By Catherine Borg
This past summer, I worked as a field intern for G2 Consulting Company at their Ann Arbor office. G2 is
a geotechnical company that specializes in soils, concrete, and other materials used in construction and
foundations. As an intern, I was responsible for attending different job sites and testing materials for the
contractor, whether that be concrete, asphalt, sand, limestone, or clay. I learned how to use a nuclear
moisture/density gauge, conduct field tests for concrete, how to determine if asphalt is safe to use, and
countless other experiences. My original goals for this project were to learn, connect, and utilize it to find
out more about my plans for the future. I believe that my time at G2 was highly beneficial and followed
my initial goals, as it taught me things I had never even considered learning before, connected me to
co-workers and engineers who had useful experiences, and helped me expand my knowledge of my future
goals.
I did face challenges in this position, however. The most difficult part for me was polishing up my
confrontational and conversational skills. As a field technician, we were responsible for finding the client
and contractor, informing them of who we are, what we are here to do, if they needed anything other than
what they had called us for, and sharing our test results with them. In the beginning, I struggled with this
because there were no written directions on how to approach the people in charge. I often found it a bit
intimidating or awkward to start a conversation with someone who I suspected to be a foreman or client
representative. I also had a hard time on certain days with the tests themselves. When a test fails, we are
obligated to inform the client or contractor representatives. Oftentimes, they are not very excited to adjust
the work they had already done, and I am not very excited to wait for them to finish again. I found myself
anxious that someone would get mad at me for their failing tests at times, or that I was doing something
wrong.
Despite my difficulties, I did find that my leadership skills came out better than they did before this
internship. I learned how to be the one to speak first, to ask the questions, and to give the important
information. I learned how to write reports that would be returned to the clients, to approach the people in
charge, and to relay information back to my bosses with confidence. The most prominent BLI habits I
used this summer were always ask, value difference, work to learn, and expect challenges.
This internship especially taught me skills and lessons that I can use in the future. I know that if I am to
take on an important leadership role, which I intend to do, I will need the confidence and conversational
skills to be the first to talk, and the first one to approach people. This job helped with that because I had to
announce my presence and physically walk up to people who I did not know and who didn’t know me. I
contacted and communicated with important workers who needed information that I was able to give.
This type of responsibility and control is an absolute necessity in leadership that will definitely help me in
a future role. On these job sites, I was also the only person responsible for my job. There was only one
field technician on all my sites, so there was no backup if I made a mistake—I would just have to do it
again. This pressure and responsibility will heavily benefit me in the future, because it got me adjusted to
that type of importance in a role.
While this project taught me so much about my skills, lessons, and future, it also helped me realize that I
would not do this internship again. I found that my interests lie less in geotechnical engineering and more
elsewhere, specifically aerospace. This project did teach me that I sometimes have to do things that don’t
end up working out in order to find things that do. I will forever be grateful to the BLI for supporting me
in the project, and to G2 Consulting for granting me the opportunity to partake in this experience that will
take a permanent part in building my future.
