Interning in Cairo, Egypt

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to intern in another country?  Here’s a glimpse into Elle Creel’s internship in Cairo, Egypt!  To find out how you can find an international internship, contact the GT Work Abroad Office.

Name:  Elle Creel

Major:  Business Administration

Year: Junior

Company:  Egypt’s International Economic Forum

Location:  Cairo, Egypt

Semester:  Summer 2010

Take us through an average (or an exciting!) day:

There really was no typical day for me.  I was working Monday through Friday, 9-5, but that was the only consistent part of my schedule.  I was only there for seven weeks and wanted to maximize my time, so every afternoon was different adventure.

What were some of the best experiences you had?

I don’t even know where to begin!  Spending three nights in the Black and White desert, floating down the Nile in a felucca, visiting the pyramids, having a traditional Egyptian meal with a family in Khan-el-Kalili, going to a Sufi dancing performance- the list truly goes on and on.  But most of all, my favorite memories are of the incredible friends that I made there.  Egyptians are so warm and welcoming and I am so thankful for the patience and hospitality that was continually extended to me during my stay.

What were some challenges?

The language barrier was tough.  I don’t know any Arabic and it is a very difficult language to pick up!  I relied a lot on my Egyptian friends to help me book taxis, pay my landlord, renew my visa, etc.  Even the smallest of tasks becomes nearly impossible when you can’t communicate.

How did you go about finding this position?

I found this internship through AIESEC.

What advice would you give to other students?

Consider working abroad!  It’s a much more immersive cultural experience than vacationing or even studying abroad.  You will learn so much about yourself and what you are capable of when you completely disassociate yourself from your typical life and identity.

Adventures of a Boeing Intern

This guest blog post is written by J.D. Ingraham, a senior aerospace engineering major, who is interning at Boeing Commercial Aircraft in Charleston, SC this summer.

As a Quality Engineering Intern, an employee of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, a worker in Boeing’s South Carolina facility, and perhaps most importantly, a Georgia Tech student, I’m writing this little Q/A for the DoPP blog.

Me with a 747 Dreamlifter in the background

Q:  What is it like to be an intern at Boeing?

A:  That depends on what your job is, and where you are. Boeing’s commercial airplane business is relatively new to South Carolina, although it’s been supporting C-17s in the area since 1994. Seven years ago there was nothing on the North Charleston site except trees. Beginning in 2006 the site contained two separate operations: One called Vought Aircraft Industries, and another a joint venture between Vought and Alenia called Global Aeronautica, both subcontractors to Boeing.  In 2008 Boeing bought Vought’s share of the Global Aeronautica joint venture.  In 2009 Boeing bought the Vought Aircraft Industries’ North Charleston operations and that same year announced that the company would build a new 787 Final Assembly & Delivery facility at the site.  Later in 2009, Boeing broke ground on this new facility, making North Charleston, South Carolina only the third location in the world where wide-body commercial airplanes are assembled and delivered. The people who are interning alongside me are the first ‘class’ of interns for Boeing South Carolina.

That being said, some departments weren’t really sure what to do with an intern.  Most of us are pretty much treated like regular employees.  Some people think higher of us than normal employees.  Especially in more established locations, the intern program is really a jumping-off point for going far within Boeing.  From what I understand, interns who do at least marginally well are either retained or rehired as full-time employees when they’re done.  A lot of them end up going into management quicker than they would if they just got hired full-time from the start.  In general, people ask me when I’m coming back to Boeing, not if.

Some interns are given a summer-long project they work on.  Some are given the task of aiding in a specific team or department, and work long hours alongside other engineers.  Mine has mostly been treated as an educational experience.  Quality encompasses everything from production inspections (making sure things are done right) to analysis (looking at reports of what is good and what is bad to see if things can be improved) to corrective actions (looking at things that are done wrong and coming up with short and long-term solutions for them) and so on.  I move around the building, answering to different people, helping out someone different every few days, and always learning about the process.

Q:  What project(s) are you working on?

A: All of them.  Or so it seems.  I’m working on several diverse projects at the same time.

Q:  What is your favorite aspect of the internship so far?

A: Being around airplanes.  Being an Aerospace Engineer, I’m one of those kids who walks around looking at the sky all the time.  Living very near my work place means that I have Airport, Air Force Base, and Boeing Commercial traffic flying over my head all the time.  I’ve seen lots of passenger jets, lots of C-17 (huge cargo planes), a Beechcraft Starship (look it up, it’s crazy), the Dreamlifter (Boeing’s custom 747 cargo plane that carries parts of 787’s around, it looks like a beluga whale with wings)  Just recently, I finally got to see a finished product (the first 787-8)!

Me at the welcoming ceremony for 787-8 ZA001

Q:  What is the most unexpected aspect of the internship?  What do you wish you’d known when you started?

A:  The thing I was probably least prepared for was the emphasis on efficient manufacturing by everybody.  At school, it seems like most classes give you a very theoretical knowledge of planes and kind of assume that someone else will be building our designs, or that we can learn about manufacturing processes later (at least in AE).  Here, everybody talks constantly about LEAN manufacturing techniques, and constant improvement, and the 5 “S”’s.  I suppose I should have realized that being in a factory would be like this, but I wasn’t really thinking about it.

Q:  What is the most challenging aspect of the internship so far?

A:  Acronyms.  They’re different at Boeing than they are at Tech, so I feel like a RAT walking around wondering what things like ECE and CEE and IPST mean.  Except here it’s me wondering if I’m looking for a person, place, or thing when someone asks me to find ERMs or an EPD that used to be a WT and an NCR.

Q:  What is a typical day like?

A:  I go in between 6 and 6:30 AM, which is rough.  On average, I spend half my day filling out documents or analyzing documents or figuring out charts and trends.  I spend an hour or two following somebody around and learning about what they do, which varies.  I spend an hour in a meeting of some sort, where people talk about production or other issues.  I spend an hour a day walking around looking for or at something or someone, or inspecting something, and I usually have a quick breakfast and lunch break somewhere in there.

Q: What’s your work environment like?  What are your coworkers like? Do you work with other co-ops and interns?

A: The worst part about my work environment is the lack of windows in the building.  The 787 is a composite plane, and UV radiation degrades unpainted composites, so there is no UV radiation in my building.  Since I go in before the sun rises usually, it’s sometimes 4 PM before I see the sun.

The people are one of the best parts.  People who worked at other locations say that coworkers can be hit or miss, but here everybody seems to love life.  I mean, come on, we’re making an awesome plane in a beautiful city, why wouldn’t they?  Also, GT is well represented.  A recent alumnus has a desk very near mine, and there are two other interns in my building who attend GT.  My manager even got a graduate degree from Tech.

Q: What advice would you give to underclassman who would like to intern at Boeing in the future?

A: Work hard, take initiative, and pay attention.  This is one of the best ways to learn about the industry and get experience that is really useful.