CAPS Engineering to John Deere

Matthew Felsen was a 4-semester CAPS engineering student and is currently a sophomore and is currently a sophomore at Missouri S&T where he is majoring in electrical engineering. Matthew was recently selected for a summer internship in product engineering at John Deere in Des Moines, IA. Matthew said, “I believe my experience at CAPS helped me a great deal getting me through the interview process. I was able to use a lot of practical examples which I gained through my time at CAPS which is why I think the HR department at Deere identified me as a qualified candidate for their program.” The selection process for the John Deere internships is highly selective. There were 200+ applicants from M S&T alone and Matthew was the only student to be offered a position.

Before entering CAPS Matthew had an idea about what he wanted to pursue as a career, but CAPS really helped solidify what engineering really is. Matthew reflected, “It’s hard to describe what engineering is without actually trying it yourself, which is exactly what CAPS allows students to do. I learned how to problem solve and apply the design process which is what really made me fall in love with engineering.”

Matthew thinks that CAPS did a great job preparing him for college. “Going to a science and technology university was a very big change from what I’ve been used to. The design classes I took in college were almost identical to what I had been doing at CAPS, so having the exposure beforehand made those classes much easier.”

The biggest take away that Matthew received from CAPS was the real world experience. CAPS gave him the opportunity to work with actual clients which is something you definitely have to do after you finish school. Another big take-away was interview experience. Matthew had the opportunity to intern with Kiewit during his time at CAPS. He believes that nterviewing for that internship prepared him for interviews with future companies like John Deere.