Caterpillar Inc.

Machinist

May 2022 - October 2023 • Boonville, MO

What I liked

I enjoyed working with the people that I did. The management was very friendly and helped foster a healthy work environment. Caterpillar really tried to let all levels know what they were contributing to and how their work was valued. Overall I had a great time with this company.

What I wish was different

Caterpillar was good about making decisions quickly but some decisions are made without the machine operator in mind. Although the management is great at helping the workers, they struggled to handle tough situations. Training wasn't always extensive and it caused problems with quality.

Advice

It gave me a fantastic experience as a factory worker. It encouraged me to pursue engineering and it taught me skills that I wouldn't know without it. I loved this job. My advice for you is to just go for it even if it sounds too out of reach.

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Product Support Intern

May - August 2023 • Tucson, AZ

What I liked

Good pay. Received a housing-relocation stipend. Got to learn about a Fortune 500 company and how they are run.

What I wish was different

Wanted to work in the engineering department

Advice

APPLY! Do your best to be proactive and take on as much as you can to learn the most in the role.

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Cooling System Validation Engineering Intern

May - August 2023 • Peoria, IL

What I liked

I felt like the work that I was doing was truly valuable to the company and was not busy work. I was able to gain and develop many new skills, especially those that are essential to validation/testing engineers. I got lots of hands-on experience instrumenting machines and running tests and was rarely behind my computer screen for more than 2-3 hours daily.

What I wish was different

The only thing that I wish had been different was the pace at which I received work. Due to the fact that it is a large company and my role involves working with lots of people, I found myself waiting around on others a lot which made it hard to find work at time.

Advice

The biggest piece of advice that I would share about this experience is that there will be many opportunities for networking and touring other facilities. Make sure you attend as many as possible. You are able to meet lots of new people, not only other interns around your age but full-time employees and managers too. Being able to talk to these people will not only help grow your network but also provide opportunities for internships and full-time jobs in the future.

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Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Order to Delivery Intern

May - August 2023 • Minneapolis, MN

What I liked

The nature of the work was challenging and engaging.

What I wish was different

I wish I would have received more onboarding.

Advice

A return offer should not be expected, be prepared to move to undesirable locations.

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Corporate Intern - Engineering

May - August 2022 • Lafayette, IN

What I liked

I enjoyed that I had the opportunity to work on individual projects with other interns. It was great to work independently and learn many practical aspects of engineering. I liked that the intern program directors planned many informational meetings about what people in different functional areas of the company work on.

What I wish was different

I wish there were more people back in the offices. Many people in my group were still working remotely 80% of the time. This reality was largely dependent on the team I was placed on.

Advice

Take every opportunity to learn. Everyone I met was very happy to help explain things to me, which grew my understanding of corporate business and real world engineering in huge ways.

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Design engineer

February 2022 • Peoria, IL

What I liked

Caterpillar does a wonderful job of giving you experience in diverse roles. They make an effort for their interns to get exposed to different jobs in order to find what is the right career path for themselves.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Warehouse associate

August 2021 • Clayton, OH

What I liked

It was as good as a warehouse job could be. I liked all the overtime and the solid starting pay. Most people are friendly. Good safety rules. Most people, coaches, and team leads are pretty friendly, helpful, and understanding as long as you do your job.

What I wish was different

No mandatory 6 day weeks. Our numbers were legitimately impossible to hit and this made it so CAT never had to give people hardly any money through the gainshare program. These people already don't make enough money, are stuck in warehouse work (which is already miserable enough), mandatory 6 day weeks (not so much anymore since AWS; but for a year it was two 6 day weeks, one 5 day week), HR can barely hide their contempt for you (I don't blame them, though). Who pays for a recession? These people.

Advice

Don't take the place TOO seriously (except for actually doing your job as well as SAFETY). Warehouse work is miserable after a month in my opinion, and I don't think an employer could ever fix that.

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Procurement intern

May - August 2021 • Peoria, IL

What I liked

Connections made

What I wish was different

In person instead of virtual

Advice

Stay organized and timely

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Corporate Accounting Intern

June - August 2020 • Peoria, IL

What I liked

The connections I was able to create and the case study for the company. I was able to learn a lot about upcoming technology and how it fits into the accounting world.

What I wish was different

My work group was not very social so I did not know them well or feel comfortable interacting with them.

Advice

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Welding Engineering Intern

June - August 2020 • Peoria, IL

What I liked

Working on meaningful projects and learning new things.

What I wish was different

I wish it had been in person instead of virtual but other than that it was great.

Advice

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Telecom Engineer

June - August 2019 • Mossville, IL

What I liked

The other interns were great! We all lived together so we spent a lot of our free time together.

What I wish was different

Less travel to/from work. Also not much to do in Peoria.

Advice

Great company experience, lots of opportunity.

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Purchasing Intern

May 2019 • Peoria, IL

What I liked

Great company, and great projects, CAT really challenged the interns which was awesome.

What I wish was different

I would have taken better advantage of the area I was in.

Advice

Go explore on weekends.

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Software Engineering Intern

May - August 2019 • Peoria, IL

What I liked

Great co-workers and opportunities to do real, meaningful work. Fun work environment and lots of opportunities to see and do new things.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Procurement Intern

August 2019 • East Peoria, IL

What I liked

I loved my team, the Procurement Internship program overall, though there were many of us in the program spread across different Caterpillar facilities they offered opportunities for us to engage and do teamwork activities. Also the work kept me busy and I saw how much of an impact I had on the organization.

What I wish was different

I wish that I would have had the opportunity to experience some of the work other interns were doing. Based on what team you were placed with each procurement intern worked on something completely different.

Advice

Ask questions. Network with everyone you come across. And take advantage of every opportunity that is offered.

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Corporate Intern

May - August 2019 • Peoria, IL

What I liked

What I wish was different

Nothing it was great.

Advice

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Communication Intern

May - August 2019 • Peoria, IL

What I liked

I loved getting the experience of working in a large organization and learning the company culture better.

What I wish was different

I wish that I was challenged more and given more difficult tasks the push my knowledge further.

Advice

Get to know all of the employees you work with really well because they can be a great networking tool in the future.

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Mechanical Engineering Intern

May - August 2019 • Tucson, AZ

What I liked

Great work environment and people. Subject matter was very interesting to me and very rewarding.

What I wish was different

Longer internship. It went by really fast.

Advice

Go to every career fair there is.

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Parallel Co-op Engineer

November 2017 • Champaign, IL

What I liked

What I wish was different

Advice

Make sure to ask questions, everyone is willing to help!

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Quality Intern

May - August 2018 • Minneapolis, MN

What I liked

I really enjoyed the ability to make a meaningful difference to the plant where I worked. In addition to being able to make a substantial difference to the processes I was involved in, Caterpillar also provided a lot of resources for all interns, even interns not located in Peoria. They definitely know you are there to learn, and they give you lots of opportunity to learn about what you want to in addition to your standard responsibilities. In addition to professional growth at work, the Corporate Intern Program brings in multiple speakers to teach interns about various topics, from networking and resume-building to personal finance strategies. Working for Caterpillar was a great experience and I highly recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity.