Is there a job I can do in high school that will help me become an engineer?

I would definitely seek out a part-time job with a local company that has engineers employed. Most engineering, energy, utility, or construction companies will have engineers and most of these same companies look for summer interns or part-time summer hires to do work in the engineering departments working directly with engineers and on engineering projects AND often they pay higher wages than you’d find in a restaurant or retail. It is a great way to learn, experience and accumulate valuable work experience for future opportunities. SHPE, SWE, NSBE and other organizations are always very helpful in learning of these opportunities, if you don’t see them advertised. Otherwise, I’d start knocking on some doors of local businesses in these categories and ask…you’ll be surprised what you find! Good luck and have a great summer learning!

​​Navigating high school and part-time employment can be a challenge in and of itself. With laws and regulations around age and number of hours allowable to work, it can be a deterrent for larger businesses. Finding a part-time job related to your specific engineering field may take some outside of the box thinking, research, and more than likely a lot of perseverance.

For example, say you want to be a Biochemical Engineer. Research laboratories which may be near your school or home. Then ask yourself, what could I do here? Maybe, if open to the public, visit the facility and observe some of the daily activities. Is there something which as a part-time employee you could contribute to help? Find out who the manager is at the location and request a reverse interview, where you ask them questions about the lab facility and what goes on there. Express an interest in working part time and inquire about internships. Could be a future plan you file away.

If your engineering degree requires drafting and schematics, maybe you spend a summer taking a drafting course at the local community college. Then you could apply for a drafting position. Again, do your research on what are the potential opportunities near your school and/or home. As transportation is often another limiting factor for High School students.

Even if you do end up working fast food, as a future engineer observe the efficiencies and inefficiencies at your workplace. What suggestions may make processes more accommodating to the worker, to the customer. The recent developments of two ordering stations in the drive thru, or having employees with electronic interface devices taking orders during rush hours was led by one person's innovative idea.

I do a lot of interviewing and hiring in my company for civil engineers and surveyors. When I’m looking at a resume for an entry-level hire, I’m looking at the work experience for a couple of things:

(1) Did you have a job in high school and college? If so, that tells me that you know how to split and dedicate your time between work and studies. That helps in an engineering job for managing your time well and knowing how to prioritize your tasks to get them complete. It also tells that you are most likely a hard worker and like to stay busy.

(2) Are you a manageable person? If you have held down a job(s) during high school and college, that most likely means you didn’t have any real issues with having a boss. We want entry-level hires to be manageable. This means we want them to be eager to learn, know how to listen to instructions, absorb the directions, and then go sit down and do the work, but also to know when to ask questions when they need more clarity or direction.

(3) Did you have to deal with customers? If so, that tells me you have experienced some level of people interaction meaning you probably know how to appropriately talk with people, how to welcome customers and ask how you can help them, how to serve people in whatever it is they are buying, and possibly how to deal with problems when a customer is dissatisfied.

(4) Are you a team player? Most jobs require you to get along with not only your boss, but your coworkers. You help each other out from time to time. Consider what your coworkers would say about you. Are you the one with a positive attitude? Are you the one always showing up late to work causing someone else to work longer? Are you the one to leave work undone causing someone else more to do? Are you the one always willing to pick up an additional shift to help others out? Are you the one always sitting around and talking, rather than working?

Take note that NONE of the above are “engineering” skills, but they are certainly business skills we want employees to have. For a high school part-time job, I wouldn’t put too much focus on getting something that is engineering-related. Any job is going to be a resume builder, especially ones that show you are a good employee. You show up on time, you work hard, you do what you are told, you know how to work well with others, and you have a positive attitude.

To show your interest in engineering, consider doing a job shadow for a day (engineering companies are happy to have someone come see what they do), going to an engineering related job fair, tutoring younger kids in math/science, or taking higher math or engineering classes. All of these will give you talking points in a future engineering interview.

If you can find a job at a car repair, electronic repair, heating and air conditioning, etc. company that would be ideal. Even if you are just answering phones and dealing with customers, you will start to learn about the business. And – if you start to ask questions and ask to learn more, they might be willing to let you start doing some shadowing. I had a daughter who filed papers in a doctors office, but she learned a great deal about medicine and the practice of medicine through that job.

It depends on the field of engineering you're looking to get into. A friend of mine worked at a local civil engineering firm in the lab, and learned the industry and how engineering principles were put into practice just by being in close proximity to more experienced teammates. They eventually became a mechanical engineer. You could volunteer at a local food bank to learn about process engineering. You could work on an open source project to dip your toe into the software development process. At one of my previous companies we hired a high school student as a summer intern because their work and their communication skills were the best of the candidates we interviewed, so it doesn't hurt to apply to small or medium-sized local companies to be considered!

