At our Boston Campus, the North American headquarters of Dassault Systèmes and home to many SOLIDWORKS employees, a vibrant summer has come to a close for the 2025 intern cohort. With our project trackers filled with checkmarks and our designs fresh from the printers in the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab, this cohort looked back at a summer to remember with a sense of accomplishment and camaraderie that goes well beyond the assignments.
When interns join Dassault Systèmes, they join a community where innovation is encouraged and elevated. This vision attracts individuals from diverse disciplines, fostering a collaborative atmosphere where people work together to drive real change. If you want to change the world and define what it means to be an innovator, you should join us.
Even in its most entry-level positions, Dassault Systèmes looks for disruptors—people unafraid to question established methods and challenge the status quo. Bringing together such a dynamic group ensures constant learning and growth for everyone involved. Unique contributions from every intern help shape the innovative projects that define our culture.
Here at Dassault Systèmes, interns are entrusted with meaningful responsibilities and supported as they learn and grow. We’ve experienced firsthand what it means to break down silos within the workplace. It’s not unusual to see interns from different teams brainstorming in conference rooms, trading insights during lunch or celebrating wins together after work.
I’m Mia Carboni, a corporate communications intern. I’d like to give you a glimpse of what this summer has been like for me and my peers. I talked to interns from:
- The SOLIDWORKS Training Team
- The Business Development Representatives Team
- The Data Science Team
- SOLIDWORKS Strategic Planning Team
- SOLIDWORKS Software Engineering Team
- SOLIDWORKS AI and Machine Learning Team
The SOLIDWORKS Training Team transforming STEM education: Sam, Sofia, Max and Johanna
If you’re reading this post, you may already know about SOLIDWORKS, our cutting-edge, user-friendly design software popular among engineers. But had you heard about it in middle school? Thanks to the help from a team of interns at Dassault Systèmes, students today are using our tools in middle and high school classrooms, gaining an early introduction to innovation and technology. Breaking down barriers to accessing and using our technology is the top priority for the SOLIDWORKS Training Team. This summer, their interns have worked hard designing educational projects to inspire the next generation of STEM leaders.
I met up with Max Inman, Sofia Murphy, Johanna Castillo Mejia and Sam Mard, four engineering students who spent their summer creating hands-on projects for classrooms. Each designed an engaging activity that students would be excited to replicate. Sam built a balloon-powered racer, Max crafted a balsa wood glider, Sofia designed a marble run and Johanna created a kinetic sculpture. Beyond the designs, they developed comprehensive educational materials for teachers, wrote tutorials and even created marketing content to support their projects.
When I asked how their projects came together—literally and figuratively—their answers revealed the thoughtfulness behind their designs.
“It’s not just about showing [students] how to CAD,” Sofia explained, referring to computer-aided design software like SOLIDWORKS and xDesign. “We also want to develop a curriculum for classrooms that goes beyond CAD. The whole point is to create things that you can fabricate. You see a thing in CAD, and it’s not super exciting—it’s gone when you shut your computer. But these projects, students can actually make and play with.” The goal is to inspire students with the power of innovation, empowering them to explore STEM fields with confidence.
Sam noted these projects are designed to complement classroom learning. “Our projects are supposed to be used in the classroom and extend on what a child might be learning in, like, physics class,” he said.“Maybe their teacher wants them to model this car to teach them about Newton’s laws of motion, or this glider. I know Max has a whole section in his documentation about the center of mass and lift versus drag.” These projects provide students with visual, hands-on representations of complex concepts, making STEM education more accessible and engaging.
For Johanna, the accessibility of these projects is key. “For a kid to learn CAD through a fun project like this, I think, is a lot less intimidating than opening up SOLIDWORKS and being hit with the blank screen and all the features, and you don’t know what to do,” she said. By starting with approachable, exciting projects, students can build confidence in their abilities and see the potential of technology in action.
Beyond the extensive practice using SOLIDWORKS software and a boatload of technical skills, this team came away with some hard-to-find experience. They became experts in communication—an often-overlooked but critical aspect of engineering. “It doesn’t matter if you’re the best designer ever if you can’t tell people how good your design is,” Sofia explained. After a summer learning technical writing and marketing strategy, these four young professionals aren’t going to have that problem.
Although I already sensed how close the team had become, I asked them how it had been working together over the last few months. It turns out that having a close-knit team was a huge bonus. “Especially when we were brainstorming, we would bounce so many ideas off each other,” Sofia said.“It’s nice to have a group of other interns working on similar projects. We’re all kind of on a similar level, so we could ask each other for design tips.”
Sam agreed, adding, “Being with a team that is constantly communicating and updating with each other and working together—I think that’s been my favorite part about this job.”
