It’s July 2021. You’ve just been accepted into an internship located four hours from home. Then COVID-19 lockdowns hit. Find out how four young engineers turned a share house into a makeshift office and landed full-time jobs with a uniquely Australian engineering firm.
Intern ride-testing a rough terrain vehicle
It’s true, UTS-partnered internships can come in all different shapes and experiences. But none might be as unique as internships with Bale Defence.
Bale Defence is a family-owned engineering business that produces engineering solutions for the Australian defence sector. For example, rough terrain vehicles (you’ll need to remember this for later!), munitions lockers and other tailored inventions.
But, as the company continued to grow, Bale Defence began their search for interns to join the team. Enter UTS.
The search begins
“We reached out to a few universities about our ambitions for hiring interns, and UTS responded first and made it easy,” said Martyn Jones, Bale’s Director of Engineering and Sales.
“If somebody’s looking for a solution and you’re the most responsive with the easiest path to success, then you tend to win the race. So UTS won the race by being supportive, available and collaborative.”
Part of their inaugural intake of interns in 2021 included Travis Goodman, a final-year mechanical and mechatronic engineering student, and Neeraj Viswanathan, a recent alumnus with a Master of Engineering (Manufacturing Engineering and Management).
Bale Defence’s first interns from Left to Right: Neeraj Viswanathan, Bobby Punjabi, Travis Goodshaw, Patrick Kennelly
Both were successful in getting a placement with Bale Defence’s internship program, but there was only one catch ... they had to relocate four-hours away to Port Macquarie!
“At first I thought that this was going to be interesting and I’m going to have to find a place to live in a new environment with new people,” said Travis.
“But it worked out that a few of us from UTS rented a house together and we all had someone to rely on.”
Bale Defence also helped with securing the share house for the interns by working with them to finalise details with the real estate agent.
“It worked out incredibly well,” said Martyn. “So much so that at the end of the first six-month internship, we took on the lease for the property and are now offering it to future interns when they start with us so that there’s a place for them to live.”
A bumpy start
But the first couple of weeks in July 2021 for Travis and Neeraj saw them join Bale Defence when NSW had reintroduced COVID restrictions.
“I moved the same day the government said that we were going into full lockdown,” recalls Neeraj.
“It was a bit hard because you couldn't go to the office and you had to work from home.”
Working with computer-aided design models, and the time it would take to load them due to their large file size, made the experience even more challenging with the share house’s slow internet speed.
However, when the restrictions were eased and the interns were able to work in the office, they were surprised with how involved they could be.
“I’ve heard a lot of mates have gone to these big engineering companies and just sat there doing test reports or test procedures the entire time, but at Bale Defence it has not been like that,” said Travis.
“I’ve done a bit of field work, a bit of testing work and been exposed to some of the production side of things as well... there’s a lot of things that I’ve done that I don’t think you would get at a normal, everyday, bigger company.”
Intern conducting a 3D scan of a rough terrain vehicle
Neeraj took a lot of value from being in a safe space to ask questions.
“When we started, one of the engineers said that being an intern you have all rights to ask questions every day, and I took that offer up. I was on their back all day every day for the first bit of my internship!” smiled Neeraj.
The internship impact
The enthusiasm from the interns to leap at opportunities and be involved was a bit of a positive ‘shock’ for Martyn!
Intern riding in the third seat of the rough terrain vehicle
“We have a rough terrain vehicle where nobody wants to sit in the third seat because it’s backwards facing and particularly uncomfortable,” recounts Martyn.
“I guarantee if I go into the office tomorrow and asked who wants to volunteer riding in the third seat, the interns would all volunteer – just because they want to do different stuff.”
And it was that kind of enthusiasm that helped Neeraj and Travis, along with several other interns from UTS, secure full-time positions with Bale Defence.
If you’re currently looking for an internship opportunity, check out CareerHub to see where an internship can take you!