How to be productive over summer?

<p>I'm going to be a junior this fall in electrical engineering. A little background about me</p>

<ul>
<li>Flunked out after the end of last spring semester, got readmitted to the university. </li>
<li>Just completed my spring semester, got a B/B/B+/B+/D (did well in my engineering courses, screwed up an intro CS course). </li>
<li>Cumulative GPA is now a 2.27.</li>
<li>Still have 2 years remaining.</li>
<li>I have no work experience in anything. </li>
<li>I have not joined any organizations. </li>
</ul>

<p>I have a tough road ahead of me but I want to make this summer productive. I was thinking of studying math (I'm done with math now, but I want to go further into differential equations). I also wanted to study more circuits (I will be finishing my second circuits class this fall). I also wanted to learn some programming languages to list on my resume (can you guys recommend me any?).</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>I would highly suggest you get some work experience of some sort, even if it is volunteer work. Simply studying some things will not suffice as that is not something you can put down on resume to show that you actually did something. Saying you studied math is about the same as saying you played video games all summer.</p>

<p>Joining organizations is pointless unless you actually do something. Listing some random club on a resume is not going to get you anywhere. Mentioning you did some awesome project as a part of some club will. </p>

<p>Basically, you need to do more things that you can list on your resume. Otherwise you might be flipping burgers or stocking shelves, literally, when you graduate.</p>

<p>I thought that I could list programming languages under technical skills for my resume.</p>

<p>I wanted to study math/circuits because supposedly next semester will be my toughest, and I want to get as high a GPA as possible. </p>

<p>Next semester I will also be working with a bunch of students on an EE related project, the class is called EPICS, Engineering projects in community service.</p>

<p>edit: I’m from Purdue by the way.</p>

<p>Internship during day, study to get ahead at night. Aren’t you concerned about getting a job in 2 years? Gotta multi task, there’s enough hours in the day.</p>

<p>how would volunteer work help me? </p>

<p>do you know if it’s possible to volunteer at an engineering firm? </p>

<p>an internship is out of the question at this point, I have nothing compared to other students.</p>

<p>You should study it during the semester. You really want something substantial you can list on your resume to show that you were not a bum that sat at home and played video games. Work experience of some sort is generally your best bet. If you can manage to do something interesting and different then that’s even better so that you will stand out form the crowd.</p>

<p>Everyone lists programming languages they’ve encountered and then some on their resume. I have laughed at numerous resumes that listed HTML “programming.” While it’s not a bad thing to know more languages, you’re most likely not going to make it very far over the course of a month. You’ll also have to be very self-motivated and disciplined to learn a lot - are you ready and willing to tell your friends you don’t have time to go see a movie and hang out because you have a date with your favorite IDE? Realistically, I have not seen a single person actually manage to be able to self-study over a summer everything they initially had hoped to, nor even come close.</p>

<p>You’d be better off learning one language in-depth, at least initially, rather than a little bit of a bunch of languages. I think once you have one language down very well it will be easier to branch off into other languages and you can relate the two better. You’ll also be able to do contribute something meaningful in the workplace if you actually know how to do something in a language. Knowing “Hello World” in 40 different programming languages is not useful, at all.</p>

<p>Also, many employers I interviewed with were not very interested in my programming skills when I mentioned languages they never used. I would start mentioning assembly, for example, and they would quickly become disinterested and change the topic at the earliest convenient point. So, if you’re really determined to learn some programming language make sure it’s not some obscure one and is one you might actually use on the job as an EE.</p>

<p>I knew a few people in Purdue’s EPICS program. It’s definitely a good start, but should not be the hallmark of your resume. Also, Purdue’s courses were not exactly mind boggling and there was plenty of help available from some source so you should be fine to study during the semester.</p>

<p>I see… thanks for the post. </p>

<p>I doubt I will be able to find a job this summer - if I get lucky one of my friends said he could find me a job at six flags, working 52-60 hours per week. Is this something that would greatly help me out? Or just something employers would glance at and never question?</p>

<p>I honestly don’t need that much money but if it helps with my resume I might do it.</p>

<p>As for the studying - I just heard that the fourth semester (ece 202, 208, 255, 270) was the hardest, and I want to try and shoot for a 4.0 (I know it probably won’t happen). This way my GPA would be bumped up to a 2.7 cumulative.</p>

<p>How does volunteer work help? Well, first of all it’s actual experience doing something. You will have more experience working with more people on teams. You will (most likely) be outside of the academic environment so it’ll be a bit different.</p>

<p>It also shows you have some motivation. I know if I was hiring someone I would want to know that they were at least somewhat motivated to do something, anything. Who wants to have lazy, unmotivated individuals working for you? </p>

<p>Further, if you do some kind of community service it might show that you are an actual human being rather than some mindless drone that universities crank out en masse. While I’m sure some companies hire based solely on academics achievements, a lot of companies are just as interested in an applicant’s personality. Hiring an Einstein that doesn’t get along well with existing employees is most likely not going to be a good business move.</p>

