Writing Your Engineering Resume Part I August 26, 2009
Posted by elorax in Uncategorized.Tags: career, internships, resumes, skills, undergrad
add a comment
Writing an engineering resume is daunting, but you can do it. In this post, I’m going to walk you through brainstorming all the things you’ve done that could go on your resume. Next week, I’ll tell you how to pick out the experiences and skills that will put you in the best light, then bring them together into a resume that will give the image you want it to of who you are and why you are valuable. So find a handy notebook or piece of paper and your writing implement of choice, and let’s get going!
Area One: Education
This is the section every engineering student should have on their resume. In this section, you should have things like your GPA, major or degree program, expected date of graduation, and information about your courses. Use the GPA that makes you look best, either your overall GPA or your engineering GPA, from major-specific courses.
Your Assignment: Make a list of all the classes you’ve taken so far at your college or university. Which of them are relevant to your specific industry? Leave out classes like calculus, physics, and chemistry which are more general in nature. For the relevant classes, jot down a few notes about what you did in the class. Make note of any projects or papers you wrote, focusing on cumulative, long-scale assignments or projects that relate to your field.
Area Two: Work Experience
This section tells prospective employers about previous places you’ve worked. Hopefully it’s going to include things like research experience, either during the summer or during the school year, working as a teaching assistant or course assistant, or projects you’ve done with other students or for courses. It can also include things like the summer job you worked last summer, but if you have other experience, it’s better to leave it off. Finally, don’t forget volunteer or unpaid work you’ve done! Even if you didn’t get paid, if it relates to your field or helped you develop a skill it’s still experience.
Your Assignment: Make a list of all the work experiences you’ve had, and for each, write down a list of responsibilities you had in that position. For example, when I was a sailing instructor, my responsibilities were safety of the children I was teaching, maintenance of the boats, and instruction of the campers. Many resumes list responsibilities for a position and stop there. However, next week we’ll use those responsibilities to write compelling statements about your experiences in the form of results.
Area Three: Awards
This section is pretty self explanatory. Brag a little bit about yourself. Tell your future employer what a star you are.
Your assignment: Make a list of awards you’ve won. Don’t leave anything out, even awards for things that are not related to engineering, like sports awards or music awards. The point is to highlight any ways in which you are exceptional.
Area Four: Other Stuff
This ‘other stuff’ may go in a differently titled section depending on what sort of ‘other stuff’ you do. Mine is called entrepreneurial, but yours may better described by leadership activities or community service. The point of this is to capture non-school related things you do that demonstrate character traits, like leadership or independence, that are desirable to employers.
Your assignment: Make a list of other things you do. If you were applying to college, I might call this section extracurriculars. In this section, you’re brainstorming experiences and activities in which you demonstrate leadership or management skills. Were you captain of a sports team? Have you planned an event for a large number of people? Do you do community service, or fundraise for a charitable cause? Do you work for you family’s business, or have you ever started a business of your own? For each ‘extracurricular,’ jot down a few comments about what you did, what your responsibilities were, or what the biggest challenge in the activity is.
Area Five: Skills
This is an area of great interest to most employers. Read over things you’ve made notes about in education, experience, awards, and other stuff, and start coming up with a skills list. Skills can be very obvious, like CAD designing in Solidworks or Pro/E, or programming in Java or C. These are the types of skills you typically find listed in example resumes for engineers on the internet. However, there are many other skills, like prototyping, synthesis, or technical writing that could also belong in this area.
Your assignment: Make a comprehensive list of skills. Try to confine the list to skills that can be described in a single word or phrase, preferably a short one.
Finish Up
Read back over your brainstorm, making extra notes or filling in anything you may have forgotten. Leave it alone for a day or two, and then look over it again to see if anything new occurs to you. Next week, we’ll shape the list of accomplishments and experiences you just brain-dumped onto paper into an effective engineering resume.
Get an Engineering Internship August 19, 2009
Posted by elorax in Uncategorized.Tags: career, internships, jobs, undergrad
add a comment
If you want an engineering internship in the fall, now is the time to start looking. In this upcoming series of posts, I’m going to guide you through the process of finding and applying for engineering internships.
This week: Where to look for internships and which ones you should apply to.
