Internship & Co-op Opportunities

Internship Experience

As an intern at Helix Electric you will be trusted with meaningful responsibilities that have a lasting impact on the projects you touch. This hands-on approach to learning coupled with our top-notch mentor program affords all Helix interns the opportunity to develop skills that ensure their continued growth well beyond graduation. Our University Relations (UR) Team is dedicated to ensuring all interns have an experience where they learn, grow, and contribute value.

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Why Helix?

Team Helix is dedicated to providing all our interns with the resources they need to be set up for success. We have an entire University Relations Team who provides support from recruiting through graduation and potential full-time employment. To provide a well-rounded experience, all interns are exposed to a variety of project types, phases of construction, diverse assignments, and project teams. Check out Orientation, a Day in the Life, and Program Pieces to see examples of ways we support your personal and professional growth.

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Orientation

All interns will participate in a two day formal orientation. Spring and fall orientation take place virtually. Summer orientation takes place in-person at Helix’s corporate headquarters in San Diego, California.

During orientation, students are exposed to:

  • Industry-related terminology and procedures
  • Networking with various departments
  • Participating in team building activities
  • Hands-on field exposure (job walk, conduit bending, materials workshop)
  • Engaging in meaningful dialogue with the Executive Leadership Team

This event enhances understanding of the Helix Culture and promotes an intern community.

Day in the Life of a Helix Intern

Each day in a Project Engineer intern’s term is different and full of new challenges/responsibilities. This video is an insight into some of those experiences:

  • Technology : 360 cameras, Bluebeam, Navisworks,  Accubid, HoloBuilder, Labor Chart
  • Collaboration: Project Teams, General Contractors, Subcontractors, Vendors
  • Technical: Take-Offs, Submittals, RFIs, Prefabrication Orders,  Material Tracking, Energization/Close-Out

This hands-on learning style lays a foundation for building a career in the construction industry. Helix provides opportunities while encouraging you to take ownership of your growth.

Program Pieces

Our structured program was intentionally designed to ensure interns across the country, regardless of office location or project team, have the same opportunities to excel. These program pieces were developed with interns in mind.

  • Goal Setting : Communicate personal professional goals to cater your Helix experience
  • Comprehensive Evaluation : Dedicated time to reflect on progress with manager
  • Yammer Posts : Create a connected community across all of the Helix locations
  • Jobsite Visits : Experience a variety of Helix’s diverse projects
  • Mentorship (Mentor Intern, Manager, and UR Meetings) : Connect with teammates from various departments, learn best practices, and receive support on complex project issues

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San Diego (Headquarters)

Office: San Diego, CA (Headquarters)

San Diego is home to our Corporate Headquarters. In addition to having project teams at this location, this is where we house a lot of our company support departments like Estimating, Human Resources, IT, and Payroll. The San Diego teams love to give back to the community and often participate in fundraising activities. One of the annual favorites is our participation in the Martin Luther King march.

Las Vegas, NV

Office: Las Vegas, NV

Giving back to our community is a top priority for us. As an organization we are dedicated to giving back to the communities that provide for us and our families daily, one cause at a time. Here our Vegas team is spreading holiday cheer with their annual toy drive.

Reno, NV

Office: Reno, NV

Team Helix is filled with life-long learners. Mentorship and hands-on learning fuel our ability to help our people grow. We always strive to improve ourselves and our teams. Here’s our Reno team visiting their mentors on site.

Los Angeles, CA

Office: Los Angeles, CA

At Helix Electric, safety is engrained in our culture, it’s a way of life.  We are relentless in our pursuit of a safe workforce. As such, we hold regular Safety Saturday’s in all regions to collaborate and maintain our dedication to this value. Here is our LA team at their most recent Safety Saturday.

Sacramento, CA

Office: Sacramento, CA

Helix is made of ambitious, talented people. What you’ll find while working here is a lot of comradery mixed with a competitive nature. Our Sacramento team takes their annual  NFL draft pick event very seriously.

Oakland, CA

Office: Oakland, CA

Helix is truly a family. We care about each other as people, not just as colleagues. And we work tirelessly to build and maintain strong teams. Here our Oakland office is team building on the basketball court when we rented out Oracle Stadium for a Sacrament and Oakland office tournament.

Honolulu, HI

Office: Honolulu, HI

Our teams excel on and off the jobsite. We are made up of individuals who push themselves to succeed. Team Helix, Hawaii climbs high to reach future goals on their regular team hiking trips

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Washington, D.C.

Office: Washington, D.C.

Our DC team is very patriotic. This is fitting given their location near our country’s capital and the amount of government projects they work on. Here they are recognizing those who have served during their Veteran’s Day celebration.

