A Civil Engineering Internship Experience

Just Some Hands On Work Before You Launch You Career

When looking for an internship, many people look for one that concerns their professional field, pays well, and is fairly close. Being able to advance your skills in your own professional area is amazing and even better when you can get a salary as well. Many students all over the United States over the age of 18 have searched or been told about various internships at some point. Many colleges and universities want their students to have some hands on experience and not just classroom knowledge.

Working as a civil engineering intern was one of the best moves I have ever made in my career. I never knew I could learn so much in just 3 months of work. Showing my experiences will hopefully allow others to see what it is like to have an internship, how civil engineers work, and how to get an internship in any field.

First off, getting my internship took a fair amount of work. I first sent a cover letter and resume to the company I was to work for after finding their open position online. Within a week or two I heard back from Human Resources and was told to come into the company for an interview. As anyone would be, I was nervous, but so excited at the same time. Once my interview was over I was told I had gotten the job and that I could start whenever I got out of school for summer.

Asphalt:

Asphalt was one of the most common materials I inspected while on the internship with the city. Both federal and city money had been distributed to certain projects that civil engineers had planned. It was now time for the contractors that won these project bids to come and do work over the summer. One of my main jobs was to watch these contractors do their job. I was basically the eyes and ears for the construction inspectors for the city. Whenever something looked out of the ordinary, I could call one of my bosses and they would be right down to make sure the contractor is doing everything correctly. As the pictures show below, paving roads can be done with asphalt, a road paver, and dump trucks.

The road paver in the picture above receives a loads of asphalt from dump trucks once the dump truck reverses into the back of the paver and dumps. The paver then pushes the dump truck and paves the road as more and more asphalt enters the road paver. It is very interesting to see how quickly roads can be paved to today. Technology keeps advancing quickly even in the asphalt paving industry.

Measuring:

Taking measurements is a huge deal for Civil Engineers. Usually measurements for trainees or interns that work on civil engineering projects include area and volume. In my case, I used a digital measuring wheel in order to measure areas. Areas had to be measured quite frequently to be able to quantify how much material was needed for projects. Measuring sidewalk and road areas were weekly activities done on the job

Concrete:

I worked a lot with contractors that did concrete work for cities and municipalities. Concrete was used for capital improvement projects all over the city. Most of the cases concrete work was done involved sidewalks. Depending on how bad or deteriorated an area of sidewalk was, it had to be drilled out and re done. Some pictures below show the concrete work done.

Summary:

Overall, my civil engineering internship was superb and I hope to work for other companies doing internships in the future. All this training and experience will pay off once one goes job hunting. It looks great to have experience on you resume. Please leave your thoughts and comments below. What did you think of my Civil Engineering Internship Experience?