Inside the Pocket Internship...
words by Dan O'Hagen
I spent ten weeks at Pocket as a Structural Engineering Intern, and it ended up being one of the most valuable learning experiences I’ve had so far in my engineering degree.
Starting up, I expected to be mainly shadowing engineers and doing fairly simple tasks on elements of different projects. While there was an initial training period, I was surprised by how quickly I was given some real responsibility. After the first couple of weeks, I was involved in live projects as the project engineer. This meant I was responsible for carrying out calculations and checks to determine whether the design solution was suitable. I got to see a few smaller projects all the way through the PE design process which was really valuable compared to carrying out isolated tasks.
What stood out to me as the summer progressed was the level of trust I was given. Guidance and oversight were always there; however I didn’t feel like every calculation of mine was being repeated line by line. Instead, I was treated as part of the team which pushed me to take ownership of my work and think critically about the work I completed.
Pre-pour inspection, Riccarton Pavillion, Novemeber 2025
Throughout the internship I got to go on multiple site visits. Although the projects I visited were not my own (given the short ten weeks I was there) the timing happened to line up well with what I was working on in the office. One week I might be working on lateral design calculations and the next was out visiting projects at a similar stage in construction. Seeing these systems built in real life helped everything click, it was an experience that you don’t get through university allowing me to see how the numbers on the page correspond to the structural elements they represent.
One of the big learning areas for me was the difference in consultancy work compared to university. At Uni, most structural problems have a “correct” answer that the lecturer is looking for. At Pocket, I learned that problems are more open ended. There are often multiple ways to approach a design, and the challenge is choosing what’s efficient, practical, and appropriate. Engineering judgement, reasonable assumptions, and practical approximations are just as important as technical knowledge.
My desk in the Pocket Studio, Christchurch, Feb 2026
The culture at Pocket played a big role in this learning. During the initial training period, the team encouraged me to work through problems independently rather than asking questions at every step. This helped shift my mindset from “learning content” to “applying knowledge”. At the same time, everyone was friendly and willing to help once I reached a genuine roadblock or needed clarification. The office itself had a great energy, which made settling in easy, with the help of some proper coffee at morning tea breaks. It felt like an environment where people enjoy their work and take pride in doing things properly.
Want to be the next Pocket Intern?
Pocket Summer 26/27 Internship Applications will open for third year Civil Engineering students on 1st May 2026.
Email any questions to jenmarsh@pocketeng.co.nz