Discussion Thread

  • 1.  Internship in European Countries: Possibilities and funding for living

    Posted 11-18-2019 10:40 AM

    Hi everyone,

    I am John, an active member of ASCE and the current Vice-president of ASCE-Mankato. I am looking for an internship in Europe for Summer 2020 to implement my American academic knowledge in a different country and to work in a diverse community of Europe. By doing so, I want to travel and get a different kind of experience than usual engineering graduate students. This would help me to understand the ways to work with old engineering infrastructure in Europe and also to get ideas of how the engineers from the other side of the ocean think, solve and implement the ideas to solve the similar kind of problem we are solving here in the United States.

    So any help, comments or networking with anyone who has been through doing an internship or knows about doing an internship over that part of the work would be greatly appreciated.



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    John Shrestha
    VP-ASCE Mankato
    Mankato MN
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  • 2.  RE: Internship in European Countries: Possibilities and funding for living

    Posted 11-21-2019 02:06 PM
    Hi John,

    I don't have personal experience here myself, but I have several friends or colleagues who have worked abroad. In all those cases, those colleagues worked in the US for a large company that also had offices abroad. They worked for one summer in the US before requesting to work abroad in a second summer.  I suggest looking around for those types of companies (example: AECOM).

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    Stephanie Slocum P.E., M.ASCE
    Founder
    Engineers Rising LLC
    www.engineersrising.com
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  • 3.  RE: Internship in European Countries: Possibilities and funding for living

    Posted 11-21-2019 05:16 PM

    Hi Stephanie,

    Thank you for your post, I would take a look at the company you mention and would search more into it. I was just wondering if there is any possibilities to help me network with the people you have mention, it would be great for me.

    Thank you again,


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    John Shrestha
    Mankato MN
    john.shrestha@...
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  • 4.  RE: Internship in European Countries: Possibilities and funding for living

    Posted 11-22-2019 09:58 AM
    It helps to be aware of any particular difficulties in getting a work permit in a particular country. The way that can be possibly sidestepped is to work for an American company that is doing projects overseas. When I worked for URS Corporation (Now part of AECOM) in the early 2000's there were opportunities to take job assignments in Iraq. I also know colleagues mentioning taking job assignments in UAE which can be lucrative.

    If you are a current graduate student you may want to look at options for studying abroad or conducting research as part of you thesis. This wouldn't be quite the same as an internship but could lead to connections leading to specific opportunities.

    A third option would be to get a graduate degree from a European university. https://newengineer.com/insight/top-10-european-masters-degrees-in-civil-engineering-1300084

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    Yance Marti P.E., M.ASCE
    Civil Engineer IV
    City of Milwaukee
    Milwaukee WI
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  • 5.  RE: Internship in European Countries: Possibilities and funding for living

    Posted 11-23-2019 08:14 AM
    Hi Yance,

    Thank you for your comments. I would look for something like research or as part of my education.

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    John Shrestha
    Mankato MN
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  • 6.  RE: Internship in European Countries: Possibilities and funding for living

    Posted 02-14-2020 10:58 PM
    Hi John,
    I had a very good experience getting a 3 month paid internship with an engineering firm in Austria through IAESTE back in the day. They did a great job with placement and lodging, and organized nice get-togethers for the interns in beautiful locations including a castle near Zagreb.  
    A quick google search shows that they seem to still exist.  https://iaeste.org/ 

    Best luck,

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    Natalya Sokolovskaya P.E., M.ASCE
    Wynnewood PA
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