Student Stories
Computer Engineering Co-op Story: Southern Company
Eric Tran
Computer Engineering
What company did you work with and where are they located?
I worked in Transmission Planning at Southern Company (Birmingham, AL)
How did you identify and apply for your internship? Are there any specific resources you used to find the opportunity (i.e. Handshake, career fairs, other recruitment events)?
I first knew of Southern Company because of my older brother, Justin. He attended Auburn University in 2018 and did four co-op rotations with the company so I had known about this ever since I was in high school. During my freshman year, I went to an IEEE meeting that hosted Southern Company and that's when I'd say I truly learned a lot more about the business that I wouldn't have otherwise known had I not gone. I attended the Fall 2024 Career Fair and met a Southern Company employee and from there applied for a co-op position and got the job for Spring of 2025.
What was the application process like?
Similar to the answer above, I first tried to apply for a co-op position during my freshmen year, but Southern Company didn't allow freshmen to co-op, so I had to wait an extra year. With the help of the Auburn CDCR, I had revamped my resume and my interview skills through multiple mock and resume reviews so I could know what to expect entering the application process. I attended the 2024 Career Fair and met a recruiter there by the name of Lydia Nichols, who is currently a manager in my department at Southern Company. I talked to her and told her I was interested in a co-op position for the company and she followed up with me with a first round interview. It was an online interview with Lydia and one other person, and once that was done, I got a second and final round interview that was also online. It was an interview of six panelists, with one of them being my current supervisor and the person who hired me, Brandon Marshall. About two weeks after the final round interview, I got a call from one of the Southern Company recruiters offering me a co-op job in Transmission Planning in the Spring of 2025.
Tell us about your internship experience. What types of tasks and projects did you engage in? Was there a particular project or part of the experience you learned the most from?
For my first rotation in Transmission Planning West, we manage the reliability of the electrical transmission network. We do this through projects and studies such as customer service requests, industrial site studies, and bus ampacity studies. For a customer service request, I worked with my team and other teams across Southern Company using modeling analysis tools such as PSSE to communicate with customers to determine if a given load on a system would affect transmission lines by causing thermal and/or voltage constraints. I also worked on a bus ampacity study for substations across Alabama to determine if if any substation element’s rating is exceeded under appropriate contingencies. I'd say this specific project was the most significant for me because it gave me a chance to work with not just teams in my own department, but with others such as Substation Design and Protection and Control. This gave me a chance to see the bigger picture and a different side of the company, and I think that's also prominent because I believe the co-op program is best utilized when you can swap to different teams to learn more and become a student of the business.
In what ways did this internship help you prepare for your next destination after Auburn?
This experience was helpful because although it was only rotation so far, it gave me a strong desire to pursue this job after graduation if given the opportunity to do so. I love the diversity, work culture, and environment at Southern Company and I definitely want to be apart of their plan to provide energy for the foreseeable future. This experience definitely taught me the significance of communication and especially accountability, however. These technical skills are needed in the classroom as well, but when there are real life projects and studies that are directly affecting operating companies and residential/industrial customers, they are of the utmost importance. My first co-op rotation probably emphasized that the most and I plan to utilize them for whatever endeavor I pursue next, whether it be at Southern Company or somewhere else.
In what ways did your coursework or other experiences at Auburn prepare you for your internships? Are there specific topics or skills you learned from classes that you put into practice on the job?
Not just electrical and computer engineering, but engineering in general has taught students to plan methodically and use your time wisely if you want to succeed. Being able to utilize this mindset to transition it over to the workforce has helped tremendously for me. As far as topics go, the concepts I've learned in Computer Systems and Electric Circuit Analysis such as power factor has helped me in my job as far as analysis and calculations go.
Do you have any advice for other students looking for internships like yours?
I would tell other students to start looking early and not be afraid to reach out to people for advice or connections. Use websites such as LinkedIn to spread your network as it can be a great source for getting interviews or opportunities. A lot of opportunities can arise from asking questions or showing a genuine interest in the job. I was initially told that I had to wait to pursue a co-op experience, and although I was sad at first, I was willing to wait. I'd say being patient is very important as not every opportunity will arise. Lastly, I'd recommend being confident at the career fair and to give a strong handshake, as that can give a great first impression.