In high school and college, I worked in a pharmacy (both retail and as a pharmacy tech in training), at a smoothie store, and in my college's Advancement Research office, none of which were related to my eventual career as a software developer. Whether your summer job is related to engineering or not, having one shows future employers that you are building time management and task prioritization skills, and you'll also build the soft skills that are needed to be a collaborative teammate.

Finding internships can be challenging depending on your location. You might be competing for the positions with college students.

There are many companies looking to hire right now, so this is a good time to be exploring opportunities. It is always great to get experience in your field as early as possible. Your local community colleges and universities can also be resources for internship postings.

If you are unable to find an internship in your field, I am a firm believer that everyone should spend time in a customer service job at some point in their life. You learn valuable life skills that will carry you as you progress in your career moving forward. Being able to interact with the general public and many different personalities is an invaluable skill set and all employers will value you this. You might also learn about multi-tasking, which is a critical skill for an engineer to develop.

This is a great question! I do want to stress that you do not need an engineering-related job or internship in high school to become an engineer. I did not get an engineering internship until the summer before my senior year in college. Any type of job you get can provide you with skills that are helpful later in life. For example, you mentioned working at a restaurant – if you are a server you are gaining customer service experience and how to interact with a customer. I babysat in high school and worked as a camp counselor and park ranger in college before my internship.

If you do want to pursue an engineering internship there are a few options to look into. One would be to apply to established internship programs that you can search online and apply. If there is a company in your area you are interested in, reach out to them! Find their contact information online and either call or email them inquiring about if they have an internship program or pitch your case and ask them to create a position for you! Make sure to be prepared with what you can contribute, the skills you have, and what you are interested in learning. Reach out to the guidance counselor at your high school and ask if they know of any internship programs or companies that recruit from your school.

You can also get resume-building experience outside of internships. Join any STEM-related clubs or classes your high school or local area has. Look at national programs related to getting women into engineering. Turn one of your hobbies into a project that will demonstrate engineering experience. For example, taking a coding class and building a website.

While doing any of the above suggestions will demonstrate your ambitious attitude, don't feel stressed if they don't work out or you do not have enough time or energy to accomplish them. There will be plenty of time to build your engineering skills in college and when you graduate!

I would advise you to get any kind of job and really take a look at the equipment/objects surrounding them. Everything you touch will have the spark of engineering – be it the restaurant furniture, the kitchen equipment, and more. Then, you can consider how these items could be improved – this is the fundamental of the engineering brain and role. Also, I would advise you to seek summer programs at engineering institutions and to sign up as these often show the types of jobs possible in engineering as well as different kinds of engineering careers.

Yes! Paid engineering internships may be difficult to find in high school, but I had an unpaid engineering internship at a university-run medical center my junior and senior year of high school, which helped me realize that I would enjoy engineering at a more tangible level than on a small scale (manufacturing vs. biochemical/genetic engineering – I wanted lab work to involve more making & breaking things and less checking results on a computer).

I highly recommend reaching out by email to a few engineering professors you find listed on university websites to inquire if there are any engineering internships you may be eligible for. There likely won’t be an official program or job posting, but perhaps a grad student or post-doc research assistant could use an extra set of hands and is willing to teach you some skills. Include your interests and a brief line about some qualifications if applicable.

If your school district has a STEM administrator or your local region has a STEM-related organization, those are also both excellent sources to email about possible opportunities in the area.

Something I recommend to all students here at UT, especially those in civil engineering, is to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity or another group that builds structures. Homes and other (smallish) structures have so many layers of detail going on quickly in time, during construction, that we can’t see once they are built. Simply a few days of volunteer work in such construction provides wonderful training (and service) experience.

A lot of high school males do such work day after day for summertime work, and make a good wage. It can be hot, exhausting, and back-breaking, but there may be roles many high school females are interested in.

Construction is definitely a good industry for some practical engineering exposure, along with solid wages (assuming 16 and 17 yo’s are allowed on site… there may be an age threshold, b/c of the liability of having young/inexperienced people on site).

Engineering jobs typically require a lot of technical skills. Our co-op department at my university wouldn't even let us apply for a co-op or internship until we completed statistics and dynamics, via recommendation from the Mechanical Engineering Department. However, you could get a job at a local hardware store and get acquainted with tools. If you were thinking about pursuing a mechanical engineering degree, that would be a good pick. You could also look into volunteering at a science/engineering camp. Personally, I waitressed for 9 years while going through high school, undergrad, and grad school. I picked up a lot of "soft skills" such as time management, speaking skills, and working under high stress situations.

I have a family member who volunteered at a county engineering department. She said that it made an impact on her and solidified her future career path in her mind for herself. If I had a do-over, I would look for something similar - an internship or volunteer opportunity with a government department or consultant engineering group.