WMMD: Summer Jobs

[m1e448]

So I have two main choices for summer jobs, and I can't make up my mind. I applied for a summer engineering internship with PennDot and didn't think I would get the job, so I just figured on going back to Winter Park and wrenching bikes, riding like twice a day and just having a good time.
I got a big envelope from PennDot on Monday saying I got a job with them. The internship pays more than 2 times as much as I'll make in Colorado, considering I will be able to live at home and eat for free. I also come from a very small town in Pennsylvania where there is pretty much nothing to do, I have ridden all the trails over and over, and built a few of them. I know lots of you have professional type jobs and may be able to give me advice to how important taking an internship after my freshman year of school is in the long run.

[homerjay]

Did you hear they'd be laying off large amounts of PennDOT workers?
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Someone invented a shovel that can stand up by itself.

thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week.

Seriously, internships aren't crucial...I got a few job offers right out of school with ZERO internship experience, but it certainly can't hurt. Then again, I graduated from college in 98 when anybody was getting jobs. Maybe head back, save a bunch of $$$, then try for a similar internship out west the following year? You can always work at Totally Wired some other summer.

[fridge]

I'm graduating from Engineering this year. The way our program works is you go on co-op work terms (school for a year, work for 4 months, etc) and you end up with 4 different work terms.

I never did the co-op program, but I was still able to get some engineering experience through summer jobs. I managed to keep my marks up, and so far I've had a few interviews, but it seems like the people who had the different experience have a bit of an advantage. Like homerjay said, if I was you I'd take the experience & the money, and then look for a different job next summer.

[tex1230]

Go for the internship. especially if it pays better than what you'd make wrenching bikes. save your $ for the winter, 'cause we all know summer sucks anyway.

[WWCD]

I say do the internship. It's a good resume builder and you will only be there a few months, not the whole summer. There will still be lots of riding when you get back. (you are in Utah, right?)

Plus with all that extra loot, you can buy more gear!

[Steven S. Dallas]

See if you can split it and do both.

[kadeater]

I would go for the internship. Now a day it seems like its hard to get your foot in the door w/o experiance. And it never hurts to make more money and prepare for the future.

Just so you know I drug my feet through school and skied 80-100 days a year and biked at least as many while working in a ski/bike shop. I did that from high school untile I was 27, married and a kid on the way. Then I got a real job. So who the hell am I to tell you what to do?

[CUBUCK]

Go for the internship. Having an internship will be a tremendous help when looking for jobs/internships in the future. You also will learn a bit more about your field which will be another benefit. Hell after the internship you may decide your interests lay elsewhere.

[teleee]

Internship no question. When I hire new engineers the ones with experience (internship qualifies as experience in my book) go straight to the top of the stack. I would rather have somebody with experience over good grades any day.

[Shorey]

Do the bikes job if you have to do anything. Having an internship on my CV had very little impact when going for my first job.

In fact, if I'd actually got on an enjoyed my holidays when I had them and not tucked myself into a quasi corporate fug each summer, I probably wouldn't have taken the last four years hating work.

Things change, work is now good, but I maintain that internships are not the most important thing in the world. Just taking a little more responsibility at the bike place and noting any stand out moments will be good for interviews.

[Rontele]

If you are in undergrad, fuck the internship and go to Colorado and HAVE SOME FUN.

If you are in grad school, that may be a different matter.

[Xover]

Internship no question. When I hire new engineers the ones with experience (internship qualifies as experience in my book) go straight to the top of the stack. I would rather have somebody with experience over good grades any day.

this man speaks the troof Wrangler
go with the internship; hands down
will be better for you even if you don't go into engineering when you get out of school anyway.

btw, what are you gonna specialize in anyway??

[DJSapp]

Internships are more for you to figure out what you actually want to do in your career. And yes, they do move your resume into the 'call back' stack

An internship working for the gubernment will teach you that working for the guberment can be painful. My internship at Caltrans taught me that it is ok to sleep at your desk, run secondary businesses out of the office, and they are at the mercy of the state budget. The whole office was basically shut down when we didn't have money for paper and toner cartridges ($200 would fix this), but there was enough money to pay for 50 engineers to sit around with a thumb in their ass all day for two weeks when we ran out of office supplies. Gotta love government logic.

