Plexus Corp.

Industrial Engineering Intern

June - August 2019 • Neenah, WI

What I liked

I was fortunate to be a part of a terrific, positive, hard-working team. My manager was also a valuable mentor to me and helped me to develop in ways that were challenging and extremely rewarding. I was given challenging but not impossible projects and allowed a lot of freedom in deciding how to solve the issues at hand. Overall, I loved the atmosphere and opportunity to lead cross-functional teams.

What I wish was different

I wish the on-boarding training was briefer and more interesting; it took about a week of watching videos to complete.

Advice

Do not be afraid to step outside your comfort zone every day. The days that I did this were the most rewarding and personally fulfilling. Be brave, ask questions, stay driven, stay humble, stay positive despite everything - people notice you for these things and respect you for these things.

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Functional test engineer

May - July 2019 • Neenah, WI

What I liked

The culture and people. Everyone genuinely cared

What I wish was different

Closer to Milwaukee/ more going on in the city of neenah

Advice

Come into it with no expectations

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Product Engineer Intern

January - August 2019 • Neenah, WI

What I liked

The culture at Plexus is outstanding. Everyone I worked with super friendly and willling to answer questions I had. During my internship I had my manager, who I would discuss work projects and my overall experience with, but I also had a mentor who helped me with all my training modules in my first few weeks and was always willing to help me when I was stuck on a task.

What I wish was different

I wish I would have gotten the opportunity to be exposed to different aspects of the Product Engineer role during my internship. I was placed on a large project at the beginning of my internship and was highly valuable to the team. This unfortunately limited the amount of time I had to work on other projects and learn about different responsibilities of a Product Engineer.

Advice

My piece of advice would be to schedule meetings with different people in your department to learn new skills and also with people in different departments to learn about their roles/responsibilities. Also, scheduling meetings with directors/project managers to learn about their career experiences and how they got to where they are, if that is something that interests you in your future career. Use this experience to learn from other's career paths to gain a greater understanding and create your own career!

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Finance Intern

April 2019 • Neenah, WI

What I liked

I got to do real projects that would benefit the company!

What I wish was different

More travel!

Advice

Don’t be afraid to ask to explore in different areas! Plexus was super flexible in letting me shadow various different career paths and it’s helping me find my career!

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Purchasing Intern

May - August 2018 • Neenah, WI

What I liked

Plexus offers real world experience with impactful projects that their interns get to see from start to finish. All interns get together often for company sponsored events which makes it really fun!

What I wish was different

N/A

Advice

Take every opportunity to grow that you can!

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Mechanical Design Engineer

May - August 2018 • Boulder, CO

What I liked

- Opportunity to train on many mechanical tools (Solidworks, Windchill, Machine Shop tools) - Interesting, in depth project - Excellent mentorship and overall internship involvement

What I wish was different

I wish I could have interned multiple summers rather than wait for my last summer.

Advice

Plexus hires for personality, and are prepared to teach any technical skills necessary. Make sure in your interview that you express who you are as a person as well as who you are as an engineer.

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Materials Intern

June - August 2019 • Nampa, ID

What I liked

I liked gaining experience in a professional field that I very likely could work in after I graduate

What I wish was different

I wish I had more to do while I was there

Advice

Ask questions

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Product engineer

May - August 2020 • Nampa, ID

What I liked

The exposure to the Electronic Manufacturing Industry.

What I wish was different

Advice

Work hard at career preparation and your resume because it will pay off.

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Industrial Engineering Intern

May - August 2018 • Neenah, WI

What I liked

I enjoyed the large team of interns working in the Fox Valley locations; the Campus Recruiting team planned intern events such as local baseball games, lunch with the CEO and other professional development classes. I enjoyed spending time on the manufacturing floor and was given a variety of projects to complete on my own. I also really liked that each intern was assigned a mentor who I could go to with my questions and guided me through my projects.

What I wish was different

I found it difficult at times to know how to proceed with my projects because it required knowledge of the process or of the specific software. Sometimes data that I needed was difficult to gather. Also, we had an assessment in the last week of the internship, but it would have been nice to have it earlier so I could work on the things discussed.

Advice

Get to know the interns at your location. Sign up for professional development classes. You are automatically signed up for some as an intern group (we did one on giving presentations and one on lean six sigma), but a small group of interns also signed up for an intro soldering class that wasn't required.

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Digital Electrical Engineer

June - August 2018 • Neenah, WI

What I liked

Plexus has a fantastic culture. The employees are very kind and personable. The interns were also invited to a roundtable with the CEO as well as many Plexus parties and events. There were dozens of interns at the Design Center, so there's no need to feel that you'll be "alone" as an intern, if that's a point of concern for you. They provide all interns with a mentor, and my mentor was happy to take time out of his day to help me whenever I needed it. It's a great environment with terrific people doing important work.

