Discussion Thread

There seem to be a lot of different opinions on what an internship SHOULD be. To some people, it is as hands-off as shadowing someone and seeing what different people at a company do day-to-day. To others, it is essentially the same thing as receiving full-time entry-level work. Some of this is driven by the needs and resources of each company, but some is also due to the level of responsibility that people in charge of the intern are willing to take on. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

In my own experience with interns, we typically have them for 6 months at a time. In the work that I do, this is enough time to train them as we would with entry level staff. A lot of the work is data analysis in Excel, GIS, and R. These are all programs that I believe are worth their time to learn, even if many of the tasks are fairly simple. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

Aside from learning software-specific skills, I also try to make sure that they understand the big picture. This includes the reason we are working on the tasks we have, how they contribute to the project at large, and how each other person on the team also contributes, using the intern's work as part of the whole project. This also involves attending meetings and being included on project-related emails. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

By the time the intern completes their tenue with us, my goal is for them to have developed a few new skills to bring elsewhere (or bring back), and to have seen what it is like to work on one type of water/environmental project. This is at the city/municipal level in an environment comprised of civil servants and supported by additional consulting staff. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

If you were to take an intern, how would you approach it to give them meaningful experience?<o:p></o:p>

There seem to be a lot of different opinions on what an internship SHOULD be. To some people, it is as hands-off as shadowing someone and seeing what different people at a company do day-to-day. To others, it is essentially the same thing as receiving full-time entry-level work. Some of this is driven by the needs and resources of each company, but some is also due to the level of responsibility that people in charge of the intern are willing to take on. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

In my own experience with interns, we typically have them for 6 months at a time. In the work that I do, this is enough time to train them as we would with entry level staff. A lot of the work is data analysis in Excel, GIS, and R. These are all programs that I believe are worth their time to learn, even if many of the tasks are fairly simple. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

Aside from learning software-specific skills, I also try to make sure that they understand the big picture. This includes the reason we are working on the tasks we have, how they contribute to the project at large, and how each other person on the team also contributes, using the intern's work as part of the whole project. This also involves attending meetings and being included on project-related emails. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

By the time the intern completes their tenue with us, my goal is for them to have developed a few new skills to bring elsewhere (or bring back), and to have seen what it is like to work on one type of water/environmental project. This is at the city/municipal level in an environment comprised of civil servants and supported by additional consulting staff. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

If you were to take an intern, how would you approach it to give them meaningful experience?<o:p></o:p>

I am a freshman at UTRGV, I was looking forward to having an internship experience in the summer with the purpose to grow and develop my skills. Could you tell me if you know about some good internship opportunities for a student like me?

thank you very much.

- Brayan Armijo

There seem to be a lot of different opinions on what an internship SHOULD be. To some people, it is as hands-off as shadowing someone and seeing what different people at a company do day-to-day. To others, it is essentially the same thing as receiving full-time entry-level work. Some of this is driven by the needs and resources of each company, but some is also due to the level of responsibility that people in charge of the intern are willing to take on. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

In my own experience with interns, we typically have them for 6 months at a time. In the work that I do, this is enough time to train them as we would with entry level staff. A lot of the work is data analysis in Excel, GIS, and R. These are all programs that I believe are worth their time to learn, even if many of the tasks are fairly simple. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

Aside from learning software-specific skills, I also try to make sure that they understand the big picture. This includes the reason we are working on the tasks we have, how they contribute to the project at large, and how each other person on the team also contributes, using the intern's work as part of the whole project. This also involves attending meetings and being included on project-related emails. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

By the time the intern completes their tenue with us, my goal is for them to have developed a few new skills to bring elsewhere (or bring back), and to have seen what it is like to work on one type of water/environmental project. This is at the city/municipal level in an environment comprised of civil servants and supported by additional consulting staff. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

If you were to take an intern, how would you approach it to give them meaningful experience?<o:p></o:p>