I enjoyed learning about the industry and networking in the blueberry industry.
What I wish was different
I wish I would have been able to grade blueberries inside as it was very hot this summer.
Advice
Be prepared to work a lot during the start of the internship.
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Quality Assurance Intern
June - September 2019 • Hillsboro, OR
What I liked
Oregon Berry Packing, Inc. is a family-owned industry which means it's not as big as the world-known industries, and because of this it allowed me to explore more than the department I was put into. I could learn more than quality assurance, such as production, export/import, and others. Moreover, I learned how the real world in working is, how the food industry processes their products. If there were issues in the final product, we were called to resolve it and it added a lot of experiences.
What I wish was different
I wish the weather in Hillsboro, OR is not as rainy as it was when I was there. Several summer days there were pouring hard, there were many thunderstorms which postponed the harvesting and processing of the fresh berries. Also, they did not do microbiological testing in their lab since they did not have the lab equipments for that, so they sent it to another lab to test. I wish they could do the test in their lab so I could learn about it.
Advice
Doing an internship before graduating from College is very important. It showed you how the real world in your area of study is and it added so many experiences needed later, you could apply what you learn, textbooks are not enough :)
