Delilah Coe, who is a senior majoring in Experience Architecture with a minor in Graphic Design, gained experience working as a Product Design Intern for General Motors Co. during her sophomore and junior years and is looking forward to graduating this spring. She wrote about these internships in the following Q&A that originally was published by the Excel Network.
What was your internship role and responsibilities?
I was a Product Design Intern in the Customer Experience Design Studio at GM my sophomore year and worked on two projects: GM confidential and developing a concept and a user interface for a project GM designed with Lockheed Martin for the NASA Artemis III Mission. The Artemis III project, though related to GM, was not for a released product. I had full creative freedom on this project and was able to talk with the actual designers and engineers of the rover. My junior year I was a Product Design Intern within Enterprise Customer Experience on the In Vehicle Team, and the project I was working on is completely confidential.
How did you obtain your internship?
I applied before the end of fall semester during my sophomore year but got rejected. Fortunately, a candidate fell through for the internships and GM reached out to me for a Zoom interview in February. I got my offer very close to the date the internship started in May. I applied directly through GM and sought out the internship on my own. My dad works for GM, and my brother also had an internship there that he enjoyed, which encouraged me to apply.
What did your daily routine include?
The internship my sophomore year was completely remote with only a few in-person days throughout the entire internship. There was a set schedule just like a 9-to-5 job and time to do projects in between meetings. My junior year internship I worked full-time in person three days a week and remote the other two days. I was able to make a lot of connections throughout the company and my team leveraged their connections to help me expand my network in design. There were four other interns with whom I had weekly check-ins, but I didn’t collaborate with them directly.
What was your favorite experience from the internship?
Overall having the professional experience and connections was the best part. It gave me experiences that school never could, although my projects are great, being in a professional environment helped me grow. My sophomore year internship was very overwhelming and empowering at the same time because of my ability to have full creative freedom on the NASA project but with little direction.
What skills did you learn and/or build upon during your internship?
I learned and put into practice the design thinking process: research, prototyping, design, ideation. I also developed my professionalism and networking skills.
What did you learn about your career path as a result of the internship?
This internship definitely made me realize that I would love to be in the auto industry because of the flexibility within it, especially with UX design where you can work on a wide variety of online resources that benefit both consumers and workers, in addition to the entire car interface itself. While I’m excited about this possibility, I’m still open to exploring other industries within UX design.
What are your future plans?
I am open to anything in the UX design industry, so I’m considering different locations rather than focusing on a specific job title.
What advice do you have for other students seeking internships?
Apply, apply, apply. Don’t stop applying because you never know what you’re going to end up with. Make sure your portfolio is up-to-date and try to do work outside of school. It is all about your portfolio, mindset, and how many places you apply. Also, don’t be afraid to reach out to people on LinkedIn.
