A few more EE questions

[archcommus]

Just thought of a few things.

For those of you in EE and doing internships and co-op programs, what seems to be more popular, and the best route for you? Do you mind doing a co-op program and missing some school?

What percentage would you guess of internships/co-ops is paid, and what percentage maybe isn't? Seems to me like having an unpaid internship during a summer would be pretty tough if you can't afford to not be making any money.

Finally, what school do you go to, and what aid did they give you in finding internships and co-ops? What kind of cities did you find opportunities in?

Thanks guys. :thumbsup:

 

[no0b]

I would like to do a co-op (need someone to hire me first). Hell yea I want to miss school, whoever believes you must graduate in 4 years is a smacktard.

Ummm.... I haven't heard of a volunteer internship or co-op for EE. But if you really really really really want to work for that company for free go for it. I sure as hell wouldn't.

I go to UDayton they have co-op fairs, basicly help you setup interviews with companies looking for co-op students. Dayton has alot of opportunities (but I didn't look elsewhere) because of defence contractors. I'm sure bigger cities have alot more oppurtunities.

 

[archcommus]

Anyone else with experience with this?

 

[blipblop]

i'm posting this on Co-Op right now lol. I go to Northeastern University very good cooperative education program. I think right now it is much better to have real work experience related to your field. I'm working @ L-3 communications doing radome/antenna research. i don't mind giving up it's a 5 year program and we get two years of work experience when we graduate.

 

[Tifababy]

I was looking for a summer internship when I was in college, but most employers would rather have a 6-9month coop. So I ended up missing a semester of school and taking the coop. I went to the University of Wisconsin. I went to school right after the tech bubble burst, so I found the coop on my own. I ended up graduating in 5 years instead of 4, but so did 3 out of 4 of my other roommates (and they didn't have coops). I was paid what I think was around 70% of a regular engineers salary, I made $18.75/hr, but I was only a junior at the time, senior coops made $21.75 (and this was 4 years ago, so it's gone up since then). I ended up getting a full time job when I graduated at the company I cooped for and I'm pretty sure I only got the job offer because of my previous coop. So if you have a chance for a coop, definitely do it. With the money I earned, I got a new car and had spending money for the next year at college.

 

[archcommus]

So would you say there are no internship or co-op possibilities until at least the summer after your junior year? Or possibly earlier?

 

[TheLonelyPhoenix]

Some people I know here at Tech were able to get co-ops as early as the summer after their freshman year. Its all about your contacts. Go to job fairs and get some good stuff on your resume (a respectable GPA and any extra-curriculars showing interest in your field).

The major difference between co-ops and internships now is simply the amount of time you're around. Internships are 3-6 months, co-ops are 6+ months. Internships generally are paid positions, but companies really don't like them as much because they get more use out of the student in a co-op. Many co-ops now will try to work around your school schedule, so instead of the half-n-half deal, you'll simply take a couple fewer credits (still a full-time student) and work as well.

The summer after your junior year is the LATEST you should be looking for an internship/co-op. If you show up to a job fair or submit a resume as a freshman and don't get a position, but you come back later as a junior, it looks a lot better. Most company reps will actually remember you and try to help you out/give you some priority.

Edit: BTW, if you couldn't guess from the sig, I go to Virginia Tech. They have a ton of on-campus company reps here, and two major job fairs per year. Basically, if you're in engineering/computer science and you don't some work experience under your belt before graduation, you're going to have a hell of a time finding a job. Some companies excusively hire interns for their incoming workforce.

 

[archcommus]

Thanks for the info. I'm glad you touched on how early it's POSSIBLE to get a position, as I was wondering if anyone ever gets them as early as the summer after your freshman year. I don't think I'd have any problem graduating a year later due to being in a co-op, just as long as I was being paid so that I could AFFORD to graduate later.

I'm very hopeful to get something my first summer, I wonder what help GCC will offer.

 

[Gibson486]

I go to Northeastern and i am an EE. We have three coops we have to do, so we spend an extra year in college. I enjoy it alot because it gives me insight into what I am studying.

Finding an coop is easy work if you have a high GPA because the advisors who send out your resume will not question the companies you pick. If you have a GPA below 3.2, it becomes hard and if you get ine lower than a 2.8, it is extremely hard.

The thing that sucks about coop is that you will usually not get the job you want, unless you are a good interviewer and have a high GPA. I wanted to do an EE coop last semester (I HAD a 3.0), but i ended up doing firmware work, which is more CE.

 

[SaturnX]

I'm at the University of Waterloo and obviously in their ECE program right now.. the way our Co-Op program is structured, is that we don't miss school, rather it takes 4 1/3 Years to get your degree, basically, I've got 4 months of school, followed by a 4 month co-op position, and that repeats until the end, with an exception were I do 8 months of school, and then do my final co-op in between the first and second terms of 4th year.

Also our co-op program is a direct requirement for our degree, so it works in quite well. Most if not all students within our program are paid, unless they're unable to find a position. We've got an entire online system that is used for getting jobs and such, Employers work with the University and post posistions available, and we apply.

Jobs range from anywhere within Canada, to the US, to Europe, etc.. big name companies like Sun, nVidia, ATI, Microsoft, all have job positings open to our co-op students, so Co-Op can really take you anywhere, it's really up to you.

--Mark

 

[cressida]

Good replies to this thread .. about to catch a flight for an internship interview actually but I'll post as much as I can.
Experience these days is very important before you graduate. One of my friend had a 3.5 (CS) and he gave his resume to IBM ... the recruiter said that his resume and course back ground was good but would not be qualifed because he did not have much experience.

