Luke Meeks (May 2024 - December 2024)

Co-op Experience

What was the interview process like?

The interview process was calm and organized, I also liked that my interviewers were two of the engineers that I would be working under who had realistic expectations and requirements for the position. The interview/ application process had much more human involvement compared to other places I have applied and interviewed, and I think that is excellent.

Most students just want experience, but they may not know what type of experience they want. Please describe some of the work you did and what type of skills you needed. It is important to note the skills you could apply from what you've learned in school and what you learned on the job.

This position required much holistic mechanical engineering knowledge, on the job I have used everything from basic mathematics to statistics and calculus, to harder engineering topics like solid mechanics and analysis of dynamic systems (the theory of which I mostly learned in school). However, there were some things that I learned more on the job due to their nature of requiring practice such as coding and mechanical design. I would say that this position would be great for a mechanical engineering student pursuing a specialty in solid mechanics, dynamics, or mechatronics as working at Hunter we don't deal much (if at all) with thermodynamics and the solids/dynamics analysis done here is very in depth.

What experience do you think will be the most useful for you in the future?

The experience that will prove most useful in the future would be mechanical design, as it is an important skill for any mechanical engineer regardless of what specialty you may belong to and can only really be learned on the job.

How do you think the overall experience will help you in your career?

The overall experience helped me to see what it is like to work as a full-time engineer and what the job entails. The co-op program is a smoother, more gradual introduction that will make my eventual permanent switch to being a full time engineer much easier. Another way my experience at Hunter will help in my career, is that I have already begun to build skills essential to working as a mechanical engineer, such as applying technical knowledge, mechanical design, fabrication, and much more.

What aspect of the work did you enjoy the most?

The aspect of the work that I liked the most was applying what I have been learning in school. Seeing the real-world application of theoretical concepts is a very satisfying experience, which is really the core of what engineering is. Taking theoretical science and physics and making it into real functional, and economical machines.

What aspect of the work did you not enjoy?

Occasionally I had to actively look for more things to do because of down time caused by shipping delays or long design phases.

Did you learn anything? 

Absolutely, I have learned many practical skills such as: learning how to properly conduct testing to create good useable data, learning how to present testing data in a readable fashion, fabrication and design for manufacturing skills, and many more soft skills that are acquired when working.

Students often want to know if they will work alone or in a group. Was the work you did more individual or group work and how does it compare with what you have done in school or at another job?

The work I did was mostly individual, although the result of my individual work contributed to an overall project. This work was less collaboration on the low level (doing the work). However, was also far more collaborative at the high level (project wide level/communication) compared to other jobs I have worked where there was a lot of direct collaboration but less communication.

What were your living arrangements during co-op? This question is especially important for those who are not from St. Louis.

My living arrangement was to live in an apartment within driving distance from work.

How was the supervision?

My manager had a much more hands off approach than at places that I have worked previously. I feel that this style of leadership allowed my schedule to be more fluid and to prioritize the most important tasks while also letting me work on long term projects at the same time. I also like how there were not strict assignments, but an understanding that me (as the co-op) would gather projects and general work. I was able to take care of it as I saw fit, which I believe helped
me to be more efficient in my work and better my time management skills. Also, whenever I would have questions, my manager was always willing to help and explain. Simply put, the supervision I had as a co-op at Hunter was great.

Anything else you'd like to tell us about yourself, Hunter Engineering, the co-op program,
or the work?

I think the co-op program at Hunter is exemplary. Unlike other companies that draw up specific curriculum or tasks for co-ops to do during their term just to reuse the same ones over and over; Hunter co-ops get to do real work and get experience much more closely aligned with real full-time work. At Hunter the co-op program is not just around to be a datapoint or to just to say that the company has one. The co-op program here is a real symbiotic relationship where the company provides both work experience and education to co-ops. Co-ops here do actual work. Hunter also puts effort into enriching the experience for co-ops as well with off campus events
and lunch and learns. These events were very informative and left me with an entirely different more holistic view of the company. To conclude I think that the co op program at Hunter is great, I would highly recommend it to other students. I hope to see it far into the future.