International internships at Techint Engineering & Construction
Published 9.8.2023
Two young North American students from the universities of Virginia and Texas traveled to Argentina to gain professional experience together with the Techint E&C Innovation team. In this article, they tell us how they’re enjoying their experience in Argentina and in Techint E&C.
Techint E&C’s Innovation department’s latest initiative is true to form. Always pursuing the objective of growth and adding value, its latest gambit is the offer of internships for students or professionals from other parts of the world. It’s a win-win situation as the idea is that they will add a fresh perspective to enrich ongoing projects while learning from a global company and its talent. Guillermo Farall, the Corporate Director of Human Resources, acknowledges that this initiative, “in addition to being a formative experience for these young people, is also an opportunity for the company to explore a different vision of the issues it’s working on. We’re very keen to continue with this initiative.”
Alejandro Aguirre, the Corporate Manager of Innovation and Knowledge Management at Techint E&C, explains how these internships were designed. “We brought Jesse Jaramillo and Caleb White into our team for nine weeks, so that they could analyze field processes at our projects and suggest improvements to them through specific work plans.” Accordingly, Jesse worked on Civil Process Automation and Caleb on Drone Logistics for Pipeline Projects.
Caleb White is an Aerospace Engineering student at the University of Virginia. He found out about this opportunity thanks to an email he got from his university. So he filled out an application form and sat the two interviews required: the first with Aboard, a company organizing international internships, and the second with Techint E&C itself. “I came to Buenos Aires to carry out a specific project to deploy drones for work on gas pipelines. I spent two weeks in the province of La Pampa, at the President Néstor Kirchner Gas Pipeline project (GPNK in Spanish), exploring the site and getting all the details about how a gas pipeline is built, and I was fascinated by the area of hydraulic testing. I was also able to interact with people from various areas of Techint, to learn what the company does both here and around the world. And of course, I took advantage of the experience to visit the country, and in particular the City of Buenos Aires. I went to hear an orchestral concert at the Teatro Colón and I also went to a party held to celebrate Italian immigration. I found the experiences offered by this internship hugely exciting, and it came with the bonus that I was able to explore this country!” enthused Caleb.
Jesse Jaramillo is a recent graduate in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University who specialized in Construction Management. He refers to himself as an ‘Aggie’, as the civil engineering graduates from this school tend to be known. “I joined the Techint E&C Innovation team so that I could analyze civil works and try and come up with solutions to improve project efficiency. I spent a couple of weeks at the CPF (Central Processing Facilities) underway in La Calera (Neuquén province), and I learned a lot about the continuity of a work of this size. I also found it very useful to network with field management and supervision to discuss the work they were doing and the opportunities for improvement detected. Before I came to Argentina, I didn't know very much about the country—or indeed about Techint!—but in the short time I’ve spent here, I’ve been really happy. I’m extremely grateful to have been a part of this experience and to have had the opportunity to grow together with the people from the company!” volunteered Jesse.
Jesse and Caleb’s internships come to an end this week, an experience that reinforces our belief that it’s always positive to hear new points of view and integrate them. The openness underpinning our desire to permanently train the professionals building the future of Techint E&C is intrinsic to the company's DNA, something that is successfully achieved through these kinds of initiatives.
You may also be interested to read:
“It’s impossible not to feel proud, knowing that I’m part of something so impressive”
How is it working on one of the world's largest gas reserves
“Working at Techint E&C is about doing what we’ve always dreamed of!”