- Major: Electrical Engineering
- Company: Bridgestone
- Graduation Year: May 2022
- E-mail: ynx687@vols.utk.edu
Profile
I was on my co-op assignment with Bridgestone Tires, in McMinnville, Tennessee, for 14 months. I worked in the engineering department which works on continuous improvement and maintenance of the facility.
I needed real working experience. To be under pressure to learn and solve problems at production speed. A major achievement was completing a modification to an assembly machine that automated a separate step of the operator that used to be manual application. This involved lots of cross-department organization, presentations, and scheduling, as well as endless opportunities for technical mishaps and failures to learn for programming, electronics, and mechanics. The modification was pushed to thirty machines total with only nine more to make operational by the time I left.
The co-op forced me into situations in which I had to adapt quickly to solve problems. I had to show up as prepared as possible, but also quickly teach myself a machine working from the ground up to solve a problem.
Co-op is almost essential for an engineering major. School is practice on how to teach yourself, but the work is where you exponentially grow in that ability. Engineering is a position of a lot of responsibility and can lead to breaking just as many things as you improve. This enriching-but-stressful growing stage is best experienced within a forgiving co-op assignment rather than as a full-fledged engineer.
I enjoy going to the recreation center and starting pickup volleyball or basketball games before heading to the library.
Pro-tip: My co-op was a life changing experience. I would recommend anyone take an opportunity to go into the work force away from school. These lessons cannot be learned anywhere else but in the field.
