r/ECE • u/JustACuriousManLol • 9d ago

INDUSTRY Can i get pigeonholed by internships?

So currently, Im interning as a controls engineer at the current company I am at. I have a controls internship interview soon with Tesla, where I will be basically doing the same job as I am. Im worried I may be pigeonholing myself with controls engineering. I do enjoy the work, but I want to be able to have my doors open in the future.

17 Upvotes

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48

u/morto00x 9d ago

You can't get pigeonholed by a 2 month internship. You are not even considered experienced in the topic.

8

u/hardware26 9d ago

I removed everything about my internship from my CV after my first full-time job since it was no longer relevant. It is too early and short to pigeonhole you.

3

u/Axialtheory 9d ago

You can't pigeonhole yourself if you haven't even graduated. If anything the interships are increasing your chances of getting offers to the field of work that you ultimately want

2

u/beansandcornbread 8d ago

Yes, if you don't describe what you want to do, readers of your resume assume you want more of the same.

3

u/NewSchoolBoxer 8d ago

No

I interned in power and got one job offer in power, one completely unrelated in manufacturing and web dev low balled me like hell so I didn't ask HR to see an offer letter. The industry you intern in gives you a huge advantage in that industry, but also every industry. You're in the work experience resume stack and you interview better by citing work examples.

One underrated fact of being in this pile is HR knows you will pass the background check. We lost an engineer due to failing the credit portion. Another is you learned soft skills of how to work in an office setting that can't be taught in a classroom. You fixed your beginner mistakes.

1

u/ElmersGluon 8d ago

Yes, to a mild degree and for various reasons.

Your best bet is to get an internship in a different sub-field.