Michelle Catano, Business Development Representatives Team
An internship at Dassault Systèmes is often a launchpad into a vibrant career, but for Michelle Catano, it was a multi-stage rocket. As an intern on the Business Development Representatives (BDR) team, a group focused on creating new business opportunities, she quickly demonstrated that in a company like Dassault Systèmes, your role is just the starting point. Although the structured nature of the research and outreach-based role initially appealed to Michelle, her unique skillset, connections within the office and dedication to learning quickly led to opportunities that reached far beyond her original job description.
Her managers in the Business Development team noticed her work ethic and eagerness for new challenges. They encouraged her to explore projects outside her immediate tasks, helping her connect with the North America director on the “Fantasy League,” a sales competition modeled after fantasy football, for which she handled weekly progress reports and helped drive team motivation.
Michelle’s experience reflects the broader intern journey here. Each day welcomes curiosity and initiative, while the environment makes it easy to see how individual contributions shape the company’s success. Despite working at the North American headquarters, Michelle also began contributing to campaigns with the Latin America (LATAM) team. Her Spanish skills were a key advantage as a bilingual speaker, helping the team connect with a hard-to-reach audience and demonstrating how individual talents can benefit the entire company.
What defined Michelle’s internship was the freedom to follow her interests. When she wanted to learn more about marketing, her mentors responded by finding her new projects that matched her ambition. According to Michelle, this environment, where questions are encouraged and initiative is rewarded, allowed her to build confidence and strong professional relationships. “My team always encouraged me to ask questions and they never discouraged me from finding new ways to use my skills at my job,” she told me. “This team is the most welcoming I’ve ever worked for.”
And for Michelle, as is the case for many interns here at Dassault Systèmes, the end of summer didn’t mark the end of her time with Dassault Systèmes. “My two managers pushed me to apply for the GDP, and I think I will,” she said. The GDP, or the graduate development program, is an award-winning, 12-month paid program designed specifically for new and recent college graduates to fast-track their careers in business, part of Dassault Systèmes’ learning and development initiatives. In any case, Michelle accepted an internship extension to continue working as she returns to college—no surprise to me or her peers, who see how she represents this organization’s visionary and creative spirit.
What advice does Michelle have for those who find themselves in her shoes?
“In the end, these people, your team, are all willing to help you,” she said.“No question is a stupid question. Which is great, because I like to know every single little detail. Here, everyone is really invested in your learning.”
By the end of the internship, Michelle isn’t just more experienced; she’s part of a network of friends and mentors who value each other’s efforts, and the relationships she built are as crucial as the work itself.
Nishanth Nagesh, Data Science Intern for ENOVIA
For Nishanth Nagesh, Dassault Systèmes stands out as much more than a workplace. It’s a crossroads for global perspectives, where innovation shapes every interaction. Nishanth first joined the company in India as a software engineer, then left to pursue a master’s degree here in the United States. But there was no hesitation when the opportunity came to intern at our North American headquarters in Waltham. “I really loved the collaboration and the culture,” he reflected, attributing his decision to return to the sense of openness and support he remembers so clearly.
Now part of the data science team, Nishanth is developing an AI assistant for our ENOVIA brand’s sourcing tools. His focus: making advanced features accessible with simple, human-readable requests. “If they don’t know how to use something, they can simply ask the assistant,” he explained, “which means the assistant not only helps someone use the tool, it makes their work faster and more efficient.” The AI assistant will be intelligent enough to guide users through complex processes or even complete tasks. For Nishanth, this wasn’t uncharted territory—he built similar AI assistants during his university days, an experience that gave him the confidence to contribute meaningfully at his internship while still learning with every step.
But what truly set his experience apart was the collective spirit behind every breakthrough. Sitting alongside colleagues worldwide, he saw firsthand how mentorship, shared ambition and daily exchange of ideas fuel progress. He’s quick to point out the encouragement he received from peers and senior team members, noting that the culture at Dassault Systèmes makes stepping out of one’s comfort zone feel less daunting and more invigorating.
Many of these connections are formed outside formal meetings. Nishanth valued the casual camaraderie of afternoon gym sessions with fellow interns and after-work outings that brought everyone together. He told me he’s made many really close friends in the office, and you can find them walking around the campus during lunch nearly every day. When you bring together energetic, visionary engineers passionate about problem-solving, it’s no wonder they become great friends.
Nishanth’s journey draws a line not just across disciplines, but across continents. He’s seen how ideas, energy and opportunity flow seamlessly in this company, connecting teams and talent who might otherwise never meet. Looking ahead as he continues his internship, Nishanth felt confident he’d found a place that celebrates growth and curiosity. At Dassault Systèmes, he sees a future shaped by collective discovery and a shared commitment to what’s possible, fueled by the people who make innovation a daily reality.
