Nearing the halfway point of his summer internship with Garmin, Tate Koziol started reflecting on the experience.
Stepping into the Olathe, Kansas, headquarters of the GPS navigation and wearable company, Koziol felt well-prepared by his coursework in the College of Engineering to hit the ground running. By the same token, he said he’s learned more from working alongside professional computer engineers at Garmin than he can put into words.
“I’m definitely learning a lot, which is the number one thing you could ask from an internship,” Koziol, a junior computer engineering major from Genoa, Nebraska, said. “I’m still using a lot of the skills that I’ve previously learned from classes, but I’m looking forward to using the knowledge I’m getting here when I come back to school.”
Koziol is working with the aviation team at Garmin, using the integrated software skills he acquired from a class he just finished in the spring semester to work on audio panels for integrated GPS systems in helicopters.
Working at their headquarters, he’s living with fellow Garmin interns and enjoying the collaboration and mentorship he’s been able to generate across the aviation team.
“There’s no pressure and it’s a very welcoming environment, which is great because I feel I can always ask questions,” Koziol said. “The code I’m working on will actually be used in their systems, so what I’m working on is real. They’re definitely giving me a fun challenge.”
Working on integrated software for helicopters isn’t the first challenge the company posed to Koziol. To land the internship, he went through a competitive interview process — two verbal interviews and a technical, skill-based interview.
He credits the College of Engineering’s career coach Theresa Luensmann and the broader professional development resources around campus as being instrumental in prepping him for this intensive process.
“I feel like UNL has everything there to prepare people and more people should be using these resources,” he said. “You can schedule appointments for resume checks, have practice interviews — it’s all there. Apparently, if you use them, it seems to work out pretty well.”
Career Services offers a variety of job and internship services for students across campus.
