Workforce Preparation vs. Actual Experience

As I come up on a year at Summer Consultants, I wanted to reflect on my preparation for the workforce versus my experience in the workforce. I graduated from a small liberal arts college, Christopher Newport University, with a degree in Computer and Electrical Engineering and had three engineering internships during my undergrad summers. Even with all the preparation of internships and classes, I quickly found out that college is vastly different from working full time, but Summer has made the transition easy.

In college I was taught very valuable information which allowed me to excel in any field I pursued, but the most important skills given through college are soft skills. The soft skills I still use to this day are effective communication in teams, clear deliverables, and time management. A common phrase said throughout my time at college was “You don’t go to college to learn, but learn how to learn,” and having graduated a year ago, this holds true. My job today does require a solid understanding of how basic electrical engineering functions, but you additionally learn necessities of the job in the field.

Summer Consultants deals with the (electrical) power industry. Even though I did not take a power class in my undergraduate schooling, Summer had a mentorship program in place to help me feel confident and comfortable in my tasks. Summer gives their new hires important tasks off the bat with much encouragement and learning. I was told to ask multiple questions a day. The amount of knowledge I have learned over a year was overwhelming, but with repetition and time, the information became second nature.

1st – Summer uses AutoCAD and Revit mainly for their drafting. This was quite a learning curve for me since it was not offered in class at my school. This was the first skill I learned, but once mastered, it proved to be a powerful tool and essential to the job.

2nd – Calculations such as wire sizes, transformer sizes, breaker sizing, etc. are used on many projects. My circuits class came in handy for understanding the basics of calculations, but Summer taught me how to refer to the NEC code book.

3rd – Another skill I learned was identification of electrical and mechanical equipment. If it was new equipment, I learned how to find and read cutsheets and apply them to the project. If it was existing equipment, I learned how to read the information on said equipment and apply it to the project.

4th – The main skill that I use in summer and acquired from college is collaboration. This can span from talking with other disciplines in the office on coordination to reaching out to non-summer employees to coordinate with the project. Effective communication has been proven necessary for a thriving working environment.