Exploring the center and learning about all different projects
What I wish was different
The pittance for your first year of being on NREIP. $5400 for 10 weeks is rough in Southern California.
Advice
Explore and network as much as possible
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Software Engineer
July 2018 • San Diego, CA
What I liked
Good work-life balance
What I wish was different
The types of projects and changing the enormous amount of ridiculous training.
Advice
Work hard.
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NREIP Intern
June - September 2018 • San Diego, CA
What I liked
It was great working alongside actual engineers on a project that will actually be implemented, although my part was very small I am excited to see it in action as this will be my first project ever with an actual real world use.
What I wish was different
I wish I had gone out more to network during this time, I got so caught up on working I did not attend many of the events designated for interns to network.
Advice
Make as many connections as possible, working for something this big can open great opportunities by just being friendly.
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Mechanical Engineering Intern
May - August 2018 • San Diego, CA
What I liked
I enjoyed a lot of things, most notably the diligence of my coworkers. Most of them were dedicated to the common mission of supporting the Navy.
What I wish was different
I wish that things were a little more efficient. At times there were a lot of hoops that had to be jumped through to accomplish simple tasks
Advice
Network as much as you can. You never mknow what a simple conversation can lead to!
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NREIP Intern
June - August 2018 • San Diego, CA
What I liked
I loved how what I got to work on was scaled to fit my abilities, so that I was challenged with something that was at the same time interesting and meaningful. The people were all very friendly with good advice, and I definitely learned a ton. In addition, the room I was working in was maybe 40 feet from the ocean with a beautiful view, so that's something more.
What I wish was different
The NREIP Intern pay isn't great, but everything else mostly makes up for it, so if you're living in San Diego (or one of the 10 or so locations around the country, you'll have to look into this) over the summer and don't have to pay room and board, I would definitely look into applying for the NREIP internship.
Just an FYI, the application opens each year early in August, and closes in early November.
Advice
Be very clear on the application what your interests are. There are dozens of different departments looking for interns, so if you're interested in robotics, or working with dolphins, or lasers, or computer science, or mechanical/electrical engineering, etc., if you write that clearly on your application it'll be more likely that you'll be accepted and that you'll be accepted to a group where you're working on something that interests you.
