Jason Delosrios and Jonathan Torres have no doubt they will land great jobs after they graduate from the University of Central Florida this year.<\/p>\n
Both students have impressive resumes thanks to the International Engineering minor they are completing.<\/p>\n
Delosrios, of Sunrise, Fla., spent a semester studying engineering in Brazil in 2010 and then accepted a full-time internship as an electrical engineer at a utility company there.<\/p>\n
Torres, of Clermont, earned a summer internship in Germany in 2010 thanks to his engineering experience in Spain in 2009.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I interviewed for an internship before being placed in the Germany program, I had some potential employers tell me that it really set me apart,\u201d Torres said. \u201cI think the minor really sets you apart, and you need that today to get a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s exactly what UCF engineering professors and industry leaders are saying. Engineering has become transnational, a trend at least a decade in the making. Universities are catching on and are offering programs that expose their students to engineering and cultural practices in other countries. And that\u2019s setting those graduates up for great job offers at a time when many firms are scaling back.<\/p>\n
\u201cEngineering science doesn\u2019t change across borders,\u201d said Avelino Gonzalez, a professor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science who is leading the International Engineering minor at UCF. \u201cBut the practice of engineering does.\u00a0 How people communicate and how they approach a problem — that\u2019s different in every country.\u00a0 Knowing how to work with people and how to approach them, that\u2019s something that studying abroad can really teach our students, and that\u2019s golden for employers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most Fortune 500 engineering firms have a strong global presence and actively recruit employees with international experience.<\/p>\n
Jacobs Engineering has 160 offices in 27 countries. Siemens, which has a strong local presence but is based in Germany, employs 405,000 people in 190 countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be player in today\u2019s fast-paced global business world, you must walk in many different shoes to understand how and why people act like they do,\u201d said Craig A. Weeks, CEO of the Fossil Power Generation Service at Siemens Energy, Inc.<\/p>\n
The international experience provides an edge, he added.<\/p>\n
Ben Abbott, a corporate fellow at Apopka-based TriQuint Semiconductor, agrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking overseas had a profound impact on me, \u201che said. \u201cI’ve since become an eager participant in cooperation with foreign colleagues in both Europe and Asia. This cooperation has yielded significant benefits for myself, those I worked with and my company.\u201d<\/p>\n