The connections I made were incredible and I had the opportunity to gain experience in a wide variety of projects. Everyone was so passionate about their roles and the work was incredibly rewarding!
What I wish was different
Advice
Don't be afraid to go out of your way to seek additional projects which you find interesting and exciting, and to meet people on different projects.
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Mechanical Engineering Intern
June - August 2016 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
Excellent meaningful work, with decent autonomy and wonderful mentoring by passionate engineers. Great work-life balance in addition to cool intern-specific company events.
What I wish was different
The stipend that interns receive is on the low end of the payscale for an engineering internship.
Advice
To quote my mentor verbatim, interning for JPL is "like drinking out of a firehose." There will be so much that you learn in such a short amount of time, but it's all worth it.
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Summer Intern
April - August 2018 • Los Angeles, CA
What I liked
The atmosphere is really great. Everyone is friendly, and loves telling you about what they do. There a weekly activities and talks open to both interns and full time employees. Overall a great place to work.
What I wish was different
Nothing
Advice
Be friendly and don't hesitate to reach out to people you find interesting.
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Electrical Engineering Intern
May - August 2018 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
The technical challenges that came with making space probes. Most of the work had several challenges that only outside the box creative solutions could solve
What I wish was different
N/A
Advice
Thinking outside the box can really open the doors to problems that seem daunting
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Engineering Intern
May - August 2018 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
Challenging, got to tour many different labs and meet tons of people.
What I wish was different
Advice
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System Engineer Intern
May - August 2018 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
The community of JPL is so accepting. Everyone would take time out of their day to help me out
What I wish was different
I wish I would have taken the time to network more
Advice
Don’t be afraid to ask questions and speak your mind.
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Finance Intern
May - August 2018 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
The people are very friendly and supportive- great mentoring atmosphere along with tons of opportunities to learn about aerospace!
What I wish was different
Advice
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System Integration and Test Intern
June - August 2018 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
The mission, the work environment, the challenging problems, and the amazing engineers that work at JPL.
What I wish was different
Advice
Be open to learn, ask questions, be curious, seek help, and do not be afraid to speak up!
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Mechanical engineering undergraduate student III
January - August 2018 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
I got to contribute real work and analysis to a large mission.
What I wish was different
Advice
Meet with as many people as you can.
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Intern
June - August 2017 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
Amazing place to learn and grow.
What I wish was different
Advice
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Systems Engineer
May 2018 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
The location in Pasadena was great. There was so much to do on the weekends and I got to experience LA more than I do during the semester. Also, there are hundreds of interns at JPL in the summer so it was easy to make friends and have people to hang out with outside of work.
What I wish was different
I wish that I had been placed in a group that had more interns near me, or had asked for a more collaborative project. I felt like I was doing a lot of work alone in my cube and although I had intern friends having none of them work near me made for some boring days when I didn't have much work assigned.
Advice
JPL is a great place to learn about yourself and the world. Taking advantage of all of the talks and tours that they offer on lab is a key way to figure out whether JPL is a good fit for you. Also, everyone is so willing to talk to you about what they are currently doing and the path that they took to get there, so reach out to people and discover all of the cool things that are going on!
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Research Intern
June - August 2018 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
Flexibility to research topics I want to focus on even if it isn't directly related to the team mission, so long as it can benefit our understanding of the problem space.
What I wish was different
More cross-team interactions would have been nice.
Advice
Make sure to attend talks given by other teams! It's a great resource and space to hear about all the cool stuff happening at JPL.
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Testbed Operator
May - July 2018 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
The culture of the employees, as well as their willingness tos press knowledge about the things their working on and their experiences.
What I wish was different
I wish I could have spent a longer time to really explore all of the different projects JPL had going on.
Advice
The networking opportunity as well as the amount of intelligence in that space is phenomenal., and would recommend anyone to go work there if the opportunity arose.
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Mechanical Engineering Intern
January - June 2019 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
I really enjoyed the culture, everyone was passionate and happy to share their experiences
What I wish was different
Worked with a larger team
Advice
Reach out and talk to as many people as you can
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Mechanical Engineering Intern
June - August 2022 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
I liked the open culture they have there. Everyone was willing to answer questions, show me around, and was very friendly.
What I wish was different
I wish there was not a big difference in pay between interns from the education office versus HR. Otherwise there's not much I would change.
Advice
I would be sure to take notes in a notebook while you are there. It's helpful to document your internship as it is happening in the notebook and with photos so that you can be better prepared for your final presentation. Meet people! Join the coffee-buddies slack channel and talk to folks from all over Lab.
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JPL Earth Science and Technology intern
May 2020 • Los Angeles, CA
What I liked
Great community and support from mentors
What I wish was different
The internship was remote due to COVID-19
Advice
Make sure to form a good connection with your mentor
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Mechanical Engineering Intern
July 2018 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
The culture at JPL is absolutely amazing. Everyone is so willing to help and teach what they know to others. The projects JPL is currently working on are very exciting and there’s no shortage of tasks that covers a wide range of interests.
I was fortunate to be placed on two flight projects: Europa clipper and Mars 2020 serving two different roles. Mars 2020 is currently being built and is much further along in the spacecraft development process while Clipper is just starting to see actual hardware and is still early on in development. Getting to see two different perspectives has been an incredible experience and has taught me a lot about mission planning and systems engineering.
What I wish was different
I wouldn’t change any part of this experience.
Advice
Apply early. Also, believe that you have a chance to be selected because sometimes the biggest barriers are caused by things that aren’t true. I would also suggest getting involved and joining student clubs like SEDS (students for the exploration and development of space) so you can participate in hands-on activities. These experiences really help prepare you for working in the aerospace industry.
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Year long Engineering Intern
May 2020 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
Interning at JPL has been exciting and engaging since the moment I started in 2019. They offer countless opportunities for networking, learning about the lab, meeting other interns, and engaging in technical talks from highly skilled researchers from around the world. There’s no place that merges science and engineering better than at JPL.
What I wish was different
If I could change anything, I would hope that they could increase the wage to something competitive with similar internships in the aerospace field. There is no doubt to the prestige that comes with interning at JPL, but earning a comparable wage to afford rent and living expenses more comfortably would be appropriate.
Advice
If you would like to intern at JPL, which is a prestigious research laboratory, get into research! And get into it early. There’s no better recommendation than prior work experience, especially when it comes to labs like this.
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Engineering undergraduate student
June - August 2022 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
It was cool to see the labs and equipment that NASA uses to prepare for their missions.
What I wish was different
My internship was not in my degree field, so I was unable to apply my knowledge to the experience.
Advice
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Summer Intern
June - August 2023 • Pasadena, CA
What I liked
It was an amazing learning experience, both learning about the industry of NASA as well an introduction to Data and Technology.
What I wish was different
N/A it was a great work environment that had a lot of support for students
Advice
Take advantage of every extracurricular opportunity that they offer. It is such a special place to be and work at.