Next week: Writing an engineering student resume
Industry, Job Postings
Postings generally start appearing in the fall, and continue into December and January. Look on general job boards, boards specific to engineering, and job boards that are specific to your industry. Remember though, statistically, only 3-5% of jobs are filled by online ads. Identify several internships if you plan to make job postings the only way you apply for internships. Set up alerts at job boards where you’ve had good luck–many offer delivery of jobs by email or by RSS.
Industry, Referral
If you know someone who works at an engineering company, see if you can use that connection to get an internship. If you can get someone to vouch for you by providing a referral, do it. This is especially true for competitive internship programs like Google’s or Microsoft’s.
REUs
Research Experiences for Undergraduates, or REUs, is a government-funded summer research program. Typically, a student is paid a stipend of between $3500 and $5000 to go work on a research project with a professor for a period of 10 weeks. Free housing on the university campus is part of the bargain. You can find a listing of REU programs by field here. If you plan on doing an REU start prepping early—each program has its own application, and most require letters of recommendation.
Government Jobs
Check usajobs.gov for listings starting in the early fall. Many government agencies and laboratories have internship programs specifically for undergraduates. The websites of individual laboratories and agencies often have additional information about these programs.
University Jobs
Many students overlook their own college or university in their internship search. Many professors and research groups have funding for summer students. Search the department page for information about the research faculty members are doing, and contact faculty you are interested in working for. It can be helpful to work part-time for the lab in the fall or spring semester, to get familiarized with the work and your adviser.
more tacky
whitespace
With all these options and a full engineering courseload, you could easily spread yourself way too thin trying to apply to too many internships. So who should look where?
This is
a tacky way to make some whitespace
Rising First Years – working for your college or university is an excellent option for first year students, since they typically don’t have the experience required to get competitive internships in industry or the technical background to be accepted to most REUs. Depending on your school and program, you may not have even done any actual engineering yet! It’s a good idea to apply to a few internships to practice going through the process, but be realistic about your prospects.
Rising Sophomores – Rising sophomores can apply to pretty much any of the internships on the list above. If you don’t have any other work experience, you may need to work for someone at your university for a year to build up some necessary experience. REUs are a great option for sophomores, as are industry internships. Well-qualified sophomores should be able to get an internship in industry, if they find a position that matches their qualifications. Use the internship after your sophomore year to try out something you think you may enjoy doing as a career, or to get specific experience in a certain area of your field.
Rising Juniors– In the internship after your junior year, you want to be making the connections to people in your industry and your field that will help you land a job after graduation. If your plan is to go to graduate school, try doing an REU with one of the universities you are considering for graduate school. This will help you get a feel for the culture of the department.
Next week: Writing an engineering resume!
Pick a Good Project Topic August 12, 2009
Posted by elorax in Uncategorized.Tags: career, coursework, skills, undergrad
1 comment so far
Pick-your-own-topic projects or papers are fickle mistresses. Sometimes, you work on a topic you love, your group works together better than a bunch of navy SEALs, everything gets done on time, and the final topic is spectacular. Other times, you dread working on the project, nothing happens on time, getting team members to do things is like pulling teeth, and you can’t wait to just get the damn thing done with.
So what makes a good project topic? How do you find one?
Pick a Topic You Love
It doesn’t happen all the time, but occasionally something you’re really interested in is related to your assignment. It may be something you’ve always been interested in, something you just found out about recently, but whatever it is, you’re really excited to have such a great topic. I do my best work when I’m passionate about my topic—you probably do too.
Important considerations when you pick a project based on interest …
- Relevant: Is the topic clearly related to the class, or do you have to stretch it? Ask your professor. If he or she has reservations, you may want to consider another topic.
- Feasible I: Can you accomplish everything you need to do in the time allotted? If it’s a project, do you have everything you need for design and fabrication, or for experimentation? If it’s a paper, will you have to get some resources on loan? How long will it take to get those sources?
- Feasible II: Is the project within your capabilities? If you’re going to have to do a lot of extra learning to understand the background, or to do your project, do you have time to do it? Are there knowledgeable people who can help you? Do they have time?
Pick a Topic for Your Career
So, maybe there’s nothing you’re excited about in the assigned area. At this point, most people flounder around for a topic, sometimes doing something the professor suggested, or picking something out of desperation the day a topic is due. Instead of picking something random, pick a topic that will do something for your career. By your second or third year of your undergrad experience, you know your major or engineering subspecialty, and you probably have a decent idea about where you want to work when you get out of school. Use this information to search for entry-level job postings, and read the job descriptions to find out what experiences and skills employers in your desired location and field are looking for. Pick a project related to the qualifications employers want, and you’ll give yourself an advantage when it comes to looking for jobs.
