The Internship

Reaching new heights – literally

Close your eyes. Picture this. It's summertime. And I mean summertime. Blazing hot temperatures, record high heat indexes, and humidity levels so intense, a wet sponge is given an inferiority complex. Now, picture you're stuck on an a frying hot roof 25 feet high that's swarming with yellow jackets and biting flies. A simple slip and you meet death either by concrete or rosebud trees. That's what I was experiencing just the other day while outside helping Steven Hoober, a Senior Designer, paint his house. Call us champions I suppose. We managed to survive the severe heat warnings for 8 hours that day and make a 1940's house look a bit more fresh.

The most memorable moment occurred when Steven is helping me paint a small section below the second tiered gabled roof. While I struggled to balance myself and paint a window trim 20 feet up, Steven is holding the paint can for me to use. Yes, that seems very nice to you, I bet. But wait. Is Steven on the roof with me also risking a fate of death? NO! In the comfort of his air conditioning, sitting composed and comfortable on a stool, he is passing the paint can through a bedroom window! Even worse, he took out his SLR camera and took photos of me.

When the job was done, Steven and I joked about how much we hated doing this. We began to reminisce about terrible summer jobs we had when we were growing up. Between us, our summer jobs included:

• Cold patching streets while wearing jeans and steel-toed shoes.
• Breaking rocks to make ditches for drainage.
• Crawling in storm sewers because no one else could fit down there.
• Conducting inventory in a 40° below warehouse.
• Driving 18 wheelers full of unsecured shopping carts without a CDL.
• Cleaning stoves so greasy you have to take them apart.
• Getting buried from head to toe by packages falling off a moving conveyor.
• Assembling wheels with a bunch of ex-cons.
• Chemically destroying poison ivy along the city streets.
• And many more.

Teachable moments

Even though we all experience summer jobs of some sort in our past, and at the time they seem pointless and awful, each one of them provides unique experiences that can be applied to our careers today. Here at Little Springs Design, we take on interns. Our goal is to provide them valuable industry experience with guidance so they too can apply those experiences to their future career. All the while getting cheap labor for our projects.

During my undergraduate years in Industrial Design, I was required to have an internship for credit. Getting internships at that time was not easy. Maybe, back then, it was the declining economy. The university didn't really offer any assistance or placement, so it was up to me to track one down. I asked my dad for help and he kindly called some of his clients to see if they could use me.

The internship

A few days later, my dad told me to call one of his clients. The man was expecting to hear back from me to discuss the details of a possible internship. I called him back and ended the call having in place my first design internship. The job was to begin right away. I was so excited because it was at The Merchandise Mart in the heart of Chicago's downtown loop. Even better, I would take the Metra train with my dad to get downtown. Just like a real job!

I didn't really know much about the company or job responsibilities before my first day. I did know that I would be working with an industrial designer, and that I would be getting paid. Not a bad summer plan, all in all. The company that took me on, supplied POPs (Point of Purchase Displays) to retailers nationwide. Like, the plastic holders for signs, coupons and the like that hang off cash registers or store shelves. If necessary, they would build customized displays for the client, made from extruded PVC or acrylic.

When I learned what my first task was, my emotional high took a plunge. They led me into the back part of the office in a vacant room. I use the term vacant loosely. There weren't any other workers in there and no sign that there had been in some time. They called it the storage room. To me, the room was a landfill. Piles of paper, plastic sheets, extruded tubes, clips, bolts, zonks, and zings covered the floor and rose towards the ceiling. "We need you to organize this room so we can have a working shop." That task became my summer internship. For 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, I was the grunt.

Wax on, wax off

One of my favorite scenes in the Karate Kid (the original one, of course) is when Daniel (Ralph Macchio) reaches his tipping point after spending hours and days painting the fence and waxing the car. Just as he is about to give up, Mr. Miyagi shows Daniel how he can apply the same painting and waxing strokes to karate defense. Daniel's moment of clarity is shown as he easily blocks off a series of punches and kicks. I'm not saying that days of organizing piles of plastic prepared me to fend off the Cobra Kai dojo, but I did have a moment of clarity when finally done.

After finally cleaning out the storage room, I had created a system of storage, access, and retrieval of plastic components used by the staff. The boss was really impressed that I could think independently, and not only problem solve, but turn around a problem into an effective, efficient, and usable solution. After the internship was over, I knew that I did not want to design anything like POP displays as a career. But, I gained an invaluable knowledge of materials, processes, manufacturing and distribution channels, and even just working in an office, and dealing with people professionally.

So for all of those interns reading this, don't become discouraged in your daily tasks, coffee and beer runs, and low wages – if you are lucky enough to get paid for your internship at all. We have all gone through those, too. The experiences and skills that you will take away from your job are anything but trivial. With each following job, you will expand your skills, talents, and add value to yourself. Soon, you will be the one sitting at your own desk demanding an intern grunt to grab you a hot latte.