineering job out of college, would this opportunity be less suitable for that? Sorry for this being a bit long, but I greatly appreciate any advice you could offer. I have to make the decision very soon as the APP offer expires today at 5pm.
Now, on to your question. I get the conundrum, an internship you don’t really want at a company/facility you’d really like to ultimately work at versus an internship you would like, at a company with less cachet. Unfortunately, there are strengths and weaknesses to each option. At one you’ll get more “engineering.” At the other, a foot in the door.
My gut, as is yours, would be choose LL if that’s ultimately where you want to land. You’ll build internal networking connections. Now, if that’s just the place you’d prefer in the long run between the two, but really aspire to a different company in the long run, I’d be inclined to get the better engineering experience, because the network connections won’t have as much value.
Last thought, are you planning on getting an advanced degree? What are your employment opportunities at either with just a BS? My guess is better at APP, but I could be wrong.
Sorry for the double post, I just wanted to see more replies. Your advice was helpful. I’m not sure about employment opportunities with just a BS, because I do plan to get an engineering job after I graduate. I figure that if I network well in the Lincoln Labs position with current employees and engineering managers, I could increase my job prospects. While I want to do technical engineering after graduating, I’m not sure I’d want to work at APP because of its location and the company’s prospects.
Your value as an engineer is based on your capabilities. The better job is the one where you would learn more.
Sounds like you would learn more at APP because it’s more technical and has a creative component that will force you to think. The stuff at Lincoln sounds downright boring and and tedious.