What I wish was different

The only downside I can see is the location. If you prefer bigger cities, Neenah (or Appleton) might not be the best fit. Appleton is perfect for me, personally. That said, Plexus has locations in Raleigh NC, Boulder CO and others around the world. They're open to moving you around if you prefer a bigger city.

Advice

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Plexus is interested in seeing their employees grow, and they understand that you won't know everything when you start. Ask questions early and often. Also, don't be afraid to talk to the employees. It's a great bunch of people, and I know that I've made what will be life-long friends there.

2 ${count} people found this helpful

Analog Design Engineer

June - August 2018 • Neenah, WI

What I liked

Everything - the culture, the work, and the customers. All of it was new to me and helped me grow to be a better professional.

What I wish was different

Advice

For anyone looking for a job or unsure about an offer, try your best to get a good idea about company culture. It makes all the difference.

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Product Engineer Intern

June 2019 • Nampa, ID

What I liked

I enjoyed working on the manufacturing floor with operators and having many different types of projects. My mentor was amazing, and the group that we worked in was really fun to hang out with and helped me a lot. They didn't mind all of my questions and made sure I was never bored.

What I wish was different

There was some communication break down in between different sections of the busines that could get frustrating, but all in all it was a fantastic experience.

Advice

Just keep asking questions and try to help in different areas, there's a lot to learn.

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Digital Engineering Intern

June - August 2019 • Neenah, WI

What I liked

Plexus was a really interesting place to work at. The nature of how Plexus does business guarantees that there will always be a multitude of different projects to work on in a variety of sectors. The people I worked with were very nice and personable, and I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. I learned a lot about the engineering industry while working at Plexus and can use those skills to better refine what I want to do with my degree in the future.

What I wish was different

I wish that I could have learned a bit more about etiquette in business from Plexus. I feel like they just expected I know how to conduct myself in a business setting when I got there, which doesn't make much sense for a first internship in this role. I would have appreciated a little bit more feedback in this area as well, as what feedback I got was helpful but I still feel that they could have given more. They could have also offered some training in this respect, as they had very in depth training on just about everything else but business etiquette.

Advice

Keep in mind that Plexus' internship program is very new when you're planning on working there. It is somewhere in between Milwaukee Tool's level of organization and places that just have you work without direction, so you need to kind of direct yourself on top of the guidance they give you. It's a good idea to make a list in advance of relevant things you would like to learn to do when there, as they will work with you on those. Also a heads up for EE's: If you are looking to do anything E-Mag related I would look somewhere else as Plexus does little to nothing in that field. However if you like doing work with Analog electronics, Plexus is a great place to work. If you are looking to do Digital engineering, prepare to be doing much more programming work than electrical work. It seems like their Digital Engineer role is more suited to a CE than an EE in my opinion.

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Information Technology Intern

May - October 2021 • Neenah, WI

What I liked

The people, the environment

What I wish was different

Advice

Great people

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Digital Design Engineer Inter

June - September 2019 • Neenah, WI

What I liked

It was overall a great experience. Plexus gave me a very in depth look into the work day of an electrical engineer and their various responsibilities. Plexus treated me like an employee and not just a temporary hire. The work I did was fulfilling and I feel I gained a lot from the experience.

What I wish was different

That It was back in Milwaukee instead of Neenah.

Advice

I had a great experience, but others did not. It seems it can be hit or miss, but also what you make it. They give you a lot of opportunity to explore and try different things so that you can find your place.

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Materials intern

June - August 2020 • Nampa, ID

What I liked

Great team atmosphere and the ability to explore multiple roles relevant to my career interests.

What I wish was different

I wish I could have been given more responsibilities, but I understand as an intern, they try to limit the workload you take on.

Advice

The most impacted part of my internship was interviewing or discussing with my colleagues their career, what they had learned, and best advice for working within the company, other companies, and the field of manufacturing overall.

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Automation Engineer Intern

June - July 2021 • Buffalo Grove, IL

What I liked

I enjoyed the work I did and the people I worked with

What I wish was different

Advice

You get out of it what you put into it

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Supply Chain - Materials Intern

June - September 2021 • Nampa, ID

What I liked

This was probably the best learning experience I could've had to prepare for a career in supply chain. My mentors and manager gave me an overarching project that I would enjoy and asked me to solve a problem that would be genuinely useful to the company.

What I wish was different

As an intern, there's not a whole lot of specifics you can get into. I asked for additional tasks often just to have more on my plate, but almost everything takes a lot of training and everyone is always busy, so I didn't often get that opportunity.

Advice

Contract manufacturing is chaos every day, but I learned more in my time at Plexus than I would've in a place that worked well. I was able to make a ton of connections and deeply value my time there, but it's not a place I would want to work long-term (at least not at a satellite site - if you want Plexus, go to Neenah, Wisconsin!!) which is why I declined my offer.

Be the first to mark this as helpful