NV5 is a Technical Engineering and Consulting company with offices nationwide. In the summer of 2021, I was hired as an Engineering Intern, with a focus on HVAC. I commuted to the office in Boston, MA (about an hour and a half away from my hometown) working 8 AM – 5 PM Monday-Friday.
During my time at NV5, I calculated thermal load cases using software called Hourly Analysis Program, selected HVAC equipment for various projects nationwide, and designed ductwork in AutoCAD and Revit. In addition, each week I attended “lunch and learns” with representatives from Trane (an HVAC manufacturing company) to become more familiar with the equipment I was selecting.
The most exciting part of the job, however, was site visits. Accompanied by a full-time HVAC engineer, I would travel to construction sites around the Boston area to confirm that every piece of equipment was installed correctly and that all code specifications were met.
That summer, I learned valuable lessons of professionalism in engineering that I never could have learned in a classroom setting. In addition, as I was working on a computer all day, my computer skills saw drastic improvement. I improved my skills in Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe products, AutoCAD, etc.
Although I walked away from the internship knowing that HVAC Engineering was not the career path I wanted to pursue, it was a valuable experience that I am grateful I had the opportunity to do.