Packed With Potential: The Engineering Internship Experience at Viking Masek

Encouraging careers in the STEM field is an important area of focus for Viking Masek. As a manufacturer of custom packaging machinery, engineers are vital to every part of the process from quoting to sales to manufacturing to project management, and even marketing. In part 2 of our Packed With Potential series, we're taking a deeper look into what it's like to be an intern in the engineering department.

Key Data Points

Name: Wyatt Ecclestone

High School: Oostburg High School, Class of 2017

Internship Program: Sheboygan Area Youth Apprentice Program through Lakeshore Technical College

Getting Started

When he applied for the internship at Viking, Wyatt submitted a resume detailing his interest and prior experience and was soon contacted to interview for Viking Masek's newly open Engineering/Drafting internship. Engineering Manager Mike Schaap asked him questions about his exposure to CAD and any relevant courses he was taking or had already completed.

"Wyatt was initially interested in design," Mike says, "so a manufacturer of custom-designed packaging machinery was a great fit for an internship."

Like all new employees and interns, Wyatt was welcomed with Viking's traditional 'Ice Cream Social', where he met the entire Viking team.

Daily Life in Engineering

A typical schedule during the school year consisted of working 5 hours per day about 2 - 3 days a week. Over the summer Wyatt works full time: 8 hours per day, 5 days a week. He works in a shared 'pod' office space with other engineers and his manager close by, making it easy to get questions answered in real time. Viking Masek encourages shared, collaborative office spaces because of that communicative openness: Valuable experience is gained by simply observing and learning from the issues colleagues face in their daily work.

Wyatt fills an "all-purpose" engineering role which includes creating CAD drawings, delivering and picking up parts to and from vendors, documenting machine serial numbers, assisting with the assembly of parts, and supporting many aspects of the business.

He says his favorite part of the Viking internship experience is working on "specialized projects and reverse engineering [packaging machine] parts off the shelf. I enjoyed breaking things down and then drawing them up to be an accurate representation for the future."

When asked about the best piece of advice he received during his internship, Wyatt responded "set SMART goals and love your job. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely goals really improved my drive and focusing abilities."

An Unexpected Twist

Wyatt discovered something unexpected about Engineering during his internship: It wasn't for him. He explains that "engineering is a great field to become involved in, though I can’t stand to sit behind a desk all day. I enjoy my time working with CAD programs but I enjoy moving around a lot more and being outside and physically active."

Manager Mike Schaap is glad Wyatt had this experience. "He had the opportunity to explore a career before committing to it. Without this experience, he may have spent a semester or a year at a college in a program he eventually would have realized is not for him." Yet another reason why internships are so important: They help students figure out what they want in a career, but perhaps more importantly what they don't want.

The Future

Instead, Wyatt will be attending UW Platteville studying Criminal Justice and Psychology, with hopes to work in Federal Law Enforcement someday. He hopes to travel and aspires to make a positive change in people's lives. "Although working as an engineer isn’t the path for me, I would recommend it to anyone who is truly passionate about it."

Read part 1 of our Packed With Potential Series: The Accounting Internship Experience