Some tips…
- Finding Job Postings: I like indeed.com, but you can use any job site you want to. Setting up a daily alert for a week or so is a good way to get a handle on trends. I get mine from indeed as an RSS feed, but google alerts would probably work well too.
- Relevant and Feasible: The considerations from above also apply to career-driven topics
- Reach out to Industry: Contact one of the companies that published a job opening. Tell them what you’re doing, and ask for advice. Can they recommend resources, or put you in touch with someone who might be able to help you out? The contact may not be critical to getting the project done, but it’s good networking for the future.
Pick Something Innovative
Like topics that really excite you, innovative topics can be hard to find and discover. However, you don’t have to discover the next carbon nanotube to do something innovative. Consider new ways to solve old problems. Impose limitations on resources or materials that force you to get creative. Can you make a something that uses 50% less power, or that is made from only renewable materials? Can you combine old solutions to problems for a more efficient product? Here are some tips for coming up with innovative project topics.
- Ideate: Use your favorite method for coming up with good ideas, be it brainstorming, mind mapping, or something else. I prefer a stack of post-it notes, a sharpie, and a friendly wall. Challenge yourself to see how many ideas you can come up with.
- Get Inspired: Check out the latest research in the field, or flip through your textbook. Try to find connections between the subject your project will be in and your experiences. Wikipedia can also be a great place to explore topics, because of all the links in the articles.
- Find a Friend: Bouncing ideas off of other people is a great way to get yourself out of a brain rut.
What projects have you done? How do you come up with topics? Let us know in the comments!
Give a Better Technical Presentation August 5, 2009
Posted by elorax in Uncategorized.Tags: communication, presentations, skills
1 comment so far
A lot of giving good presentations is things that should be common sense like…
- Don’t use each slide to test out a different powerpoint animation scheme
- Speak clearly, try to avoid using “like,” “um,” and “err”
- Don’t make slides that are walls of text
- If your talk is longer than 10 minutes or so, bring water
- Make sure labels on graphs and figures are big enough for everyone to read
However, there is one thing you can do to make a decent presentation great, and it’s one that’s often overlooked. Tell your audience a story. This is especially important for technical presentations. I’ve been to talks in fields that I knew nothing about that I still remember, because the presenter did such a great job of making me interested in their research. There are likely people in your audience who know very little about your research area—much less than you do—and you want to give them a reason to stay with you.
Your introduction is where you’re going to start telling your audience a story. Give some background on the general field, explain where your research is situated within the field, and explain the particular problem you’re trying to solve. Try thinking of your research project as a character in a novel–readers want to know who they are, where they came from, what motivates their actions. Tell the audience why your research is important. Tell us, your audience, why we need to care about what you’re saying. What’s the application of your research, five years down the road, and why is it important? What big problem in science does your research help solve? What big questions are you posing an answer to?
In most presentations, the introduction is followed by a transition to methodology and results of the project. At this point, you’re moving away from the story you just built up to more concrete, factual, information. This is where you’re going to start losing people who don’t know much about your field, but came because your talk sounded interesting. Your audience doesn’t know as much about your work as you do, and it’s easy to lose them in the technical details. When explaining results, make sure you connect back to the story of your research.
For example, if your result is a 5% increase in the thermal conductivity of a fluid, explain what that means for cooling applications. Is it enough of an increase to justify the increased cost of using the fluid? If not, how much of an increase would you need to see? Try to think of a connection to your big story with each plot you show, with each result you discuss. You need to situate your results in context for your audience. If the result doesn’t connect back at all, what is it really contributing to your presentation? Could you change the plot, or the information it contains, to communicate your results in a better way? Remember–your presentation is just the tip of the iceberg that is your research project. You don’t have time to tell the audience everything, and you shouldn’t do it anyway.
Finally, don’t forget to re-remind readers of the story behind your work in your conclusions. Remind them of the most significant results, or explain in a more detailed way how you have solved the problem you introduced to the audience in the introduction. Telling stories makes your presentations more memorable and more engaging.
For a great post with good info about giving technical presentations, check out Presentation Zen.