[Evmo]

I would go for the internship. Even if all you end up doing is filing papers, the internship can be spun as worthy experience, and definitely is a plus for employers down the road. Save money to pay for good snow next year... or take off the last couple weeks of the summer with the $$ you save and head to South America...

[skiing-in-jackson]

...they do move your resume into the 'call back' stack...

This is true.

[teledave]

You're a freshman, right?
Go for the bike shop job unless the money from the internship is a primary motivator. The year between Jr. and Sr. is the crucial internship year, and one summer interning is gonna give you 95% of the credibility that the people with 3 summer interns under their belt have.

[Squatch]

I'd say internship. For one, unless you want to work in the bicycle industry, the internship will give you a leg up (however small) on your profession in the future. Add in the fact that you will make a lot more money with the internship, and it will be a no brainer.

I spent a year turning wrenches after freshman year in college too, and while it was a good experience. I would have taken a job with more future potential (and more pay, for sure!) in a heartbeat. Regarding the "fun" factor...I think you can have fun just about anywhere, you just have to make it. I won't deny that in CO it is easy to make your fun, but it's not like you can't have fun other places.

[m1e448]

I really wanted to just chill and have a mindless job this summer; but I think it will be much better to get some experience ,something to put on my resume, and put some money in the bank this summer. Anyone else have different thoughts?

[Squatch]

if you're working for a gov't agency, you might luck out and it will be mindless

[erica_z]

I really wanted to just chill and have a mindless job this summer; but I think it will be much better to get some experience ,something to put on my resume, and put some money in the bank this summer. Anyone else have different thoughts?

well, IMHO, I think you have the rest of your life to work. You're what, just 4years younger than me?

I would wrench and ride all summer. Soon enough you will be slogging through your days in your very own cubicle like the rest of us drones...

[Blatant]

it's only a summer and if creative enough you can find shit to do, take road trips etc. Turn a wrench here and there. Look at the picture down the road. What if you hate engineering but don't know it yet, go through school and then get into a job when you're (in reality too far committed to change, money, time invested etc) Go do this, even though it's the gov and "could be" different than a normal firm, at least you'll know....and it's still early enought to adjust fields with almost no lost classes should you feel it's not what you were aiming for.

Also think about the times in the winter where you're strapped for cash. Take the intership, live at home, bankroll the loot, patronize the parents, cut the grass here and there and your shit will be golden. Then towards the tail end of summer/internship make a pleasant bounce back to the mts with additional loot in your pocket and a new experience. Never know, networkings not a bad thing.

again what do i know, i'm on the brink of dropping out of society and traveling the world.

[Egon]

You're a freshman. There is a definitely possibility that you may switch your area of study by the time you graduate.

You won't have many more opportunities to do fun stuff like ride around Winter park all summer after college.

The money will eventually come, I would go to colorado.

[Plakespear]

if you're working for a gov't agency, you might luck out and it will be mindless

It's PennDOT. It will most certainly be mindless.

And perhaps you could combine the PennDOT thing with cycling. There is a law in PA that says that 2% of all higway construction money must be used towards bike/pedestrian paths. This is not followed, of course. Maybe you can get theose knuckleheads to acknowledge this and make PA safer for cyclists.

[osh]

Penn Dot should def. prove to be a pretty relaxing summer, but overall a pretty good experience. The hours are pretty good, you will probably finish around 3 or 330 everyday making it easy to get to the trails after work or on weekends. What part of the state would you be working in? Ive worked as an intern for penn dot in the pittsburgh area for the past couple of summers and its been fun and i made a lot of $$$.

[m1e448]

I know it won't be too hard. These are the projects that I'll most likely be working on:
ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/Dis...arionLet06.pdf

It will be nice to not be one of those guys holding a sign.

OSH_ i'll be in district 10 somewhere around clarion county most likely.