What I Learned During my Internship with ARCO/Murray
INTERN BLOG BY JULIETTE KIM – My name is Juliette Kim, and this summer I worked as a Project Manager Intern on the Industrial Team in Downtown Chicago. I am a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign majoring in Civil Engineering, concentrating in Construction Management and Structures, and minoring in Architecture and Business. I am fascinated by the beauty, processes, innovations, and history of buildings, so being involved in both the design and build at ARCO/Murray has proved to be an amazing fit.
Here are some of my key takeaways from this experience.
How much ARCO/Murray trusts their employees.
On my very first day, my mentor/Project Manager, Christian Buckwalter, said to me, “You know, the people running this multi-million-dollar project are me, Frank (our superintendent), and you.” Eek! He then introduced me to the project, including the bells and whistles like the rainwater reclaim system, solar system and battery, StormTrap, and also the differences between the CTA, “train”, Metra, bus, “L”, and various colored lines. Most of it sounded like gibberish to me.
After that initial hump, it was empowering to realize the level of responsibility I was entrusted with. From my first day, I was managing millions of dollars of scope. I was given the freedom to be self-sufficient to become an expert in these areas, which was a rewarding challenge. In fact, by the end of the summer, I gave a presentation to the office on rainwater reclaim, one of the topics I barely knew existed at my start.
How much I value company culture.
The “work hard, play hard” mindset is something I value in college and am seeking in my professional life. Typically, in industry, this phrase means intense work from 9 to 5 and reserving “play” for after hours. However, at ARCO, I discovered that the “play” often blends into the workday for much-needed breaks: intense pool games, daily DosBros runs, three sabbatical pranks, and coffee breaks turned snack pantry rampages turned flamin’ hot chip taste tests.
How important time management is.
Equipped with my formula-filled, color-coded, conditionally-formatted spreadsheets, I consider myself an organized person. But after the first couple weeks, I realized organization does not equal good time management.
Often, when I sat down to write a contract or review bids, I’d get sidetracked by phone calls or emails, and my goal for perfection would slow me down. I learned to distinguish between emails that could be skimmed and added to my to-do list and those that required immediate attention. I learned that my emails didn’t need a fourth proof-read. But rest assured, the Type-A in me still had everything organized in a pretty spreadsheet.
How much more I get to learn.
Remember that initial meeting? At that point, I didn’t know what a dock door, “site utility,” or vinyl tile was.
Again, because of the trust my Project Manager had in me, I was able to deep dive into all these unknowns. I looked at past project documents, scoured company resources, browsed subcontractor websites, watched YouTube videos, and (shamelessly) asked ChatGPT. Now, at the closing of my internship, I know I have a lot more to learn, but I can say I have learned a ton. Ask me why we need a series of pressure indicators in our rain reclaim treatment skid or what the hell a Schluter Schiene is.
Interested in learning more about internship and co-op opportunities offered at ARCO/Murray? Check out our programs page by clicking here.