By Maria Alexander
July 29 is National Intern Day. PG&E Marketing and Communications intern Maria Alexander, who’ll be a sophomore majoring in economics at Cornell University, checked in on some of her fellow interns.
The start of summer usually sends interns throughout California and the United States to start working at PG&E offices and field sites. But for the second consecutive year, many began their assignments by logging on remotely from their residences.
After hiring only 44 interns in 2020 due to pandemic-related complications, PG&E more than doubled the number of interns this year. The company’s University Programs team recruited 109 interns from 43 universities, with 79.8% coming from California institutions.
According to University Programs lead Thomas Manriquez, PG&E’s internship program is a win-win for everyone in two ways. First, interns gain valuable work experience through a variety of projects while adding value to their teams. Second, the interns represent potential future hires for the company.
“The hope is these interns will return next year to be part of another internship or get hired through our Engineer Development Rotation Program,” said Power Generation project engineering manager Joseph Landucci.
This year, Landucci worked with University Programs and hired six summer interns for the first time. Power Generation has been having a hard time filling engineering positions. He’s hoping these six interns will lead to creating a talent pipeline for the future.
“The interns have been eager to get involved and love being out in the field,” said Landucci. “We’ve paired them with engineers to support projects and they’re helping to fill in for engineers when they’re out of the office. They’ve been a big help to our department.”
“Interns provide immediate benefit to lines of businesses by doing essential work throughout the summer. Each intern receives immediate value through hands-on experience, mentoring and building lasting network connections,” said Manriquez. “At the same time, PG&E sees long-term value in terms of workforce development through creating a pipeline of emerging talent to our future workforce.”
Appreciating the Value of Diversity and Inclusion
Duke University graduate student Narissa Jimenez-Petchumrus has experienced a memorable summer working on projects related to the impacts of wildfire smoke on residential solar in the Central Valley.
“Wildfire smoke impacts the financial performance of solar systems and can impact customer bills,” they said. “I’m hoping my project can begin to unpack the implications on our residential customers.”
Narissa Jimenez-Petchumrus
Jimenez-Petchumrus, a public policy and environmental management master’s degree program student working in Clean Energy Programs, has also learned that diversity and inclusion of thoughts are very important when working in energy.
“There are so many different stakeholder groups and collaboration is key. I’ve gained more nuance in my perspective vs. seeing things in strictly good vs. bad binaries regarding energy,” they said. “I’ve also learned the industry is beginning to have conversations around items like representation, environmental justice and equity. I do believe there’s much more room to grow.”
So Much to Learn, So Little Time
Montana State senior Madison Currey’s greatest challenge in working at PG&E is absorbing as much information as possible in a short window of time during team meetings and field visits. Currey, who’s supporting the Research & Development and Innovation group inside of Gas Operations, has learned that active participation, especially in a virtual setting, can address this problem.
Madison Currey
“Taking notes, asking questions, and not being afraid to admit when you don’t know something, are all things I’ve found to be vital to get the most out of your time here,” said Currey, who’s majoring in mechanical engineering.
Feeling Welcomed
University of California at Berkeley junior Subham Dikhit has learned a few things not taught in the classroom: patience and time management.
Dikhit, who’s majoring in data science and cognitive science, has been working on the cost of service team in the Rates department. He realizes “other people have their own projects, so I remained patient” while waiting to get information he needed for his work. Dikhit bided his time while increasing his knowledge by reading materials on his team’s work.
It also helps to have supportive teammates.
“PG&E has such a patient, loving, caring, understanding and fun work environment,” said Dikhit. “My team members were patient with me as I learned and read up on various materials. I always felt like I fit in and despite my limited time as an intern, everyone on my team and others outside the team I interacted with always treated me with the utmost kindness.”
The Importance of Being Flexible
Tiffany Barber, a senior civil engineering major at Fresno State, has learned the importance of flexibility on the job by being asked to take on projects she never expected to be involved in. She realizes her work is “about purpose and not the position.”
Tiffany Barber
“When friends ask how my internship is going, I usually say something like, ‘I really like my colleagues. I love my boss. And I think I have a crush on my employer,’” said Barber, who works on developing and improving formal work standards in Restoration Dispatch and Scheduling. “I’m very aligned with PG&E’s purpose to ‘fix it.’ I’m enticed by the fact that we don’t have all the answers yet. I want to be a part of finding and implementing those solutions.”
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