https://www.tn.gov/tdot.html

Tennessee Department of Transportation

Construction Engineering Intern

May - August 2023 • Knoxville, TN

What I liked

Working environment, coworkers, ability to learn on-site.

What I wish was different

More technical training.

Advice

Have a good background in communication and practicality.
Be the first to mark this as helpful

Construction Engineering Intern

May - August 2022 • Knoxville, TN

What I liked

The working environment definitely made the experience feel more like surrounding yourself with family and close friends. My supervisor, office engineers, and the field inspectors took me in and taught me the ways of working on a highway project during its construction operations. I definitely learned a lot from listening and engaging in on-site and office work opportunities that my coworkers provided to me.

What I wish was different

I wish I had the opportunity to continue my time at TDOT while enrolled at my university. They currently do not provide during school co-ops, so I would recommend seizing the opportunity to work at TDOT one summer.

Advice

Be sure to listen to your supervisor and the inspectors, they have years, if not decades of experience that they will be more than glad to share with you to help you grow professionally, academically, and personally. Be sure to keep a good amount of common sense when in the field.
Be the first to mark this as helpful

Summer intern

June - August 2020 • Nashville, TN

What I liked

I enjoyed my time working with my supervisor and other coworkers as they helped me learn a lot about how school applies to real world work

What I wish was different

I wish that I could have got to go in the field more however there is no one to blame for that due to COVID 19.

Advice

My advice for anyone looking to apply for this internship is to embrace all the opportunities presented at TDOT and ask questions about how thing work that you do not understand.
1 One person found this helpful

Inspection Intern

June - August 2020 • Nashville, TN

What I liked

I liked working with a team of diverse engineers and inspectors. I also greatly enjoyed learning about the details within bridges and support structures, as well as driving across Nashville and its surrounding counties to find them.

What I wish was different

Nothing.

Advice

Research as much as you can before applying for a TDOT internship, because there are a multitude of departments you can work with that all have different roles.
2 ${count} people found this helpful

Traffic intern

May - August 2019 • Nashville, TN

What I liked

Good program, nice hours, and friendly people

What I wish was different

Nothing

Advice

Ask lots of questions you are there to learn
Be the first to mark this as helpful

Bridge Inspection Intern

May - August 2019 • Nashville, TN

What I liked

The field work where I actually got to do hands-on inspections was very valuable. It was awesome going in the reach-all truck to inspect the bottom deck of larger bridges.

What I wish was different

The office portion of the job could have been more challenging, as in having more to do. Most days I wouldn't have much to work on. (The job itself was split 50-50 field-office work).

Advice

I would advise future interns to enter the job with an intent to learn as much as they possibly can. Everyone on the team loved to answer my hundreds of questions. Also show the initiative to perform tasks you may not necessarily have been assigned. That way you will always have something to work on.
1 One person found this helpful

Student Intern

May - August 2019 • Jackson, TN

What I liked

I enjoyed the freedom to get get involved in or at least observe any of the facets of the department.

What I wish was different

Advice

1 One person found this helpful