Jessica MacNeil

Interns getting real responsibility
July 16, 2008

Everyone has different expectations for their internships. While some students' experience is more like a summer job, where they are well aware they sit at the bottom of a company's hierarchy, others find a valuable position with a company that is willing to teach and depend on students as a part of their workforce.

Frank Houston has been lucky enough to find work with the better of those two options. Now a senior, majoring in civil engineering at Northeastern University, Houston has worked for the Natgun Corporation for three six-month co-op terms.

“The company designs and builds precast, prestressed, concrete ground water storage tanks,” said Houston, a 22-year-old native of Washington Township, NJ. “We are specialty contractors, meaning we only build these tanks.”  

On his first co-op assignment and part of his second, Houston worked at Natgun headquarters in Wakefield, MA. While he was there, he worked in the estimating department, where his main responsibilities were site layouts and site work estimates.

“The first, site layout, is done in AutoCad to determine whether each given tank is constructible for each varying terrain," said Houston. "For example, we need to be able to pour concrete for the wall beds and determine crane sizes and positions, so that we can hoist panels into place. The second, site work estimates, entail coming up with a price to complete the work shown in the plans and specs along with a price to complete the site work required to construct our tank.  This work all leads to budget numbers we can evaluate when each job is publicly bid or proposed upon.”

For his second tour of duty with Natgun, Houston worked in the construction department in Pikesville, MD, where he was able to be heavily involved in a major project.

“I was given the opportunity to act as the field supervisor in Pikesville, MD, being the eyes and ears for the prior project engineer that accepted a new position in the company,” said Houston. “It was our largest project to date and I was there for the final phases of the contract to mostly supervise subcontractor activity and make sure all contract items were progressively being completed.  It required keeping in contact with the project manager as well as the project engineer.  I was responsible for keeping the owner and consultant engineer updated each month with the contract progress.”

When he hasn't been working on the construction site, Houston has served as the backs captain of the Northeastern University Rugby Football Club and participated in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

“It takes a lot of time and energy to balance academics and rugby," said Houston. "When I have time, I try to get more involved in ASCE.”

Most recently, Houston returned to estimating work for an office in Dallas, TX. He was able to get a better idea of all that goes into an estimator's work because of the access and responsibility he was given.

“In Dallas, I was involved a lot more with actual bidding activity as in soliciting and evaluating bids from subcontractors," said Houston. "I worked with the regional estimator for the Texas region and I learned a lot of the work that an estimator needs to accomplish behind the scenes in bidding activity in order to be successful.  The last month of my co-op, I was involved in the bid of the largest contract in the history of the company."

While some co-op students might like to gain experience in different fields to weigh their options, getting involved with one company and learning the different roles invovled, like Houston has, is an option that allows students to really get to know how a company works. Finding a company like Natgun that values its co-ops and makes them an integral part of their operation, has made Houston's experience there worthwhile.

“I really have enjoyed my time working for Natgun Corporation,” said Houston. “The company takes a sense of pride in using their co-ops in their business models. At Natgun, you will never see a co-op that is short of work.  When you work hard at Natgun, your team and fellow employees take notice.  They make you feel like the work they give you is essential for them to complete their work."

With more experience in estimating than construction, Houston is looking to spend more time with the latter as he starts out in the industry.

“I might try and go into more the construction management side of Civil Engineering.  I feel I have gained a lot of experience in the estimating side of it and would like to gain some more hands-on experience in the field in construction.  I think when you are young is the prime time to get that field experience.”

As with many students who have participated in internships and co-ops, Houston feels he's a step ahead of his peers because of the knowledge, contacts, and experience he's been able to acquire with Natgun.

“Internships are crucial in so many different ways in all fields.  Many of my friends have graduated this year in many different fields and many of them don't even know where to start looking for jobs.  They say this is the Era of Convenience and many just feel like they can apply to hundreds of jobs over the internet and hopefully one will land. Through these internships I have learned the numerous ways to network and create positive relationships.   Positive impressions in the professional world are the first place to start and without internships it just makes the process that more enduring.”

Posted by Jessica MacNeil on July 16, 2008 | Comments (0)