Business Unit: Boeing Defence Australia
Location: Brisbane, Australia
University: Griffith University
Degree Program: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

What Boeing product(s) or service(s) do you work on?

Emerging Markets, Boeing Defence Australia’s (BDA) newest business unit, aiming to lead and incubate new programs to ensure we meet the future needs of customers and remain an industry leader for years to come. I’m a requirements engineer for a range of projects.

What was the most rewarding project you've worked on as a Boeing intern?

Initially, I worked as a system requirements engineer for a new tactical data links program. This project was particularly rewarding since it was my first quantifiable task that I completed in my internship. This task gave me confidence to get out of my comfort zone and involve myself in electronic warfare projects, which I hadn’t been exposed to before.

How did your internship experience at Boeing influence your future career?

My experience at Boeing has boosted my excitement for Boeing’s technical advancements and mechatronics engineering opportunities in Australia. What surprised me were the learnings I experienced beyond technical learning. The leaders and employees have influenced my career — they’ve encouraged me to strive to be honest, people focused, technically adept, to have fun and be passionate in all aspects of my work in order to hopefully reach a managerial role.  The Emerging Markets team leads have really taken their time to teach me about not just engineering, but business and strategic processes, furthering my interest in branching out from mechatronic engineering.

What have you learned as an intern that you wouldn't learn from your coursework?

My behaviors toward my team and work tasks are just as important as my knowledge learned though my university coursework. University coursework gives you the technical knowledge and tools to problem solve, but the lessons learned from applying those skills in a team of people are truly embedded as an intern. Behaviors such as honesty, responsibility and integrity, and soft skills are just as valuable as technical skills in order to work successfully as a team.

What's something you wish you knew before you started your internship?

My advice would be to make more small talk in the first couple of weeks of the program. Talk to anyone and everyone. It is those connections and those interactions with your colleagues that make you quickly feel comfortable in a new working environment and allow you to discover other areas of the business you wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to.

What inspires you about Boeing's mission and the work we do?

Boeing’s cutting-edge technology and the opportunity to work for an aerospace industry leader is what compelled me to apply for this Internship Program. I’d also add that I’m inspired by the ‘One Boeing’ approach, and Boeing values, which put people first. I’ve been inspired by my colleagues’ genuine passion for their work and they have been extremely supportive toward me as I start out in my career.