Mechanical Engineering Internship Story: Barnhart Crane and Rigging
Mitchell VanCleave
Mechanical Engineering
What company did you intern with and where are they located?
Barnhart Crane & Rigging. Memphis, TN
How did you identify and apply for your internship? Are there any specific resources you used to find the opportunity (i.e. Handshake, career fairs, other recruitment events)?
Found the company website online after doing some personal research into their industry.
What was the application process like?
Involved filling out past experiences, taking a modified ASVAB test, and watching videos on the company's culture. After a phone and video interviews the company flew me out to their headquarters in Memphis for a half-day in-person interview and tour of their facilities.
Tell us about your internship experience. What types of tasks and projects did you engage in? Was there a particular project or part of the experience you learned the most from?
Initially I did online trainings covering safety and operations. Then I received field certifications for rigging and forklift operation. In the office I attended budget and engineering meetings, shadowed engineers and salesmen, and created quick reference charts to show the branch's crane capabilities. In the field, I got to go on site walks with salesmen and engineers and got to assist heavy haul and heavy lift projects. I had the privilege of going on a ten-day trip with and oversize load from Minneapolis, MN to Jamestown, ND.
In what ways did this internship help you prepare for your next destination after Auburn?
I believe this experience has prepared me well for the engineering field as I got the opportunity to be a part of many aspects of any given project, including budgeting, engineering, planning, and execution.
In what ways did your coursework or other experiences at Auburn prepare you for your internships? Are there specific topics or skills you learned from classes that you put into practice on the job?
My coursework at Auburn prepared me for this experience through the working engineering knowledge intuition that my professors taught me.
Do you have any advice for other students looking for internships like yours?
Don't be afraid to try something new and outside of your comfort zone. Be as hands on as possible early on in order to get a better understanding of how your industry works in the field.
