Mechatronics student in an Estimating / Inside Sales internship with a full-time offer on the table. Is this a good move or am I pigeonholing myself?
Hey everyone,
I’m an undergrad Mechatronics student (about halfway through my degree) and could really use some perspective from people with more industry mileage.
A few months ago I landed an internship at a CNC/machining job shop doing Estimating and Inside Sales. Basically, my day-to-day is:
Reviewing customer CAD/prints and tolerances for manufacturing feasibility (DFM).
Quoting material, tooling, cycle times, and labor for machined parts.
Talking directly with clients about technical requirements, lead times, and pricing.
The situation is that my manager likes my work and offered to bring me on as a permanent, salaried Estimator/Inside Sales guy once my internship period ends.
Here’s where I'm conflicted:
**The upside:** Having a guaranteed, stable engineering job before graduating is great. I’m learning a ton about the business side of machining, supply chains, and what makes parts actually manufacturable vs theoretical school CAD.
**The concern:** What I genuinely love doing is hands-on mechanical design, robotics, prototyping, and CAD/CAM. I’m paranoid that taking this route early on will pigeonhole me into sales/quoting forever and kill my chances of breaking into core design, automation, or R&D later.
For anyone who’s been down this road:
- How hard is it to jump from estimating/technical sales back into a hands-on design or Mechatronics/Robotics role?
- Does DFM and quoting experience actually carry weight on a resume for design engineering roles, or will recruiters just see "sales guy"?
- Would you take the stable gig while finishing school and pivot later, or start hunting for a technical/R&D role right now?
Thanks in advance.