Great Wolf Lodge

Location: Manteca, CA

Summary: In 2020, Helix Electric completed construction on the Great Wolf Lodge, located in Sacramento, CA. Given the meticulous coordination and manpower required to pull off a project of this scope, Team Helix rose to the challenge and after 90,000 hours in just a year a half, the result was a 500-room hotel with a water park and a family entertainment center consisting of an arcade, ropes course, bowling alley, and half a dozen restaurants

UCLA Wasserman Football Performance Center

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Summary: Helix designed the UCLA Wasserman Football Performance Center in 2014. This 72,000 SF building intended to accommodate the UCLA Football Program includes a gym, locker rooms, an equipment room, hot and cold plunge pools, lounge facilities, a 172-seat auditorium, offices, conference rooms, and a nutrition bar. Once Helix designed the project, they were forced to pivot and re-design after a large donation from P.Diddy prompted the University to want to add a significant number of features. Helix worked tirelessly with all teams to ensure the University got the building of their dreams. This building was a one of a kind design, and included numerous specialty finishes and features. Without coordination and cooperation between the designers, the subcontractors, and the owner, the building could not have been built and delivered ahead of schedule. This project truly highlights what can be accomplished with a well-functioning team. As a result of Helix’s willingness to be flexible and maintain positive relationships with UCLA, our teams have had a job trailer on the campus for over 20 years consecutively.

San Ysidro Port of Entry

Location: San Diego, CA

Summary: Helix Electric completed construction of the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego, CA in 2020. This is one of the busiest ports of entry in the Northern Hemisphere, with 70,000 people passing by car and 20,000 by foot every day. The final product resulted in a parking garage, new detention center and office space for the Customs and Border Patrol, a facility for secondary inspections, narcotics buildings for searching vehicles, and pedestrian tunnels that run under the freeway. During construction, Team Helix had to work hard to maintain a secure point of entry between the two countries and had the unique opportunity to collaborate with the Mexican government.

Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodel Center (ARTIC)

Location: Anaheim, CA

Summary: Helix Electric completed construction on the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodel Center (ARTIC) on 2014. This facility provides rail, bus, taxi, and other services for daily commuters, visitors, and leisure travelers. ARTIC is the transportation hub for Anaheim, including the Honda Center NHL Arena and the Angels Baseball Stadium. This project included full electrical, telecom, and fire alarm scopes of work and required immense coordination. This project had a unique challenge regarding the upper lighting installation which required two 150’ boom lifts to complete, the largest in the industry at the time. Although longest in the industry, they still didn’t fully address the challenge, Helix was able to solve this unique problem by bringing in rock climbing electricians to complete the installation.

Fort Bliss Hospital

Location: El Paso, TX

Summary: Helix Electric completed the Fort Bliss project in Texas in 2019. One of the largest U.S. military medical complexes in the world, this 1.1 million square-foot site resulted in a six-building complex which includes a seven-story, 135-bed Army hospital and two large clinical buildings with a separate clinical investigation building and central utility plant. Helix’ scope on this project included installation of electrical and telecom systems which included security, CCTV, DAS and audiovisual, this resulted in 252 miles of pipe. This was an extensive project which lasted over six years, testing the team's ability to work together to overcome adversity and various technological challenges.

Reston Gateway

Location: Reston, VA

Summary: This project, when complete, will be the tallest building in Northern Virginia. It includes the core and shell commercial construction of two towers within the Reston Town Center limits. Building A 28-story office building (800,000 SF) and Building B 20-story office building (623,000 SF). Below grade work consists of a (900,000 SF) parking structure. In order to assist and maintain schedule, this project team has utilized our Prefab and BIM departments to create modular panel assemblies and overhead racks/trapeze that are modeled in Revit and create prefab orders for wired transformers.

Town Square WeWork

Location: Las Vegas, NV

Summary: Upon completing the Summerlin WeWork with exceptional results, the owner invited Team Helix back for the Town Square WeWork Building. This existing shell was to be renovated into modern office spaces. The first floor was fully occupied with retail shops and expected to maintain normal operations while Helix completed the second and third floors. The team was able to coordinate masterfully with the mechanical and plumbing trades to ensure everything fit in the confined space and there was limited interruption to existing businesses within the building. Weekly coordination meetings and a true team mentality allowed for the second floor to be open and fully functional with WeWork professionals within three months, leaving Helix to continue construction on the third floor with no interruptions to the individuals on floors below. To ensure limited disruption, all project teams would lift their large materials with a crane through a second story window on the back side of the building.

EchoWater Waste Water Treatment Facility

Location: Elk Grove, CA

Summary: This large and complex EchoWater Tertiary Treatment Facilities (TTF) project, located near Elk Grove, CA, is designed to use tertiary filtration and disinfection to remove pathogens and produce high-quality recycled water. The project is made up of more than a dozen large concrete structures, four massive disinfection basins, several pumping stations, and electrical buildings. Upon completion of this project the facility will provide up to 343 million gallons per day of high-quality recycled water.

Pier 70

Location: San Francisco, CA

Summary: Helix completed its construction at Pier 70 in San Francisco in 2019. Over the course of just three years, Helix was able to complete 8 different projects within this one site. The team was careful to maintain the integrity of this untouched historic site, while still creating a modern masterpiece for companies like Uber and JUUL to reside. Given the strong relationships that Helix formed with the developer, our efficient execution of the projects, and our exceptional performance, we were asked to come back several times, increasing our scope from two projects on this site, to eight! From discovering hidden vaults and liquor cabinets, to finding a jail cell in one of the main electrical service sites, this unique jobsite was definitely one that will be remembered by Team Helix for many years to come.