First-year engineer at Virginia Tech? Watch this
Hi. I’m Olivia, and I’m the president of the Student Engineers Council. We’re here today at the Hokie launch party at Eastern Divide, celebrating the graduating class in the College of Engineering. What are you doing after graduation? Well, right now, after graduation, I have planned to go to graduate school next year and continue my education here at Virginia Tech. I’m going to Bank of America to be in their global operations division. And then I’m working for Turner Construction and I’m being a field engineer. I’m working for a construction company that specializes in underground and heavy civil. I’m working with DuPont as a process engineer. I’m staying here to do the accelerated master’s program. I’m working at a startup in the DC area. After graduation, I’m going to be working for a local land development firm going to be a software engineer analyst at Deloitte. And is that what you expected to be doing when you first went into college? Not at all. I did not know what I wanted to do at first, no, previously I thought I was either going to just directly go to work or maybe try doing medical school, Not at all. Not at all? No. I thought I was going to do mechanical engineering and then, you know, maybe design something to do with cars or heavy equipment, but, No. Honestly, I thought I actually came in being a computer engineer, so I’m doing something quite a bit different, but I’m still excited to see what is to come. I would say I didn’t know what I was expecting to do when I first came here. But once I got into the land development classes, I knew that’s the route I wanted to take and be on the design side of things. I would say, like, it’s not directly what I expected, but it’s along the lines. I knew I wanted to do something with computers and electronics, so I’ll be working on power electronics for like satellites. It’s pretty similar. It wasn’t entirely what I thought I’d be doing. I knew I wanted to do something like hands on and involved in a process, but my first internship was that a chemical plant in Colorado, and being actually involved in the process really showed me that that’s exactly what I want to do. If you could pick any engineering major to be which one would you do? Mechanical? Okay. What gets you excited about your major and your future career? Rocks. I like rocks a lot. The great thing about industrial and systems is how versatile it is. I think pretty much everyone will tell you that when you get in, Being able to see the things that I build and create, just discovering new things, new classes provide a lot of really new, interesting information, and it’s just really fun to learn. so many ideas, so many open opportunities to invent, to create, to build, to make something to help people. How excited are you for the new class of freshman engineers to come to Tech? He seems really excited.
Category:cultureVideo duration:2:46First-year engineer at Virginia Tech? Watch this.By:
Date published:5Aug2026Video views:21
What do Virginia Tech engineering students do after graduation?
At the Virginia Tech Hokie Launch Party, we interviewed graduating seniors from multiple engineering majors to learn about their engineering career paths, first jobs, and advice for new students.
Hear directly from students about:
– Why they chose engineering at Virginia Tech
– Their first engineering jobs after college
– Tips for first-year and prospective engineering students
If you’re considering a degree in engineering at Virginia Tech or exploring engineering careers, this video gives you real perspectives from Hokies about to graduate.
Learn more about Virginia Tech Engineering: https://go.vt.edu/uoJJ6
