Mechanical engineering student passionate about ID!

Design Discussions design employment
1

Hello,

I am currently in the last year of a mechanical engineering degree (5th year) with an emphasis on ID.
I always wanted to be an IDer but since the ID programs in France are very expensive for the content (it’s what I heard at this time) I went to this University straight after High-school because it is a very well-known program in France (and abroad) for engineering (The Uni is called University of Technology of Compiegne (UTC) ) and they said there was an ID specialization…and I am pretty disappointed…it’s in fact just engineers playing with some CAD programs and trying to do some ID-related things. (I don’t want to offense any engineer, it’s a very good job and next year I’ll get an Engineer diploma!)

However, during my education I tried to always keep in touch with Industrial design, ie. reading books about design and design process, learning sketching, rendering, photoshop, illustrator, hypershot, etc… and I was finally accepted last year at Carleton university in Ottawa, Canada, for a 6-month exchange programm. I went there, that was the best experience of my life! After that, I was accepted at Volkswagen AG group, Wolfsburg, Germany for a 6-months internship. During this internship I made a project mixing engineering and ID and that was another great experience. (you can see a little bit of this work in my folio).

Now I have to find my graduation internship, and I really want to do it in an ID company. I am ready to go anywhere in the world : I will apply in the USA, Canada, Australia, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan,…
I built a portfolio, trying to demonstrate how I think and work. Here is the link : http://www.coroflot.com/edoumess

I have to do my resume and cover letters, but I am wondering : Should I be honest, saying that I don’t really have an ID background, and I am more a kind of self-taught person, wishing to learn everything possible about ID during this internship? Or should I not insist on this fact, and saying that I have an ID background with more mechanical knowledge?

I really hope to be considered by some firms and maybe find an internship, but I don’t really know if I have a chance…I read that a lot of firms are interested in engineers with some ID notions, but I dont know : do you think it is true?

Any comments, suggestions, advice about my portfolio are welcome, and even if a potential recruiter for an internship read this and is interested in my profile, please feel free to contact me! (I still have to upload my resume on coroflot)

Thanks!

Edouard

2

Well, I think you have a pretty competitive portfolio. Your school program has a "specialization: in ID and you did do a 6 month exchange with Carlton, and even had a combined experience internship. I think your mix of skills could be very valuable. I would list in your education section of you resume or CV that you have a degree in engineering with a specialization in ID and also of course mention Carlton. Just call it what it is, because that in fact makes you unique.

3

Thanks a lot for your answer Mr Di Tullo!

I’m really pleased to see it. I was just wondering if the word “engineer” in my CV wouldn’t lead to a “direct jump in the dustbin”
due to this little fight between engineers and designers…anyway, I’ll finish my resume and do some covers letters to send my work, and see what happens…