Sole Education Week 8: Expectations vs. Reality

In life, our expectations are often different than reality. This week, we asked Mikayla to talk about her educational expectations within her program, versus the reality she encountered.

My Experience

During my first internship at a plastic injection molding company, I expected to be given a series of busywork that wouldnt be very beneficial to my engineering education. I also expected to be seen as a lesser person because I was both a female and an intern in a professional engineering setting.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that none of that would be the

case.When I arrived on the first day of my plastics internship, I was told that I would be able to learn about engineering from the ground up by the end of the summer. They started me in the quality department in order to learn about the quality analysis process for new and old parts.Next, they placed me in the tool room where I got to work with machinery, clean molds for the machines, and work closely with skilled machinists to accomplish important tasks.Lastly, they placed me in engineering where I could use the information I learned from the past 2 departments in my design work.

The Expectation

An expectation that I had when first entering the engineering industry was that I would need to complete an engineering degree and be at the top of my class in order to be successful. While yes, that can be true, it is not necessary for any engineering job.

The Reality

Most of the engineers at Volvo Trucks only have bachelors degrees or associates degrees in applied science, and do very well for themselves. I realized that in order to get a quality engineering job, it is more about who you know, and the experience that you have.If you were to graduate at the top of your class, but not have made any professional contacts or worked in any internships in your field, your degree will practically mean nothing. I realized that if I wanted to take a semester off from school to be a co-op at an engineering company, that would be more beneficial than going to school.Follow along with our students progress here.Learn more about the Generation T movement here.

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