For my practicum project, I completed a summer internship at an engineering consulting firm, SBP Consulting, LLC. SBP Consulting is a company in Laurel, MD, and specializes in radio frequency (RF) engineering, IT solutions, and coverage testing. I applied for the internship on UMD’s Careers4Engineers website, although the website will be replaced by Handshake in July 2023. Careers4Engineers is an easy-to-use resource great for finding internships and co-ops as a UMD student. The hiring process at SBP was relatively simple, consisting of one in-person interview and a two-day training process.
One useful tip for finding a practicum site is to start the search early. One common practicum option is to complete an internship in the summer after freshman year, and for this option, you should start applying to internships spring of freshman year, or even fall of freshman year if you already have good experience on your resume. Another common practicum option is to participate in undergraduate research under the guidance of a professor or faculty. To find an undergraduate research role before the 4th semester of SGC, it is again best to start searching early, preferably during freshman year. For both of these options, do not be afraid to email professors, reach out to the career center for advice, and/or apply for jobs online (Linkedin, Indeed, etc.). There are many opportunities available to UMD students, so take advantage of all of the resources that are offered.
As an intern at an engineering consulting firm, most of my days looked pretty similar. The difference in my day-to-day activities stemmed from the type of project I was assigned for the week. My main task was to perform radio coverage tests, which are used to evaluate radio system performance across a defined area, which can be a city, a county, or an entire state. I evaluated radio systems using three main criteria: bit error rate (BER), RF signal strength (RSSI), and delivered audio quality (DAQ). These criteria determine the quality and range of radio frequency (RF) coverage, which is critical especially to our first responder clients who require coverage even in extremely remote areas. During field tests, I troubleshot hardware and software issues and consulted with clients to ensure optimal testing. I also attended meetings with coworkers, clients, engineers, and consultants to discuss test strategies and results.
The internship was an amazing learning experience for me to gain hands-on skills in RF engineering, technical consulting, and quickly adapting to different projects. I also improved my soft skills like communication and working with a team, which is arguably even more important for my engineering career than the hard skills I developed. I also learned that science, specifically critical thinking and the scientific method, is applicable to almost all parts of society. I identified problems and tested my hypotheses on a daily basis during the internship, and I was able to apply what I learned about the scientific method and critical thinking in SGC.
This internship has also helped define my future career goals. The aspect that I enjoyed the most during the internship was collaboration with other interns, colleagues, team leaders, and clients. While collaborating, it was obvious that the combined efficiency of our team was much higher than any individual person. I want to continue to pursue jobs that involve teamwork and collaboration, and as an engineering major, I am in luck. I also learned that I may not be very interested in the consulting side of engineering. While I did truly enjoy the work that I did during the internship, I realized that consulting can often involve doing very similar tasks every day. Since I would prefer more variety in my future jobs, I will try to branch out from engineering consulting into other fields of engineering.