Electrical Engineering Student Looking For Ways to Improve Resume

[MauriceT]

Hello,

     I am going into my junior year of electrical and computer engineering with no internship experience related to my degree. I am becoming very worried about how I will fare against competition due to having no relevant work experience in electrical engineering. I was wondering if anybody here has any tips on how I could improve my chances of landing an internship next summer. I currently have several ideas, but just wanted outside opinions from people who may be more experienced than me. My current plan is to take online courses to improve technical knowledge or to start a personal project.
     If I hope on going into a career in hardware engineering, what online course topics would be most helpful? And also if there are any other suggestions for improving my resume and skills I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

[dmills]

Project, project, project.

Seriously, turning up to an interview with a project that you designed and built is an instant way to put yourself ahead of those who don't.

Decide what to build, write a spec, and a budget, then design and build it.
Expect to be asked about reasoning behind decisions, how much you went over budget (and why), what you would do differently....

As far as things to learn, depends a bit on where you want to go, but programming in a suitable language (which is almost never Java) is useful and somewhat expected, Matlab is good (and they have a low cost home license), how to do low noise analog is a bit of a dying art that is hard to hire, design for EMC, DFM, DFT, something like XJTAG is sometimes good.

Left field, but learn to really use Excel, yea I know it is a dog of a tool, but that thing gets everywhere in industry, and being good at doing things with pivot tables IS actually a selling point.

[MK14]

EEVBLOG has made a video reply to this OP's post here:
(It seems good and interesting).

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/eevblab/eevblab-78-engineering-student-advice/

[tggzzz]

Project, project, project.

Seriously, turning up to an interview with a project that you designed and built is an instant way to put yourself ahead of those who don't.

Decide what to build, write a spec, and a budget, then design and build it.
Expect to be asked about reasoning behind decisions, how much you went over budget (and why), what you would do differently....

Very true.

It doesn't much matter what you did nor what tools you used. Why? Because a company will use different tools in different domains. They know they will have to train you, and that it will be worthwhile doing that for a competent candidate. A project not required for coursework will increase confidence you are competent.

As far as things to learn, depends a bit on where you want to go, but programming in a suitable language (which is almost never Java) is useful and somewhat expected, Matlab is good (and they have a low cost home license), how to do low noise analog is a bit of a dying art that is hard to hire, design for EMC, DFM, DFT, something like XJTAG is sometimes good.

Left field, but learn to really use Excel, yea I know it is a dog of a tool, but that thing gets everywhere in industry, and being good at doing things with pivot tables IS actually a selling point.

Java is used heavily in the telecoms industry, for high availability servers applications and services. So it is a suitable language to demonstrate competence. OTOH, avoid C++ (unless you want to demonstrate your incompetence ) and consider Rust, ADA.

[fourfathom]

Languages?  Don't forget Verilog or VHDL.  Essential for any non-trivial size digital design.

[sdbranam]

Dave's video is spot on. I cover exactly this topic in a blog post at EmbeddedRelated dot com that I wrote for people in your situation: "The Self-Directed Virtual Internship" https://www.embeddedrelated.com/showarticle/1349.php.

[winniethepooh_icu]

Hello,

     I am going into my junior year of electrical and computer engineering with no internship experience related to my degree. I am becoming very worried about how I will fare against competition due to having no relevant work experience in electrical engineering. I was wondering if anybody here has any tips on how I could improve my chances of landing an internship next summer. I currently have several ideas, but just wanted outside opinions from people who may be more experienced than me. My current plan is to take online courses to improve technical knowledge or to start a personal project.
     If I hope on going into a career in hardware engineering, what online course topics would be most helpful? And also if there are any other suggestions for improving my resume and skills I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

The most important thing is to be able to earnestly show that you are passionate about electrical engineering and willing to learn and humbly take instruction from your mentors.
A big question on your mind should be what the mentoring situation is at your prospective employer, i.e. who you will be working for and what they do.  Asking about this is a good thing.
You are not expected to come in with experience.  You are expected to come in with passion, focus, and humility(i.e. an open mind; without a chip on your shoulder). 
The field is far too broad for many to know what area they want to end up in.  Instead, you should focus on a few areas, and endeavor to get an internship in one of these areas.  Why are you interviewing with us?  "Because I would like to get experience with x area working under a mentor and learn as much as I can".
Don't overdo your resume, without an internship it must be no more than one page.
Don't talk about MS office type stuff, that goes without saying.
Show passion, interest, dress professionally, and come in with thoughtful questions and you will be fine.
Make sure you can derive your basic formulas such as fundamental op amp circuits, BJT's, diodes, etc.  Depending on what type of company you are interviewing with, you may have a significant techincal interview.  For an intern, this technical interview is not so much to guage the precision of what you remember, but to guage your thought process.  You can pass the technical interview without getting a single question right.
Do NOT be afraid to go all the way across the country for the right internship.  No matter how terrifying this seems, it is worth it.  By far.  And most companies will help you through every step of the process if they make you an offer.
Good luck.

[tggzzz]

Hello,

     I am going into my junior year of electrical and computer engineering with no internship experience related to my degree. I am becoming very worried about how I will fare against competition due to having no relevant work experience in electrical engineering. I was wondering if anybody here has any tips on how I could improve my chances of landing an internship next summer. I currently have several ideas, but just wanted outside opinions from people who may be more experienced than me. My current plan is to take online courses to improve technical knowledge or to start a personal project.
     If I hope on going into a career in hardware engineering, what online course topics would be most helpful? And also if there are any other suggestions for improving my resume and skills I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

The most important thing is to be able to earnestly show that you are passionate about electrical engineering and willing to learn and humbly take instruction from your mentors.
A big question on your mind should be what the mentoring situation is at your prospective employer, i.e. who you will be working for and what they do.  Asking about this is a good thing.
You are not expected to come in with experience.  You are expected to come in with passion, focus, and humility(i.e. an open mind; without a chip on your shoulder). 
The field is far too broad for many to know what area they want to end up in.  Instead, you should focus on a few areas, and endeavor to get an internship in one of these areas.  Why are you interviewing with us?  "Because I would like to get experience with x area working under a mentor and learn as much as I can".
Don't overdo your resume, without an internship it must be no more than one page.
Don't talk about MS office type stuff, that goes without saying.
Show passion, interest, dress professionally, and come in with thoughtful questions and you will be fine.
Make sure you can derive your basic formulas such as fundamental op amp circuits, BJT's, diodes, etc.  Depending on what type of company you are interviewing with, you may have a significant techincal interview.  For an intern, this technical interview is not so much to guage the precision of what you remember, but to guage your thought process.  You can pass the technical interview without getting a single question right.
Do NOT be afraid to go all the way across the country for the right internship.  No matter how terrifying this seems, it is worth it.  By far.  And most companies will help you through every step of the process if they make you an offer.
Good luck.

Just so.

The only point I will amplify is that questions designed to assess your thought processes often don't have correct answers. They have a range of answers, each with associated caveats.