Carnegie Robotics, LLC

Mechanical Engineering Intern

May - August 2022 • Pittsburgh, PA

What I liked

CRL has a great working environment and incredibly knowledgeable engineers. I had the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them. In-house resources at CRL supported rapid development and allowed me to contribute to multiple projects simultaneously. Constant independent work on collaborative projects taught me how to communicate my ideas, integrate solutions, and be a better engineer.

What I wish was different

I truly enjoyed my summer at CRL. I wish there were more social intern activities to get to know the interns that I didn't work with regularly better.

Advice

Ask lots of questions. Due to the individual and self-directed nature at CRL, asking questions is the best way to stay on track. Fully understanding your actionable items and the problem at hand will help you succeed and contribute to the project efficiently.

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Electrical Engineering Intern

May - August 2022 • Pittsburgh, PA

What I liked

I almost always felt like I was both learning a lot and making useful contributions to the projects I worked on. There was a lot of opportunity to work independently and come up with my own solutions to engineering problems while still having more experienced engineers around to tell me things like "no, don't do that, that's a dumb idea and let me show you why and how to do it better" or "that's awesome, really easy to use, nice work Tim!" I liked that when something didn't go as planned, the criticism I got was constructive and that when things went well, the praise I got was genuine.

What I wish was different

I wish the supply chain wasn't a mess.

Advice

Be ready to be in charge of yourself and get stuff done. There's no one to really sit down with you every step of the way to make sure you do everything right, so if you've never built or made anything on your own before, it may be difficult to get situated here. That said, if/when you do have questions, people at CRL are very helpful and will not make you feel stupid even if you feel like you're asking a dumb question. I asked so many dumb questions. So, so many. But I learned a ton really fast and wound up making meaningful contributions to the company.

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Electrical Engineering Intern

May - July 2022 • Pittsburgh, PA

What I liked

CRL is big enough for one to carve out a specific niche with excellent mentorship, yet small enough for that niche to make a genuine difference. There's little to no red tape and bureaucratic fluff to deal with. The culture here is phenomenal - everyone is eager to help and quite friendly. Machining, assembly, and other technician work is all done in-house, which is extremely helpful for strong feedback loops; one can learn about every step of the process from idea to product. The office is an open environment, making cross-department collaboration easy.

What I wish was different

It'd be nice to have a bit more space for quiet work. Also, people keep taking my oscilloscope. Seriously, this place is near-perfect.

Advice

As an intern, you're essentially treated as a full-time employee. You'll have great mentorship, but your projects are largely self-directed. If you cannot thrive under this responsibility, I would either steer clear of CRL or learn to take personal responsibility for your work before you step into your role. I'd highly recommend an engineering internship at CRL to anyone who is an exceptional student/engineer in some way.

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Systems Engineering Intern

June - September 2018 • Pittsburgh, PA

What I liked

I loved the opportunity to integrate deeply into the company and work on projects core to the success of our team. From day one, I felt like a contributing member and was able to apply my skills directly to our project.

What I wish was different

I wish the onboarding process was a little more fleshed out as they were taking on a large number of interns all at the same time and it was sometimes difficult as a result.

Advice

Find the projects that are important to the project, but no one else has taken them on/has the time to take them on and become the expert in those

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Software Engineering Intern

May - August 2018 • Lawrenceville, PA

What I liked

Given lots of responsibility, treated like a full-time employee, and expected to make meaningful contributions

What I wish was different

More feedback from mentors/supervisors i.e. what I am doing well and what I need to do differently

Advice

Don’t be afraid to ask questions and always try to stay outside of your comfort zone. If you are in your comfort zone you probably are not learning anything and that essentially defeats the point of an internship

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Software Engineering Intern

April - August 2018 • Lawrenceville, PA

What I liked

It was a fun envirnoment and I learned a lot. All of the other employees knew a lot and we're always willing to help if they had time. They let me choose my own hours which let me work the enite duration of the summer and work overtime every week.

What I wish was different

I wish I had gotten an apartment closer to work instead of commuting from home.

Advice

Apply to as many places as you can. The key to getting an internship without prior experience is to get your resume to a lot of places to increase your chances.

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