Los Medanos College staff work hard to build relationships with local employers, so that students have access to great jobs. In addition to information sessions and career fairs, LMC develops high-quality, paid internships with premier employers.
In Fall 2021, Los Medanos College once again had three students participate in an Instrumentation internship at East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD). For 12 weeks, the students worked alongside EBMUD staff, putting their classroom skills to use in real-world settings. Zabit Darwish, an Electrical & Instrumentation Technology (ETEC) major, said, “I really enjoyed my time at EMBUD as an Instrument Technician Intern. Overall it was a great, hands-on experience. The staff at EBMUD were really welcoming and they treated me just like I was one of them.”
As a student completing an internship, you are much more likely to be successful in classes. Seeing and applying class concepts in the field not only makes lessons more understandable, but it also helps you ask better questions and get more value from subsequent classes. You will also be better prepared to choose meaningful electives and ultimately decide how far to pursue your education. Interns at LMC also register to earn academic credits for their internship without having to attend another class, helping them complete an associate degree sooner!
From a career development perspective, internships certainly allow you to put important experience on your resume, but they also do much more. They let you experience a company from the inside and build networking connections, so you can decide if that is where you want to apply for a regular job. They can also introduce you to similar jobs that may be an even better fit for you. By confirming that you are studying the right field (or helping you pivot to a better one), internships help make sure that your education aligns to your career. In fact, an analysis of data on LMC graduates showed with statistical significance that finding employment in your field of study is positively impacted by completing an internship. That finding also held true for Zabit. “At the end of the internship, I was confident and ready to start work at a company,“ he said, and he has already accepted a job offer from a biomedical company in South San Francisco!
Want a great experience like Zabit?
Contact your department faculty or LMC Career Services.