Using Co-op To Find an Ideal Career Path
Co-ops at GE Aviation, Harvard Apparatus, and Te.sla Motors helped Clare Cashen, E’16, mechanical engineering, discover her career interests and aspirations. Today, she is a product assurance engineer at Rolls Royce, while pursuing a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Purdue University.
In the years since her graduation, Clare Cashen, E’16, mechanical engineering, has led a successful career, but it was not always clear that this was the field she wanted to pursue. Cashen was passionate about math in high school, but she was unsure how to apply these passions outside of academia, at one point considering a degree in cryptology. Her grandfather, an electrical engineer, guided her down the engineering path.
Entering Northeastern unsure of what she would do with her degree after graduation, co-op allowed Cashen to explore the industry and decide where her interests lie through hands-on experience. In her first co-op, Cashen was exposed to the aviation industry, which ignited her passion for the field. Even in positions she was not as passionate about, Cashen learned valuable technical skills she would use in future positions while gaining additional technical experience.
“The co-op is an excellent opportunity to dip your toe across the fields,” says Cashen. “None of that experience goes to waste.”
Cashen was the first of three granddaughters to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps and pursue a career in engineering. Looking for a line of work that relied more on physicality and less on advanced sciences, she decided to pursue mechanical engineering as opposed to electrical. “I need to see things move to understand how they work,” Cashen says.
While applying to college, Northeastern stood out due to its city location and distance from Cashen’s hometown of Chicago. She was not fully aware of the co-op program until her first-year orientation and was initially intimidated by the implication of having to find and work a full-time job during her undergraduate program. However, she recognized how beneficial co-op would be to her career.
“With good guidance, if you get to graduate with experience, you’re head and shoulders above the rest of your peers,” says Cashen. “That was a big deal.”
Before starting her co-op journey, Cashen completed a summer internship as a research and development intern at railcar pooling company TTX, where she assisted with data processing and force testing on their brake system. Having already completed one work experience before her first co-op helped ease Cashen’s nerves and make her more confident going into her role.
Cashen’s first co-op was at GE Aviation, where she worked as a member of the tubing department. The position exposed Cashen to the functions and procedures within a manufacturing plant. Through her work on a process capability study, Cashen became familiar with Six Sigma, the standardized methodologies companies worldwide use to improve process management and efficiency.
GE Aviation also marked Cashen’s first experience in the aviation industry. She credits her co-op there for sparking a budding interest in the field, which she has since explored in her postgrad career.
“It really clicked in this role,” says Cashen. “It made me realize aviation is a much bigger industry than I realized and that there are a lot of products and research and development opportunities I thought were interesting.”
For her second co-op, Cashen wanted to explore the industry further and sought roles that would offer her a different experience than her role at GE Aviation. She found this at Harvard Apparatus, where she worked as a mechanical designer on a team researching medical devices. Her role at Harvard Apparatus exposed her to drafting and allowed her to test designs she had drawn or prototype them using early 3D printing technologies. While working on a design for a new pump, Cashen became acquainted with electronics work, which would help her on her final co-op.
Cashen took on another mechanical design position for her third co-op, this time working at Tesla Motors. Building off her initial exposure to electronics, Cashen worked in Tesla’s energy department on the PowerPack, a scaled-up version of their battery-powered PowerWall generator intended for industrial use. The role gave Cashen a more advanced understanding of electronics, requiring her to account for factors such as voltage or amperage in her designs. She also gained additional experience in testing her designs.
Reflecting on her experience at Tesla, Cashen admits it did not take long to realize she was unsatisfied with her responsibilities. “I had figured out that Tesla was a super cool place to work, but I didn’t like what I was doing,” says Cashen. “I didn’t think design was for me.”
All three of Cashen’s co-op roles were integral in helping her figure out what future roles would suit her best. Her positive experiences in a manufacturing role at GE Aviation compared to her lack of enjoyment in design roles at Harvard Apparatus and Tesla gave her an informed idea of what positions would be a good match for her while applying to postgrad jobs in her final year at Northeastern. This saved Cashen from discovering her interests in a long-term position, allowing her to find a role that brings her enjoyment right out of the gate.
“After Tesla, I knew I didn’t want to do design,” says Cashen, “so I approached anything in testing and manufacturing.”
Cashen’s search led her to Honda Manufacturing, where she took an opportunity as a quality engineer for mass production. She expanded her role over six years, working in buzz, squeak, and rattle testing before reviewing different iterations of prototyped designs as a product engineer. Today, Cashen is back in aviation as a product assurance engineer at Rolls Royce, enforcing quality standards while consulting workers on the assembly floor. She is also pursuing a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Purdue University.
In her postgraduate roles, Cashen has expanded her skillset through exposure to industry standards and technical practices. However, she still relies on the formative lessons learned during her co-ops.
“Especially with GE, I have a new appreciation for the stuff I did while I was there,” says Cashen. “It’s been cool to realize that none of what I learned on co-op goes to waste.”