05 Jul An Intern’s Life in Singapore
Shyam Thakker from the University of Michigan shares his experience as an Engineering Intern in Singapore this summer as one of Absolute’s Summer 2017 Intern Heroes
In university, your responsibilities are simple: get good grades and come to class. Sure, there is always that personal drive to understand and engage in what you are learning, but that is not a responsibility that has been placed on you. In the professional world, your responsibilities start to affect everyone else around you. The focus is no longer just about you; it’s kind of like being in a group project everyday. Your tasks and deadlines, if not met, will negatively affect everyone else’s work as well. That is a big change in pressure.
But it’s not all scary. A lot of the time, even as a professional, I’m learning about the different experiences that people have gone through to get to where they are. I spend most of my time either in the office or the process center. Simply being there, working alongside my colleagues who have been with the company for years gives me a look into their experiences and how they have grown to become professionals in their area. It’s a good reminder that not everyone has the same path as us, that not all experiences are the same.
Being a professional in the engineering world can mean a lot of things. For my work, it is a lot of problem solving and hands on work with machinery. I’m actually hoping to go into circuit design in the future, which may not be as hands-on as the work I am currently doing. Regardless, simply being exposed to another aspect of the professional engineering world is a benefit that I greatly appreciate. Engineering is a driving force for innovation and a better future, and I see myself permanently being a part of this industry.
Out of everything I’ve learned so far from this experience, as of right now the most important thing I am taking back to university is gratitude. Everyday I am exposed to so much knowledge, both here and at university. In the professional engineering world, that knowledge is constantly used in real life to build and create. Everything that I’ve been exposed to in college can be applied in the real world, and when I get to that stage of my professional career, I will be able to apply what I have learned in an engineering company, much like what I am doing right now.
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