Shah: One of the reasons I landed this internship is the annual Architecture Virtual Career Fair. All architecture students should attend the fair, and work with Elaine Chow. I booked meeting after meeting with her to review my portfolio. When she couldn’t meet me in person, she made time for me over email. Even for final-stage edits, she caught even the smallest errors. She gives the best guidance on how to improve your portfolio, the kind that makes your portfolio and resume stand out. 

Yevin: Last summer, after my sophomore year, I worked at OAMS Architectural Design, which is a small firm. I had every intention of returning to work for them this year. Then, Elaine Chow made a posting on UB Learns about a position at HDR. It happened to be in transportation design, which I have always had an interest in (as a little kid, I always liked to stand on the Long Island Rail Road platforms and look up at the trains going by). I wanted to learn more about what the position was about, so I connected with the contact on the listing. She got back to me right away and mentioned the position would focus on design for New York City transit stations. That was it – I knew this was the right fit for me. So, I scheduled a Zoom call and spent that time talking with her about the industry. That’s when I learned she’s the hiring manager. She later told me I stood out in the process because I reached out and showed a passion for the field. I also liked the firm’s six-block distance from Penn Station in midtown Manhattan, which I’d be commuting to every day from my hometown on Long Island.

Shah: There were three summer interns at the firm, and we each worked on a different project with a specific project team. I worked on the lobby and exterior plaza for a mixed-used high-rise redesign in the Financial District. The good thing about MdeAS is they don’t see you just as an intern, but also want to know how you would approach the design, both in response to the team’s ideas, and even just based on the project’s guidelines. The design partner would give me sketches, and I had to create variations and offer ideas on what else could be done. I also had the chance to work on the scope deck for a client meeting. I was involved in every project meeting, working with the team on markups and attending Zoom meetings with the client. I also had the experience of working on another client’s request to install a billboard on the side of their building near Penn Station. We had to collect data on pedestrian traffic, look at precedents in the area, and show that the billboard wouldn’t have a negative impact on the streetscape in order to get permission from the courts. This required me to work closely with the MdeAS’s project manager as well as the firm’s legal team.

Yevin: I focused on one project over the course of the internship – redesigning transit stations across the city for ADA compliance. I’m a very technical and analytical person, and transportation design is definitely geared more toward the engineering side. My role was to clean up and adjust drawings based on the project team’s markups in Bluebeam [a collaborative software for design and construction], reforming ramps, staircases and elevators to make them more accessible. I was calculating slopes at one point to make sure they reached the five percent mark. I got to sit in on client meetings, where I saw some of my renderings presented. Large firms like HDR have more resources than smaller firms. For instance, they have an AutoCAD specialist who I could reach out to whenever I had a question. I was also able to teach myself basic REVIT skills because of the expertise they have at the firm.

Shah: I really enjoyed the work culture at MdeAS. They are very relaxed, while at the same time having high expectations for the work. They give priority to life outside the office, with plenty of social events and networking opportunities. And when you are in the office, everyone is supportive, friendly, and available to help, from the design partners, to directors, to senior architects, to junior architects. The director of the office would come by my desk every day not only to offer advice on my projects, but also to discuss what I want to do with my future and to hear what I think about architecture and the profession in general. They are one of the finest, most cooperative teams I have ever worked under. They also pushed me in every aspect. There were days I worked from 8 am to 6:30 or 7 pm, not because they expected it, but because the firm makes you feel like family and want to push harder. In fact, I got emotional when they had their farewell for the interns, because the connection with everyone was so pure and natural.

Shah: This internship helped me gain a lot of connections, not just architecture-wise, but also in terms of having mentors to guide you in life. The firm’s senior director, Daniela Doneva Petrusev, was one of those people. She supported me in every manner. She also has an international background and would talk to me about what it’s like to be an international student and how to find firms supportive of international students. She also looked at my portfolio and resume and gave me advice on how to improve them. I am still in touch with her today and have been keeping her updated as I start my graduate studies at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Just through three months of working with the firm, I have built connections that will last. I was told by the firm directors at the end of the experience that the doors are always open to me now. I can even work there as an intern over the winter or next summer. The project managers and project team members I worked with told me to stay in touch and that they are ready to offer referrals whenever I need them.

Yevin:  The internship is all about what you make of it. HDR has so much diversity in terms of the people who work there. Whenever I had a chance to talk with someone from a different section of the firm, I took it. For instance, one of the people on my floor was working on toll plaza design, which I found interesting. The person who sat next to me had more than 20 -years of experience in the industry; I spent a lot of time talking with him about my career path. I also had section leaders, some of whom have more than 40 years of experience in the industry across various firms, as resources on what they believe makes a good asset to the team and steps I can take to build my reputation in the industry. HDR also assigned me a mentor who went to the University of Pennsylvania, which is one of the schools I’m looking at for graduate school.  A recent architecture intern at the firm, who is now a full-time staff member at HDR, served as a source of advice on coming back to HDR in the future and logging NCARB hours.

Shah: Do as much networking as possible. Try to learn as much as you can from your connections and mentors, because they have been doing this for a very long time. Learn from the experience and go in with an open mind, accepting whatever comes your way. For me, that was everything from the laws and regulations in our field, to understanding the firm’s design thinking, and even becoming familiar with the words and messages they use to present to clients. That maters a lot in our field – how you express your ideas and convey them to clients.   

Yevin: Take advantage of personal connections rather than just cold emailing places. Look for positions and industries that you want to be in – don’t just apply for an internship to get an internship. Also, don’t be afraid to reach out and ask questions. Start as early as you can in the program with internships so you can take in as many different firm environments as possible. In fact, I studied abroad during my first year in the program because I knew I wanted to use my summers for internships.