In the summers of 1980 and 1981, I had what I was convinced was the coolest summer job a college student could ever hope to have. I spent those two summers in Nashville, Tennessee, working at Peterbilt Motors, a division of PACCAR, where they built their top-of-the-line big rigs.
The first summer I was assigned to the maintenance department. I worked the grave-yard shift, mainly doing janitorial duties, including driving a sweeper around the enormous plant.
The second summer was far more interesting. I was assigned as a relief worker, which meant I filled in for non-skilled workers who were out sick or on vacation. Over the course of that summer, I worked from one end of the plant to the other and it was amazing to watch the process all the way through until those magnificent machines rolled off the line.
It was good pay, too, union wages. I made an astonishing $8.25 per hour, a fortune for a college kid in those days when the federal minimum wage was $3.35 per hour.
Ever since, I’ve always been sure my summer job at Peterbilt was the best ever.
Then I sat down this week with Hagan Walker at the student union at Mississippi State University. Walker, 22, just returned from his summer job and is now in his final semester at MSU, where he’ll earn his degree this May in electrical engineering.
Peterbilt instantly slipped to No. 2 on the “coolest summer job” rankings.
The Columbus High School graduate spent the last three months as a paid intern at Tesla Motors, the brainchild of super-entrepreneur Elon Musk, who is also the founder of SpaceX and PayPal. Tesla Motors, a pioneer in making electric cars both viable and marketable, now has 75,000 of its Model S sports cars on the road. It has succeeded where other electric-car projects failed and today the company is the holy grail of aspiring automotive engineers. To land an internship at the Palo Alta, California-based company is the stuff of dreams for engineering students like Walker.
“It’s really kind of hard to put into words how awesome it was,” Walker says. “Not only did I get to work at Tesla, but I got to work on the Model X, which is a SUV that will come out in the spring and, on top of that, I got to work on the coolest part of the car, the doors.”
Walker’s job focused on what he describes as “hardware validation of the door components.” The Model X will feature what it calls falcon wing rear doors that fold up rather than swing out. Walker’s job focused on making sure the doors work as intended. “The last thing you want is to push a button and have it fall through the door,” he quips.
While he spent most of his time at the company’s headquarters — he says he saw Musk several times but never spoke to him — he was also able to visit the company’s massive production facility just 30 minutes away.
“I guess the thing that will stick with me the most is the atmosphere,” he says. “There are a lot of young people there, people that are really dedicated to the environmental impact aspects that Tesla is dedicated to dealing with. It’s just a different feel. They work long hours, weekends. There’s just so much excitement. You can feel it.”
For Walker, it was an ideal way to spend the summer, a natural progression in his long-held passion for auto engineering.
Upon arriving at MSU as a freshman, Walker quickly gravitated toward the automotive possibilities in electrical engineering, which figures to play an increasingly prominent role in the future of the industry.
“My freshman year, I actually dropped calculus so I could get involved in the EcoCar program,” he says. “It’s something I’ve been drawn to ever since. It’s perfect for me.”
Walker served as the electrical team leader for EcoCar II, which ended in 2013. MSU finished sixth in that competition.
The EcoCar program, developed by U.S. Department of Energy, is a advanced vehicle technology competition among many of the nation’s top college automotive engineering schools.
Walker’s participation in the EcoCar program helped him through the rigorous and highly-competitive intern application at Tesla.
In a few months, Walker will have his diploma and weigh his options.
Returning to Tesla, this time as a working engineer, is especially enticing.
“Hey, I’d love that,” he says. “It’s a great place to be.”
For Walker, the coolest summer job could wind up being something far more permanent.
“I could definitely see it working out that way,” he says.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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