I have worked at Connetix Engineering in Yakima Washington since May of 2023. I was first hired as a summer Intern while I was attending Washington State University. After the summer internship went well, Connetix offered for me to work remotely while attending school.

I worked as an Intern/Drafter for Connetix until my graduation in May 2025. I passed my FE and was hired full time as an EIT.

While working at Connetix I have mainly done design and automation for Waste Water and Water Treatment Plants with some occasional work on industrial projects such as an apple processing plant. We would work as a multi-disciplinary team with other firms to complete our designs. Our office would design anything and some times everything downstream of the utility transformer.

I would create Elementary Wiring Diagrams, One Line Diagrams, Elevations, Details, Schedules, and Plan Views for the projects. This included designing plant Lighting/Receptacles, Power Distribution Equipment, Instrumentation, HVAC, Motor Control Centers, Control Panels, Process Equipment, Communication Racks, etc. The design could be complex with intrinsically safe systems for hazardous areas.

While Working at Connetix I also got experience in SCADA Systems and programming PLCs/HMIs. While I was working on design a majority of the time, I got to program a PLC and HMI for a Lift Station with an alarm dialer and troubleshoot PLC/plant issues on site and remotely. Programming was typically done in Ladder Logic, but I got some experience in Java and PowerShell through smaller tasks.

We used various tools to complete our projects including AutoCAD Electrical, Revit, Connected Components Workbench, Studio 5000, RSLogix 500, Factory Talk View, Excel (with in house add-ins), Bluebeam, VMware, VPNs, etc.

I had to be a self-starter and learn as I completed projects. A lot of the time, I was given a task and had to research the equipment we were using, look things up in the NEC, and learn how to complete the task on my own. This would then get reviewed by professional engineers who would give me feedback until the design was Bid-Ready. My most important takeaway has been that I can learn to do anything given time.