GE Aviation Systems - Software Co-Op
Chris
Experience Information
Employer: GE Aviation
Job Title: Software Engineering Intern
Major: Computer Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
GE employs over 300,000 people worldwide, and approximately 1500 at GE Aviation Systems in Grand Rapids. GE Aviation is an international provider of jet engines, avionics, and electrical power and mechanical systems for aircraft. It is worth noting here that GE's internship program doesn't perfectly line up with GVSU's engineering co-op requirements. If you plan to use GE Aviation for your co-op, you will need to make a few special arrangements with GVSU's Career Center. That said, the extra effort is definitely worth it!
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
During my rotation, I worked in development quality assurance (DQA) where I was assigned to two main projects. The first half of the summer, I worked on pulling data from a number of sources for the purpose of establishing connections that could be used to link these sources in a common data lake, and ultimately to provide a unified set of metrics and visualizations that would provide a high-level view of the health and status of various projects and processes. The remainder of the summer, I was tasked with finding a new system for managing DQA data, which included researching several software solutions and reporting on their capability.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
Working in DQA, I got to see the various processes that control engineering outputs to ensure that the final product meets all of the appropriate requirements. Additionally, I gained experience writing scripts in R to generate graphics and perform statistical analysis. I was given plenty of time to experiment, which led to learning about data mining and topic modeling of text data.
Favorite Part of the Experience
My favorite part of working for GE Aviation was the supportive environment. Everyone I worked with was always extremely helpful, and I never felt like I couldn't ask for assistance when I needed it.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
Working for GE has caused me to think seriously about a career in the field of aviation. The Edison Development Program sounds like it would be an excellent opportunity to pursue when I graduate in a couple years.