Interns Explore MEP Internships in the AEC Industry

Key highlights 

• Internships build a strong foundation for success for students and early careers professionals pursuing career pathways in engineering, construction, energy, and safety.
• A well-rounded MEP internship program provides industry tools, hands-on experience, mentorship, cross-company training, and professional development to bridge classroom learning with real-world execution in the field, shop, and office.
• MEP internships can oftentimes lead to full-time roles in the AEC industry, including pathways and opportunities for clear career progression.

Each year, a new group of interns from around the country are selected to take part in Southland's internship program, where they learn and grow through hands-on experiences, professional development opportunities, and practical, real-world situations in the AEC Industry. Our internship program helps students understand how mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems come together on projects. Oftentimes, these internship opportunities often lead to full-time roles in the AEC industry. Here's what some of our interns are up to this summer and how their work is shaping their future career in construction:   

John Clint: Identifying opportunities in energy 

Energy Engineering Intern John Clint is eager to collaborate, ask insightful questions, and learn all there is to know about Southland's energy projects. As an intern, John is busy reviewing utility bills to pull out important information, like how much energy a building uses during high-demand times or identifying meters on a property. He takes detailed energy data and translates it into practical insights for smarter decisions. Overall, his work helps to reduce energy use, lower costs, and improve system performance. For clients, these actions translate to significant energy savings and more efficient buildings. 

"I've learned a tremendous amount, especially by connecting with people across the energy division, from sales and design to project management, energy, and controls," John says. "Seeing how each group contributes has given me a much clearer understanding of Southland's overall process and has helped me start thinking about where I'd like to focus my career." 

Takeaway: As John's work shows, collaboration and connection lead to better outcomes and improved processes and workflows within the AEC Industry, which can open doors to full-time roles. 

Blake Turner: Keeping safety at the forefront 

Blake Turner, Safety Intern, has an overarching reason for coming to work every day: keeping people safe. 

"This work matters, not only for the project and client incident rate, but also for the people on the job every day. Everyone at work has a bigger reason for being here than just work," Blake explains. "We want to ensure they make it through their day safely to enjoy the things that truly matter to them." 

As an intern, by identifying and mitigating possible hazards on the jobsite, as well as preventing reoccurrence of incidents, he's learned that creating real-world connections in the AEC industry, such as with trade partners and coworkers, leads to a more productive and unified workforce. More importantly, these connections cultivate a safer work environment for all. Blake's experience demonstrates how an intern in a construction safety job can grow into a site safety coordinator or HSE specialist, which are common full-time outcomes of strong internship opportunities. 

Takeaway: Blake's experience demonstrates how an intern in a construction safety job has the potential to grow into a site safety coordinator or Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) specialist, which are common full-time pathways. Additionally, Blake's work helps foster safer work environments so everyone can go home safely at the end of the day. 

Alexa Gulea: Exploring the complexity of the construction process

Before joining Southland, Alexa Gulea, Design Engineer Intern, was unaware of how much coordination and information goes into construction and design beyond engineering calculations and drawings. 

"As a design engineer intern, I used to focus only on the design process, but throughout my project work [at Southland] I realized it is just as important to consider the constructability of your design and the construction process," Alexa mentions. "My mentor and project team have taught me to consider cost limitations, service requirements, and general feasibility." 

A typical day for Alexa consists of meetings with her mentor and project teams, reviewing drawings, extracting information from Revit models, and completing calculations, which leads her to create flushing plans for various projects. 

"Through my project work I discovered that design engineers can make the flushing process easier by planning ahead and placing required equipment in a design before construction even takes place," Alexa says. "Creating a flushing plan matters because cleaning and flushing the pipes is vital to people's health and safety." 

Takeaway: Alexa's day-to-day as an intern builds real-world expertise that supports full-time roles as a design engineer in the AEC industry. 

At Southland, our well-rounded internship program gives students meaningful internship opportunities to collaborate, innovate, and invest in their futures. As John, Blake, and Alexa demonstrate, we equip our interns with tools for success through hands-on work in the field, shop, and office across the AEC industry.  

The foundation and valuable skills built over the summer often lead to full-time roles, whether as an engineering intern transitioning to a project engineer, a safety intern moving into a construction safety job, or a design engineer intern stepping into project design opportunities. The opportunities here at Southland are endless — and these interns are just getting started. 

Join our talent community and explore our Early Careers opportunities. 
 

Frequently asked questions about MEP internships in the AEC industry