Yes if you are given the opportunity to do a co-op / intern, go for it don't hesitate at all. It's not really a big deal to stay an extra year of school and earn some money and valubable experience that more than likely lead to full time.

Texas Tech
5th Year Senior

 

[archcommus]

Great replies, thanks for the contributions.

Seems the earlier you start the better! I wish there were some current or past GCC students in here that could give me some insight as to what goes on at that school. As I said, as long as a program pays decently it shouldn't be a problem staying another year. If it didn't pay, though, there'd be no way I could do it.

 

[Gibson486]

what is your definition of decent pay? If it is around $10, then you are fine. With a good gpa (2.8 or above) you should have no porblem making more than $15/hour.

 

[archcommus]

I would probably be hoping for at least $12 an hour in this area. That pay working full time from early May to late August, if it was an internship, would be plenty to help pay for school and for me to be in school five years if I did that every summer. Of course, that'd be for an intership, a co-op program would be even longer than that. So yeah, $12 an hour or so at least.

 

[TheLonelyPhoenix]

Originally posted by: cressida
Good replies to this thread .. about to catch a flight for an internship interview actually but I'll post as much as I can.
Experience these days is very important before you graduate. One of my friend had a 3.5 (CS) and he gave his resume to IBM ... the recruiter said that his resume and course back ground was good but would not be qualifed because he did not have much experience.

I've heard similar stories. Even CS degrees with 3.8 GPAs aren't able to find jobs without work experience.

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: archcommus
I would probably be hoping for at least $12 an hour in this area. That pay working full time from early May to late August, if it was an internship, would be plenty to help pay for school and for me to be in school five years if I did that every summer. Of course, that'd be for an intership, a co-op program would be even longer than that. So yeah, $12 an hour or so at least.

You seem to be worrying an awful lot about money...

 

[blipblop]

yea, it's about the experience i guess. but if you want to know, i'm a second year, this is my first co-op and i'm making $18/hr

 

[archcommus]

Originally posted by: mwtgg

Originally posted by: archcommus
I would probably be hoping for at least $12 an hour in this area. That pay working full time from early May to late August, if it was an internship, would be plenty to help pay for school and for me to be in school five years if I did that every summer. Of course, that'd be for an intership, a co-op program would be even longer than that. So yeah, $12 an hour or so at least.

You seem to be worrying an awful lot about money...

With an internship or co-op? Not worrying, just saying that it'd have to be paid, because I wouldn't be able to afford it NOT being paid.

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: archcommus

Originally posted by: mwtgg

Originally posted by: archcommus
I would probably be hoping for at least $12 an hour in this area. That pay working full time from early May to late August, if it was an internship, would be plenty to help pay for school and for me to be in school five years if I did that every summer. Of course, that'd be for an intership, a co-op program would be even longer than that. So yeah, $12 an hour or so at least.

You seem to be worrying an awful lot about money...

With an internship or co-op? Not worrying, just saying that it'd have to be paid, because I wouldn't be able to afford it NOT being paid.

Just in general.

 

[archcommus]

Sort of. Just trying to avoid taking out more than $5k a year in student loans. Having a position that paid would be important.

 

[A5]

The co-op program at GT is set up so that you can start after Freshman year, and you alternate semesters between school and work, until you complete (up to) 5 work semesters, and then you finish your degree. I got hired for this summer with a 3.14 making $14.78/hr (plus I get a security clearance).

More info can be found at profpractice.gatech.edu

 

[archcommus]

Originally posted by: A5
The co-op program at GT is set up so that you can start after Freshman year, and you alternate semesters between school and work, until you complete (up to) 5 work semesters, and then you finish your degree. I got hired for this summer with a 3.14 making $14.78/hr (plus I get a security clearance).

More info can be found at profpractice.gatech.edu

That doesn't sound too shabby for yourself. :thumbsup:

For those of you in the U.S., what cities are some/most of these corporations? Would I be likely to find any good ones in Pittsburgh?

 

[A5]

Well, except for the something like 30 Nvidia job openings they just posted at my co-op office (after I already got a job ), most of my options were in the southeast...but I'm sure that there are companies everywhere looking for people to do highly skilled work at a fraction of the cost of a full-timer.

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: archcommus

Originally posted by: A5
The co-op program at GT is set up so that you can start after Freshman year, and you alternate semesters between school and work, until you complete (up to) 5 work semesters, and then you finish your degree. I got hired for this summer with a 3.14 making $14.78/hr (plus I get a security clearance).

More info can be found at profpractice.gatech.edu

That doesn't sound too shabby for yourself. :thumbsup:

For those of you in the U.S., what cities are some/most of these corporations? Would I be likely to find any good ones in Pittsburgh?

A lot of them are in Texas/California, and Arizona, surprisingly. I'm sure you'd find one in Pittsburgh though.

Edit: Apparently, Bombardier, Spherion, Bosch, Philips, and Seagate among others have locations in or around Pittsburgh.

 

[amoeba]

I got an internship during my junior year, you are probably able to get one before but mine was during the downturn.

typically a big tech company (IBM, motorola, etc....) will pay about 17/18 to 20 for juniors and 20 to 25 for seniors.

I have a friend in grad school who interned at AMD for around 30/hour.

I would not mind missing school for a co-op provided that you feel its a co-op in which you will learn something.
I don't know how many of these companies are up in pittsburgh, most of them are in bay area or austin. The closest you will find is probably upper state NY.

do you go to CMU?