Mechanical Engineering Internship Story: Harvest Midstream

Dylan Taylor

Mechanical Engineering

What company did you intern with and where are they located?

Harvest Midstream in Houston, TX

How did you identify and apply for your internship? Are there any specific resources you used to find the opportunity (i.e. Handshake, career fairs, other recruitment events)?  

I found Harvest Midstream and Table talk that they hosted in Brown Kopel, I met one of the VP's of operations and spoke to him about my interest in oil and gas. I then attended a Lunch & Learn with him and the CEO of the company. Finally, I attended the career fair and got an interview with the company.

What was the application process like?

Online application and in person interview at career fair.

Tell us about your internship experience. What types of tasks and projects did you engage in? Was there a particular project or part of the experience you learned the most from?

My project allowed me to reach every aspect an engineer would be exposed to. I was presented a project outline that prompted me to optimize the most crucial pipeline in the TX system. I was able to utilize fluid mechanics and other advanced physics principals to find inefficiencies and eventually solutions to these problems. I was exposed to many different things in the oil industry including drilling rigs, surveying, pigging, and much more. I also got the opportunity to scope, develop, and create a cost estimate for a project. Overall my experience was one of a kind truly and I feel as though the work I did will actually be utilized which allows for satisfaction.

In what ways did this internship help you prepare for your next destination after Auburn?

This experience was a true introduction to the petroleum industry which is where I hope to land post graduation. It also opened my eyes to my interest in the business side of things which will hopefully lead to me coming back Auburn one day to complete an MBA program.

In what ways did your coursework or other experiences at Auburn prepare you for your internships? Are there specific topics or skills you learned from classes that you put into practice on the job?

I would say that the coursework I learned at Auburn, although not directly applicable to the work I did, helped me develop and practice critical thinking skills that without a doubt helped me solve some of these problems. One specific topic that I actually learned the previous semester was current, I utilized the idea and nature of current in one of my main projects that ended up identifying a cost savings opportunity of up to $25k annually.