A lot of this is somewhat subjective to the opportunities you are given as an intern or co-op. Sometimes a company will sit you down and tell you that they have only one thing for you to do all summer. Some companies will put it on you to be proactive to find work within a department, as was the case for me working at NASA.

Either way, I strongly recommend you have a chat with your supervisor and let him or her know that you expect them to challenge you, and that you plan on delivering quality results. It may take a few smaller projects to generate that trust to get assigned a larger more meaningful one, but having the conversation with them that you want to be given good opportunities will at the very least set the stage for you and potentially open doors that may not have been open before.

Technical experience also comes from doing group project work in your classes, especially senior design projects. Keep these in mind and keep track of your contributions to these as well. If you are a leading force in solving a complicated technical issue in a project team (and trust me, there will always be a complex problem available for you), be sure to make note of it to help in your resume or an interview.

Copyright (c) 2008 Robert Halgren

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