<p>Those courses are not particularly challenging but you can expect a fair amount of work. You won’t be putting in 15 minutes of work per class per week, it will be a lot more. But it’s entirely manageable. </p>

<p>Yes, working at Six Flags will be of benefit to you. It’s not quite an engineering internship, but it’s work experience. Assuming that most interviewers are familiar with amusement parks it’s likely something they will ask you about. If, during this discussion, you mention that you worked 60 hour weeks then that is something that will be looked upon favorably.</p>

<p>Well I guess if I can’t get that job, I will definitely volunteer this summer. Do you have any ideas as to where I can volunteer? Hospitals? </p>

<p>Also, I will make sure to join several organizations other than EPICS next semester, and I’ll try my best to have some involvement in all of them. </p>

<p>I’m just worried because next summer is my last chance for an internship, and if I don’t get one my chances of a job aren’t too good, regardless of a strong major GPA and a decent amount of involvement in projects, right?</p>

<p>I have no idea where you live or what’s around you, so it’s hard to recommend something. You could browse the internet to see what is available, ask places you might be interested in working at if they have openings, ask those in your hometown if they know of anything, etc.</p>

<p>It’s a bit hard to predict what the job market will be like in the next two years. This seems to be a topic that is danced around a bit on here and most people would rather cite some optimistic statistics from government agency X or organization Y. Unfortunately, the real world and these optimistic view points do not always see eye to eye and I think many people will be in for a real treat when they do graduate.</p>

<p>Currently I would classify it as abysmal. Many companies are on hiring freezes. This means even the best GPA and work experience possible will be meaningless to them as they just aren’t hiring at the moment, period. You should still try to improve your GPA and get more work experience as it will only help, but just be aware that some companies are just not hiring.</p>

<p>Another issue in the current job market is underemployment. A lot of people are losing jobs at the moment. Considering the current economic climate, those who do get laid off are going to be very desperate to find a new job - any job. This means you’re going to have people with 5 years of work experience, as an example, apply for entry level jobs because life and all its expenses keep going even when your job does not. So, not only will you be competing with other new graduates you will be competing with those who have some work experience.</p>

<p>If the direction of the economy continues in this downward spiral you can probably expect fewer companies recruiting new graduates when it comes time for you to graduate. While all this doom and gloom may sound discouraging, it’s simply the reality of the situation and should stress the need for you to be as qualified as possible if you want to obtain a job that you won’t absolutely hate. If I were you, I would really try to make my next two years count as much as possible.</p>

<p>I greatly appreciate your advice so far. </p>

<p>Do you remember any of the clubs that you joined at Purdue? I honestly don’t see that many on the undergrad website.</p>

<p>I didn’t bother with clubs as I knew that I would not actively participate in them. Nobody I interviewed with (and I went on a substantial number of interviews) even cared and I was never asked a single time if I participated in clubs. I did, however, get asked about some of the things I did in my free time occasionally. </p>

<p>This is not to say that clubs can’t be useful. If you get involved in them and contribute to some meaningful project or activity or assume a leadership role it will benefit you. Simply being a member and never attending meetings or doing anything, however, is a complete waste of time and will get you nowhere.</p>

<p>There are a TON of clubs for various things. I’m pretty sure that Purdue has a newer website that is a directory of the campus clubs. I never used it but I believe I heard about it, probably in the Exponent. Don’t feel that you need to only join some kind of “Save the Whales” or “Cure AIDS” type club for it to count. You can join something you might find interesting, like the salsa club (dancing).</p>

<p>I don’t understand what getting involved means then; recruiters look for work experience, grades, and project involvement - if not for clubs, how would one look for projects? (not epics).</p>

<p>Getting involved in clubs means you actively attend club meetings and actually do something beyond just sit there. You will spend your free time doing something related to the club or at least with people in it. </p>

<p>You do not need to join a club to get involved in some kind of project. As an example, perhaps you and a friend could use GPS and a microcontroller to convert an R/C airplane to something that is self-guided. While that would require a fair amount of work and would be expensive as the airplane would crash quite frequently in the beginning, it is definitely the kind of project that would catch the eye of defense contractors.</p>

<p>Getting involed in extracurricular activities is what got me my internship last year.</p>

<p>I was President of the Electrical Engineering Student Comittee. Basically, I represented all EE students in front of the Department and met with the Head of the Department at least once a month. I was also in charge of organizing different social activities for EE students, as well as conferences and a Wine & Cheese event where propective employers were invited. I also assumed a leadership position as I had a team of people under me. As soon as I mentioned those things during the interview, the lady became a lot more interested.</p>

<p>This upcoming year, I’ll be the treasurer of the Student Union at my university (around 3,800 students). I’ll be handling a budget that’s nearing $400,000, so that will definitely be a great experience as well.</p>