Good company for resume booster, internships are lacking in true engineering work
Pros
GE Energy has many opportunities for learning. As a large company, you can work on different products such as wind turbines, gas turbines, generators, steam turbines, etc. Technical experts in all power generation fields are in the company. As an intern, you are in the talent pipeline for one of the development programs like Edison Engineering Development Program (EEDP), Operations Management Leadership Program (OMLP), etc. If hired into one of these programs, you receive training and work experience in an accelerated manner (2 years instead of ~5 years). GE Energy is a stable company.
Cons
You get the large, impersonal corporate atmosphere. The interns are hired by Human Resources for one reason: to be a pipeline for the development programs. As a result, managers and work groups are typically ill prepared to provide interns with the training, assistance, and work necessary for a successful engineering internship. You will probably be stuck with the boring work nobody else has the time to do. If you are interested in a direct hire position in this economic situation, forget it. There is no incentive to improve the intern program because most of the interns will not be hired for full-time positions. Management that is several pay bands above you calls the shots. For the technical engineer, there is little room for creativity. It is hard to quantify job performance in technical engineering roles as compared with manufacturing roles. GE is resistant to change as seen in some analysis tools used that are decades old. Many engineers are unhappy with their assignments and are overworked. They stick around because they are married and GE provides a stable job. You are expected to work more than 40 hours a week with no overtime pay so that deadlines are met. Pay is average with a small pay increase (covers cost of living adjustment) every year.
