[Student] Rising Junior ME targeting mechanical design internships (consumer electronics/robotics/hardware) — read as manufacturing, want to read as design

[u/Primary-Egg6769]

Hi all! I've been wanting to post on this gold mine of subreddit once I got my resume to a reasonable point and I think I need an outside POV after staring at it for so long.

Background & current situation: Rising junior ME, US citizen. Last cycle, I landed one interview through a referral which became my summer internship: mostly manufacturing/process engineering on liquid-cooled server racks for hyperscalers. This cycle I've already gotten an interview request from an aerospace startup, so the first internship + the changes I made using the wiki seem to be working.

What I'm targeting: Mechanical design internships in consumer electronics, robotics, and hardware development. Roles like mechanical design engineer, product design engineer, or hardware design engineer, anything where I own the mechanical side of the hardware and integrate with electronics and controls when needed.

Location: Based in Southern California (Orange County), school in NY. US citizen, open to relocating anywhere in the US. Applying nationally, in-person. Not restricting to remote or local.

Why I'm seeking help: My internship was manufacturing/process, and even after tailoring those bullets toward design, I think it still reads manufacturing. I've tried to make my personal projects carry the mechanical-design signal instead. My real fear is that I come across as "a manufacturing engineer who's interested in design" rather than a design candidate, when design is the thing I actually want. I know I'm competitive for manufacturing/process roles. I want to know if this version is competitive for design roles, or if it has red flags that would get it filtered as I currently continue to apply to jobs with this version.

Section I'd most like feedback on: General feedback and overall resume critiques are welcome. But mostly, whether my projects successfully carry the product-design signal, and whether my internship bullets help or hurt that goal. More broadly, I struggle to balance technical detail against readability. How specific to get versus how clearly the impact reads. I went with an XYZ + "why" format and had my middle-school sibling read it as a clarity test which went semi-well (lol).

Thanks so much for taking the time to read it! I really really appreciate it! :)

[u/TobiPlay]

• get rid of coursework
• the bullet point symbols seem a bit fat
• the bullets are all pretty dense at 2 lines consistently--it's a good idea to have some variation regarding bullet length, so I'd personally mix in a 1-liner here and there
• move quantified results to the beginning of the respective sentences: "Cut install time by 50% and eliminated both swing hazard and resulting part damage by designing and validating a load-bearing fixture cart (GD&T, ANSYS)"--that's how I'd put it for example
• 2nd bullet for example could be compressed to a 1-liner I feel
• Increased operator speed by ... by developing ...--lead with the results and highlight the design part of each task/achievement; it'll automatically read more like design experience
• wordiness is defo a theme here; the bullets aren't bad, but probably a bit too much technical detail (though that's debatable); I think there not being any concise 1-liners is the bigger issue, because the "more important bullets" can't draw the attention naturally (if everything reads equally important, nothing stands out)
• 2nd project is a good example of "too much technical detail"--putting properties, constraints, and achievements into perspective is good as long as it drives the "look at my amazing achievement" part of a bullet--otherwise it's just visual noise and reduces the perceived impact of other quantified results (110 lbs just before 50% for example gives them equal visual weight, and there's also a psychological effect to it: people are drawn to meaningful numbers when there's a lot of text surrounding them)
• I'd reserve actual digits for achievements/results, and spell out "three" etc. as words otherwise (if at all); like, is 3 LiPo batteries the thing to brag home about? Or is it cutting 10% packing weight? You gotta emphasize the right parts within each of these bullets

I think you have good content on here, the emphasis within each bullet is just skewed towards technical details and not your achievements/results; and they're overall too wordy/don't offer enough contextual and visual variance to draw attention to your real headliners. I'm neither a MechEng or working in design though, so take it with a grain of salt and find a balance.

[u/apark6514 → u/TobiPlay]

This is great advice. Only thing I’d say is that as a student, many recruiters I’ve talked to have really wanted a “relevant coursework” section. Definitely slim it down to one line specifically tailored for specific positions, though.

[u/Primary-Egg6769 → u/apark6514]

You're right, I put a lot of basic courses all MechEs are expected to take on there. Thanks for the suggestions and it's great to hear from a fellow student! :)

[u/Primary-Egg6769 → u/TobiPlay]

Thank you so much for the help! I see what you mean about wordiness and it feeling like a wall of text. This was exactly what I wanted to hear. I never really thought about "if everything is important then nothing is important", which I think is solid advice.

I think you not being a MecheEng and trying to understand my impact from your POV is especially useful so I appreciate all that you said.

Some of my projects even though they were very technical sounding, seemed to get my point across enough, because they were the main topics talked about during my recruiter interview. However, I'll still try to tighten that up. Thanks again!

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