Yoshi Allen – Engineering Internship

This year I have the privilege of gaining valuable experience through my internship at Case New Holland Industrial prior to beginning college. Case New Holland Industrial is located in New Holland not far from the high school. I went into my internship already planning on pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering, and this experience has given me a lot of insight into the field. This internship has only solidified my decision to pursue mechanical engineering and has given me insight into which positions within a company I would like to hold.

Throughout the course of my internship, I have been given the opportunity to work in a different engineering department every few weeks in order to get the full experience of mechanical engineering. This rotation model has helped me learn the type of work I enjoy doing. I’ve experienced desk work, participated in meetings, gained hands-on mechanical work in the shop, and more.  Through these varied experiences, I’ve discovered that I love a combination of both hands-on and analytical problem solving that comes along with engineering.

This new discovery has helped me look at the different engineering positions (there are a lot) and discover which one I believe fits me best. I loved working in the testing lab because, as an engineer, you think through the best way to design a test that simulates an extended amount of time in the field, then you have the parts for the test made, and then you get to run the test. After you get the results from the test, you get to analyze the results, figure out the problems, and propose solutions. I’ve also realized that I love the physics and analytical side of engineering. I believe that working in the data analytics side of things would be interesting to me because it incorporates math and physics (which I enjoy) with design work and problem-solving.

Overall, this internship has solidified my decision to pursue mechanical engineering and has given me insight into which position I would like to hold. As I go into college, my internship experience will have been valuable to have had before going into classes, as I have already experienced the real-world applications. I will pursue my degree in mechanical engineering and will pursue a career in lab and data analysis to have a blend of innovation and problem solving alongside hands-on work in the shop, which I enjoy. This is an opportunity everyone should get to experience as, oftentimes, we have no idea of what everyday work in the field looks like until we are already out of college and in the workforce.  An internship experience grants the opportunity to explore different parts of the field and gain valuable working experience prior to college.