My First Co-op

Not many get the chance to have 5 semesters of learning, growing, and proving oneself in their desired field all before they graduate. As one of the people who chose to get everything they could from these experiences, starting my first co-op was nervewracking to put it mildly.

My first experience would be as a firmware engineering intern at the Midmark Corporation. Located in Versailles, Ohio (Pronounced Ver-sales), Excited to take a step forward in my career, I was able to gain valuable experience that continues to help me every day at school and my later co-ops.

I cannot say enough good things about my experience while on that first co-op. I was able to work first hand on cloud data acquisition, data analysis, firmware development, and much more. I don't think I have ever learned more in a two week span then I did at Midmark. I went from a novice, 19 year old with minimal programming experience, to learning wiring, linux, AWS, server protocols, technical communication, etc.

Throughout this experience, I aided my mentor with the development of firmware used for the transmission and acquisition of cloud based data. This experience allowed me to get a start into data analysis and visualizations at a professional level. I was also able to work solo on a project given to me by my manager involving firmware for team member use.

Throughout this project, I was able to fully develop and produce multiple firmware devices that were used in the field to troubleshoot products, sensors, potentiometers, etc.

Looking back on this experience, I cannot thank my mentor and manager enough for all that they did and for allowing me to put my time towards impactful projects that had real world results by the time I had returned to Cincy the following semester.

Thank you Michael, Vance, and the team for a great semester and experience!