Mastodon Design

Radio Interface Designer

January 2022 • Beavercreek, OH

What I liked

My boss is super generous and understanding. He's super flexible with hours so that we can get school things done. He lets co-ops borrow tools and is willing to help with personal projects. He also provides lunch, which is a major financial burden relieved. The experience is very student oriented and targeted at making us better. For my second term, I still believe this is the best part of the co-op. If you do good work and are a decent person, you are treated very well. It became very clear that he truly cares about my wellbeing. I also got a bit more freedom to work on my own with less management, which was nice.

What I wish was different

The setting isn't super professional, which could be a negative experience when I start an actual job. We act more like friends than coworkers. I would have liked to get a more typical experience. This would have helped develop more reasonable expectations for jobs in the future. It really just seems to be the only price to pay for all the other benefits. After the second term, I more or less agree with my initial complaint. We did travel to the big office and I got to meet many more people face to face and get more of that professional atmosphere. I also had much more communication in general with coworkers as I got my hands on more projects. But overall, the environment is still very relaxed and casual which is a blessing and a curse.

Advice

This experience has been overall great so far. There have been some stressful moments and it definitely takes some patience and effort to hang in at the beginning. However, once I got into the groove of things, it was relatively smooth sailing, just tackling one problem after another. An important note is that there very much are stupid questions that are better off not being asked. This is definitely a worthwhile job, but not for everyone. After my second term, I would like to repeat the fact that you just have to hang in there until you catch on to what's going on. The job is super rewarding when you get to the point of autonomy. Pay as close attention as you can to tangent stories and explanations because they will come in handy later. The most important thing is taking notes and writing things down so you don't forget anything in a sea of tasks.

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Design Engineer Intern

January 2019 • Rochester, NY

What I liked

Excellent flexibility with a great mechanical team and supervisor. There were a lot of opportunities to work with multidisciplinary teams on meaningful design projects, which provided a great staging ground to learn new skills and meet experienced engineers. The work environment was very relaxed, one where self-starters will excel.

What I wish was different

For a first co-op, this was everything I was looking for. It would have been nice to have a little more structure at the beginning of my internship, but as I spent more time in the company this wasn’t an issue.

Advice

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. The engineers here are intelligent and competent, and they have no problem helping interns out.

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Mechanical Design Co-op

June 2019 • Rochester, NY

What I liked

I had a lot of freedom in design. It was a small company so it was fast-paced work but a good sense of community. I had a lot of different tasks to work on.

What I wish was different

The small business did not have everything in place that big businesses have. It was hard to find files sometimes and get the standard practices because they weren't in place yet.

Advice

If you don't understand something, ask about it. Get clarification on your question before you do something so that you don't have to go back and fix it.

2 ${count} people found this helpful