Caleb Williams has made notable achievements in his student career that have paid off due to his determination and practicality. As a mechanical engineering student, he participated in numerous engineering internships and co-ops at big-name companies that allowed him to narrow down his interests and gain the experience he needed to land the right job to start off his career after graduation.
Choosing Engineering at UL Lafayette
The first question Caleb had to figure out was what he wanted to study. He didnt choose engineering for the typical reasons he heard from others making the same choice.
I know what I hear from a lot of people are they're told in school they were good at math, and then their teachers tell them, Hey, you should go do engineering because you're good at math, he said. And while that's great, I think I've seen a lot of my classmates maybe realize that they're good at math but not connect with the purest love of engineering the love for building things.
At a young age, Caleb was exposed to the engineering world, and he found that connection to the core of what engineering is.
The way I came to it was through doing middle school robotics, he said. I was never told in high school that I was good at math particularly because I wasn't the best.
But I learned quickly that I enjoyed competing, building things and solving problems, and that I find, has mapped way better into the core of what engineering is than just solving math problems all day.
Choosing UL Lafayette was as natural as choosing engineering for Caleb, though he took the time to make sure it was the right choice.
I definitely shopped around, he said. I'd say my dream school was probably Georgia Tech, or Texas A&M.
UL Lafayette won that competition by giving him the ability to get involved in research early on.
Every accredited university you're going to take the same classes, Caleb explained. But if you don't get that experience early on, you're going to have trouble differentiating yourself from the thousands of other applicants that apply to internships and other goals.
Beyond the practicality of Calebs choice, attending UL Lafayette proved to be an enriching experience.
I've had an awesome time going to classes, getting to engage with professors, and I've appreciated their mentorship through all the different phases of my college career, he said.
Everyone genuinely cares about your success and wants to see you succeed and are excited to celebrate it.
The support he received came from professors and University leadership alike.
The department head, Dr. Barhorst was super active and hands on with helping me understand my degree plan, he said. And he gave me good advice and helped me understand which classes would be offered when and what to prioritize taking to not needlessly delay my graduation. I'm super grateful to him and his awesome open-door policy that made that possible.
Finding a Niche
Traditionally, an internship has been in the summer and a co-op is in the fall semester, Caleb explained. But they're essentially the same thing just at a different time.
As a student, Caleb completed 5 internships/co-ops at big-name companies from Bayer to Boeing to Tesla. All of which provided experience in different areas, allowing him to find the right fit for his future.
After a research apprenticeship as a freshman, Caleb moved on to internships for mechanical engineering jobs.
- His first internship was as a quality assurance engineer with Boeing. There was a lot of responsibility that goes into being a quality assurance engineer. You have to be very detail oriented, he said.
- Then he tried out an internship at a chemical plant with Bayer. It was good project management experience. It definitely broadened out my resume, so I had more varied experience, he said.
- He returned to Boeing for a tool design engineer internship. Instead of seeing a lot of different issues and trying to figure out what to do with them, I was mainly working on one very detailed CAD design project for the summer, he said.
- He then moved on to a manufacturing role with Tesla. This was by far my favorite job that I ever did, he said. I was looking at over 250 different assemblies in that time and making adjustments and strategy changes that would help the entire product and assembly line to be built better and run more efficiently.
- His final internship was a return to Tesla, after the company restructured a bit. I ended up going back doing the same job, this time on the plastics team, he said. It was a great opportunity to build on the momentum of my previous Tesla internship and drive improvements in build quality and efficiency for the plastics team.
After all of these positions, Caleb had found his niche: manufacturing electric vehicles.
So, with a good idea of where he wanted to start his career and the experience to back him up he embarked on the journey applying for jobs as a graduating senior.
Seeking out Opportunities
Finding opportunities is a task all university students must undertake. Caleb explains that its just a numbers game and theres no reason to get discouraged.
I encourage any young engineer, especially ones without much experience, to go to career fairs, he said. Being able to go and talk to the recruiters at the career fair, show my personality and show some of the soft skills that make me a great employee and a great person to work with definitely aided me before everything I had to show on paper was where I wanted it to be.
However, he also encourages seeking out every avenue of finding opportunities.
I have known a lot of students especially juniors and seniors that hesitate from applying online because they think it won't get them anywhere, he said. And I would just tell them that's not true, even though my first couple internships were from career fairs, my job at Tesla came from just applying online.
And even after that, the jobs and the interviews that I got for my full-time jobs, all of those are just online applications, he said. So do whatever you can to stack the deck in your favor.
Show up in person to career fairs before you have a lot of experience, but also you can just play the numbers game and roll the dice, and oftentimes you'll be surprised about how many people will reach out to you.
I think one thing that's become my mantra throughout all of these internships and all my experiences is hard work always pays off over a long enough time frame, he said. I probably filled out close to 500 applications in the course of all these internships and jobs I've applied to, and I haven't heard back from the majority of them.
I would just encourage all students, regardless of discipline, just keep working hard, keep showing up and engaging with difficult problems, and you're definitely going to see the dividends and the payoff of that.
Ready for the Future
With so many internships under his belt, Caleb felt ready with his mechanical engineering degree in hand. The offer he ended up accepting was highly inspired by his favorite internship and his personal ethos.
The company I ended up signing with was Lucid Motors, which is an EV startup in the San Francisco Bay Area, he said. It's the exact same job title as my first Tesla internship.
It was great for them that I worked at the biggest player in the industry and their biggest competitor in some sectors, and that made it possible for them to bring me on as a young engineer to this team, he said. Lucid makes some of the longest range and most efficient electric vehicles on the market. Im excited to be joining such a promising young company.
As for his longer-term plans, Caleb likes to keep a healthy amount of we'll see in mind while also staying practical.
Generally, I'll say that it's really important to me that I'm continuing to grow throughout my career, he said. I'm committed to staying in a role as long as I'm growing, but I'm always open to exploring new companies or industries for the right opportunity.
As I advance in my career, I aim to grow into a management role at Lucid or apply my expertise at a legacy manufacturing company. I envision leading a team of manufacturing engineers to tackle complex challenges, and eventually, I aspire to become Head of Manufacturing at a major corporation, he said.
Learn more about student jobs and internships with UL Lafayettes Career Services.
Learn more about mechanical engineering at UL Lafayette.
