Caterpillar Inc.

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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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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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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Mechanical Engineer

June 2019 - May 2020 • Peoria, IL

What I liked

The People and projects were great

What I wish was different

More long term projects since continued working remotely

Advice

This is a great way to meet people and get a good network built for a future career at Caterpillar

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Strategy Intern

May - July 2019 • Singapore, Central Region

What I liked

The experience was incredible. The culture and environment were beautiful, and I felt like I had a truly immersive experience.

What I wish was different

My role was primarily logistics, so I sent a lot of emails from a desk all day. It wasn't the "strategy" internship I was looking for, but it was good to experience an office job.

Advice

If you are going abroad for 9 weeks, make a plan with your family. The time differences and communication limitations were hurdles to overcome, and I can guarantee that unless you're used to being away from your friends and family for so long, you'll get homesick.

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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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Air-Systems Parallel Co-op

June 2019 • Peoria, IL

What I liked

Meeting people, the learning experience, and how friendly everyone is.

What I wish was different

More team work on projects

Advice

If you treat yourself and think of yourself as more than an intern, you're likely to be treated like more than an intern.

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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.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Data Analyst Intern

May 2018 • Champaign, IL

What I liked

Flexible hours, great learning opportunity, lots of freedom, decent pay

What I wish was different

Advice

Be authentic, they can tell when you're not

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Product Development Intern

May - August 2018 • Aurora, IL

What I liked

Caterpillar provided many professional development opportunities from networking with senior leaders in the company to special speakers and sessions on resumes, linkedin, sustainability, etc. I also liked the mentor program and the travel to other Caterpillar facilities.

What I wish was different

I wish I would've been given more challenging projects and had less downtime.

Advice

One piece of advice to incoming Caterpillar intern is to make the most of all the professional development opportunities offered, and ask for more projects if it's feeling slow.

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