Career By Design

When thinking about internships for next summer should you try something new even if you enjoy what you are doing right now?

A lot of students find something they really enjoy doing in the summer between their Sophomore and Junior years and receive return offers for the following summer. Would it be bad to return to the same company for the following summer? Should students try out something different in their following internship and then possibly return to the first company for full time if they do not enjoy the second one?

I always hear that a range of experiences and not specializing early is beneficial, but personally I did not follow that advice. I had an internship in Facade Engineering and fell in love with it; I returned to the same team for a second internship, accepted an offer to return full time when I graduated and have since moved over to a glazing contractor. I'm still early in my career (I'm 28) but it's seeming like it'll work out more than fine for me. 

I would say if you do return to the same team, it might be worth seeing if there are opportunities to cross train with other groups within the company. My internships were at an engineering firm with a lot of different specialties and I was able to briefly lend myself out to their surveying team, as well as entertainment, forensic, structural & construction engineering departments so that I was able to give myself at least a little taste of what those entailed. While they weren't for me, it has been useful to my career to have spent a few days with the other parts of the processes that I have to interact with (particularly surveying). 

Thats a great question, and not one easy to answer. Maybe you can figure out what you like about a given internship for starters. Is it the type of work? The culture and people? The hours, location, something else? 

From there, you could apply to other internships and compare what you like about your current place vs what the new places offer. 

Additionally, you could ask the existing internship if it would be possible to work in a different role or position, or expand your level of responsibility during a second internship. 

Good luck.

I have been wondering the same thing myself; however, I have not fallen in love with the work I am doing at my internship this summer. It is likely that I will get a return offer, but I would be hesitant to accept and am thinking of branching out. I think the company seems great for professional engineers, just less-so for interns, so I don't want to burn any bridges, but I also know internships are a great chance to explore. It is a challenging decision. 

From my experience you should definitely try something else. You might find something you like even more!