Siobhan Anderson

What motivated you to apply for a co-op/internship?

I was interested in getting some real work experience in engineering under my belt. I wasn't 100% sure what kind of career I wanted to pursue after school and thought that a co-op term would be a good way to try out an engineering field.

Can you describe your position in a few sentences?

My position as a mechanical engineering student is to assist the mechanical design team at MDA with mechanical designs and drawings, as well as simulation and FEA. I work with a lot of electrical assemblies, such as circuit cards and wiring harnesses, as well as optomechanical assemblies creating drawings for the manufacturing process. I've also helped out with test procedure documents and testing for structural models and flight hardware.

Did you receive training to perform your engineering duties? Please explain.

Yes, I received a lot of on-the-job training for Solidworks and FEA in addition to the standard procedures that MDA uses for drawing revisions.

What was your work atmosphere like? 

The work atmosphere is really friendly and leans more on the casual side. There's a strong mentorship mentality at MDA where the more senior engineers are encouraging learning and will take time out of their day to explain/help if you ask. The mechanical department is also very team-centric.

What new skills were you able to learn/develop during your co-op/internship?

I strengthened my engineering drawing and design skills significantly during my co-op and learned proper drawing standards (GD&T). I also learned how to manage my time and organize my work because I have had a lot of different projects I have had to work on at the same time.

How did your experience compare with your expectations?

My experience has been extremely positive and exceeded my expectations in many ways. I thought that an engineering firm would be more serious and strict, especially in aerospace, but I've really enjoyed the collaborative environment. I also got to work on a lot of really cool projects, I thought I would be forced to do more menial/boring work but there's been a lot of trust in my abilities that came from my engineering supervisors.

What was your proudest moment?

My proudest moment so far has been creating the drawing and getting to put my name on it, for the central card on a flight model unit.

What advice would you offer to students thinking about pursuing co-op or internship?

If you're interested in a job posting, apply to it even if your skills don't quite match up. I saw the posting for MDA the summer before I applied and wished that I was in mechanical engineering because it sounded like a really cool job. And also, apply to jobs outside of the co-op portal. The co-op and internship office does a really great job at aggregating internship postings but there are a lot of really interesting co-ops that you won't find through the portal.