Electrical and computer engineering recent graduate Ahmod Riddick wrapped up his final semester with a co-op with GE Aerospace at their Avionics headquarters. 

He was first accepted into GE’s Edison Engineering Development Program (EEDP), a two-year leadership program with three eight-month rotations, and was able to turn that into a co-op experience. He’s held two other internship positions and worked in three different research labs in his time as an undergraduate student. 

Riddick shares his experience participating in a co-op and offers advice for landing an internship. 

College of Engineering: What organization are you interning for? 

Ahmod Riddick: The organization I’m currently interning with is GE Aerospace at their Avionics headquarters in Grand Rapids, MI. GE Aerospace was originally a division of General Electric, and it officially became its own separate company in April 2024. 

COE: What does your average workday look like?   

AR: An average day for me starts with driving to the office, where I usually work on cybersecurity for embedded systems. That includes things like system architecture, communication protocols, hardware integration, reading standards, and feature engineering on Large Language Models (LLM). 

COE: What do you enjoy most about your internship? 

AR: I get the opportunity to work with the research department, helping develop new, cutting-edge technology for our customers. 

COE: How did you learn about this internship opportunity and prepare for the application process? 

AR: After seeing the Leaders Innovating Flight for Tomorrow (L.I.F.T.) Summit on LinkedIn, I applied for it. The L.I.F.T. Summit is a recruiting event that GE Aerospace hosts every year to offer internships and full-time jobs. The application process starts in the spring and includes two written papers and one video interview. If you are selected, they fly you out to GE Aerospace headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio for three days in July. During the trip, they explain more about the company, and food and housing are provided. At the end of the three days, you have a one- to two-hour interview for your position. They usually send out offers within two weeks of the interview. Since I was graduating in December, I interviewed for the EEDP program for electrical engineers. 

P.S. If you get invited to the L.I.F.T. Summit, there is a good chance you will get the job! 

My situation for securing my co-op was a little unique. I was first accepted into the EEDP for new graduates. While in the program, they will give you the opportunity to pursue your master’s degree, which is fully covered by the company. After I got the offer, I asked if I could do a co-op with the company for my last semester, and they were able to make it happen. 

COE: What courses do you feel most prepared you for your internship?   

AR:  

ECE 1111: This is a beginner computer science course for electrical engineers where we learned programming languages such as Python and C/C++. One of the most important things I learned from this class was becoming comfortable with not immediately knowing the answer and learning how to use available resources to find solutions. 

ECE 3612: This class was very helpful in teaching me about hardware and software architecture. It covered topics such as C and assembly languages and how they interact with I/O ports and memory. We also learned about memory addressing modes, stack operations, arithmetic and logic operations, subroutine calls, input/output interfacing, interrupts, timers, pulse-width modulation, analog-to-digital conversion, and stepper motor control. 

ECE 3622: This course focused on embedded system design using FPGAs. It covered topics such as multitasking, real-time operating systems (FreeRTOS), and analog-to-digital conversion. 

ECE 4612: This was a great class that helped me understand the fundamentals of computer design and the hardware/software interface. Topics included computer performance, methods to improve performance, pipelining, parallel processing, and memory hierarchy and performance. 

Other classes, such as Digital Circuit Design, Robotic Control using ROS, and Introduction to Mobile Robotics, were also valuable. These courses gave me hands-on experience with embedded systems and strengthened my overall understanding of hardware and software integration. 

COE: How do you think you’ve grown as an engineer during your internship? 

AR: I’ve learned a lot more about embedded systems, industry standards, and the technologies commonly used in the field. It’s helped me see what areas I need to focus on when I review and practice at home so I can get better. 

COE: What advice do you have for students trying to secure an internship or who may be starting an internship for the first time? 

AR: My strategy for securing internships is basically mass applying. I apply all year round. On average, I’d say I applied at least 70 times a week. I also try to take advantage of any chance to talk to recruiters at career fairs or club events.  

If you can’t get an internship, I would try working in a research lab at your university. I had the chance to work in multiple research labs, and it really helped me when I was trying to get an internship.