Applications Engineer

Sarah Flanagan

Mechanical Engineering

Placement (10 Months+)

National Instruments

How much responsibility do you have?

One of the things that sets NI apart from other placement opportunities is the level of responsibility you are given. From day one you are focussed on working directly with NI’s customers on solving their own technical challenges and engaging across other departments as well. I have spent time working with both the Marketing and Sales departments alongside my day- to-day role which demonstrates how NI trusts you to do a great job.

What do you most enjoy about your role?

I most enjoy how many new things I learn every single day. Because of the enormity of products that NI offers and the number of industries it resides in, there is never a day when you don’t hear something surprising or completely new. Things like this open your mind to the far reaches of engineering discovery.

How has this experience exceeded your expectations?

For me, it must be the opportunity I had to rotate into the Technical Sales department for 3 months to see what business is like from a seller’s perspective. This not only improved my knowledge on NI products and industry trends, but it also diversified my customer management portfolio and allowed me to exercise professional selling skills that I never knew I had! All this whilst still being heavily rooted in technical principals and the fundamentals of engineering.

How promising are the graduate prospects?

National Instruments are heavily involved in all the main engineering industries in some way and is therefore a very well- known company- I think this is a big plus in future prospects. Additionally, the graduate prospects are improved by the nature of how NI trains its interns. We are expected at the end of our internship to have an excellent grounding in presentation skills, communication and adaptable customer support, alongside all the technical knowledge you gain. I think this gives NI’s interns many defining competencies in industry.