How Internships Help Candidates Get Desired AEC Jobs

If you are a fresher and looking for a job, you may have to deal with the challenge of ‘no work experience’. Well, the only way to rectify that is to get some work experience. The main issue, however, is to find someone willing to offer you a job.

An internship is one way for that to happen. Recruiters prefer candidates with a resume that includes an internship that will benefit the employer. An internship completed over summer vacation can decide if you even get that interview call, emphasising its importance.

So, what makes an internship so important?

It is a door to the real world:An internship program gives you direct experience in the job market. It allows students to gain first-hand knowledge by working on projects and improving technical skills that go beyond theoretical knowledge gained at college or university. It gives students an idea what to look forward to when they work in the corporate environment.

Understanding yourself better:The experience gained at an internship will enable you to understand what your strengths and weaknesses are. It also gives you insight into the tasks you are interested in and will help you decide what type of job would suit your interests.

Get better at networking:Working as an intern gives you an opportunity to mingle with like-minded professionals. When you exchange information, you build connections that can play a vital role in your professional career. Timothy Butler, a professor of Harvard Business School, rightly said, ‘The biggest mistake that people make networking is that people don't do it.’Get your resume/CV noticed:There could be a thousand job applications for the same job per day. Besides getting your resume noticed, an internship might be that one ticket that gives you an opportunity to have a face-to-face interview with the employer.

In the AEC (architecture, engineering, construction) industry, the value of an internship is far more important than just acquiring an architectural degree, as it provides candidates with much-needed work experience before applying for a job. As BIM (Building Information Modelling) is becoming increasingly popular in the process of construction worldwide, hiring candidates who understand its process in detail will help employers save time training new team members for projects.

Construction processes have undergone a significant transformation since the inception of BIM. This is because BIM has made the process of construction more efficient, accurate and collaborative. It provides architects, contractors and engineers a common platform to acquire LEED data and conduct analysis on green buildings. Architectural internship courses are designed to train individuals to understand BIM and its use in the construction process across a project’s life cycle.

Architectural BIM internships are divided into several modules and are conducted over a period of 4 to 6 months. The main concepts covered in this internship include:

• BIM Process & LOD Concepts• Schematic Drawing• 2D Designing• Site & Conceptual Design• Digital Prototyping of 3D Architectural Models• Detail Modelling, Digital Prototyping of 3D Structural Models• Basic Modelling, Digital Prototyping of 3D MEP Models• Basic Modelling, Analysis• Energy, Lighting & Solar Study• 4D Construction• Simulation, 3D Spatial Interference Analysis• Clash Test, Bill of Quantities (BOQ)• Estimation• Good for Construction (GFC) Documentation• Document Sets, As-built• Team Collaborating with Autodesk 360

One key module of an architectural BIM internship is LOD 350. Level of development 350, or LOD 350, is a crucial stage of the entire BIM process, where coordination comes into the picture. Visualisation of possible clashes and solving them in real time gives the team a very efficient method to improve coordination among multiple building systems. Here we can schedule the entire project by specifying an estimate time and also link the geometry to times and dates for 4D simulation. An internship program will cover such key modules in detail, giving you first-hand experience about the actual process involved in a construction project.

Several CAD/BIM institutes offer professional architectural internship courses. The main aim should be to enroll in the right course that provides exposure to industry-based projects and offers relevant course material and practical sessions. An internship can help a candidate’s eligibility for a job, and a course that offers an opportunity to work with real-time projects gets an individual acquainted with industry terms and work processes. Additionally, employers save training costs before assigning a project to a team member.

Prabhat Singh heads Grey Edge, a leading Autodesk Revit MEP Training Centre in Mumbai. Prabhat has been instrumental in designing many types of curriculum related to domains, such as architecture, interior design and web designing and development.