Hermina Judith Chinnappan and Saahithi Sonati, Strategic Planning Interns for SOLIDWORKS
For Hermina Judith Chinnappan and Saahithi Sonati, their summer at Dassault Systèmes was shaped by collaboration, mentorship and the ability to ask meaningful questions right from the start.
Both came aboard as Strategic Planning Interns for SOLIDWORKS, each tackling a unique part of a shared project: building dashboards that transformed revenue, sales and licensing data into vibrant, accessible visuals. “In layman’s terms,” Saahithi explained, “you basically see the history of SOLIDWORKS in colors.”
Though their focus areas differed, the work soon led to an unexpected and welcome partnership. “We didn’t know we’d be working so closely, but it made everything more rewarding,” Hermina said. Sitting just across from each other, the two met regularly to brainstorm, troubleshoot and swap advice, quickly becoming each other’s main support as they navigated their summer.
Early in their internship, all SOLIDWORKS interns attended a session where senior leaders introduced their work and opened the floor for questions. This meeting set a clear precedent for the company’s supportive atmosphere. “The company culture here is awesome, the open-door policy is absolutely stunning,” Saahithi said.
This environment made it easy for her to seek guidance tailored to her career interests. “They were very helpful, because I do want to get into product management as a career,” she explained. Following the introduction, one of the product management leaders met with Saahithi, taking out a whiteboard to map out the company’s structure and the field of product management itself. The experience left a lasting impression. “I felt like they genuinely cared about my growth as a young professional,” Saahithi reflected.
Alongside their main project, Saahithi and Hermina both gravitated toward opportunities that built connections outside their immediate team. Hermina collaborated on AI projects with other interns and found that even sharing an apartment with another intern expanded her view of the company community. Saahithi threw herself into the company culture, joining lunchtime ice cream breaks, volunteering at Family Day and picking up guitar in a workshop led by a fellow Dassault Systèmes employee.
Their story is one of showing up with questions, taking advantage of open doors, and discovering that support can come from anywhere—a manager, a teammate or even a new friend across the lunch table. For Saahithi and Hermina, the company’s approach to introducing interns to SOLIDWORKS didn’t just shape their first day; it gave them the confidence to step forward, get involved and make the most of every opportunity.
Vanessa Verma, Digital Marketing Strategies and Campaigns Intern
Some internships build on what you already know. Others immerse you in uncharted territory, and that takes courage. For Vanessa Verma, joining Dassault Systèmes as a digital marketing specialist was an exercise in adaptability. New acronyms. New platforms. New stakes. Her background in consumer marketing left her well-versed in campaigns, but still, much about digital marketing looked unfamiliar. Every day became a study in translating unfamiliar technical language into actionable communication.
Vanessa’s days took on the rhythm of research and refinement on the North American campaign marketing team. She dug into website analytics, untangled what made a landing page effective, and adjusted calls to action for optimal engagement across brands like DELMIA. Much of her work centered on competitive intelligence. Her own summary says it best: “I’d say I’m basically Dora the Explorer—just online. I’m always searching for how other companies market themselves online.”
The technical learning curve was sharper than expected, but what set her experience apart was the team. “My team was super welcoming,” Vanessa recalled. “They were there for me since day one. We went out for lunch together, had ice cream together. … I’ve never felt so welcome!”
For Vanessa, as for many of us, the collaborative and supportive environment made a world of difference. After a while, unfamiliar concepts and skills became second nature. By summer’s end, she felt almost like a “semi-engineer,” a testament to how much ground can be covered with sustained curiosity.
Discovery didn’t stop at her desk. The campus itself was one of the things Vanessa loved about this summer. Dassault Systèmes’ sustainable architecture and green spaces upended Vanessa’s preconceptions of corporate life. “It’s very peaceful out here,” she reflected. “It makes it easier to work when I know that the campus is so energy efficient and sustainable.” As she put it, nature and design blend to create a “visually stimulating and very comfortable” working environment.
Looking back, Vanessa doesn’t talk about tasks completed so much as horizons widened. The summer was a deliberate step beyond comfort and certainty—a “good chance to do a little bit of self-reflection,” as she put it. In the end, she found new technical skills and the satisfaction of contributing to something broad and meaningful, surrounded by a team that values learning as much as results.
Janarthanan Krishnamoorthy, Software Engineering Intern with SOLIDWORKS
When I sat down with Janarthanan Krishnamoorthy, we spoke the same language: curiosity, ambition and coffee-fueled days in the lab. He’s a grad student at the University of Pittsburgh, bringing theory and practice together during his six-month software engineering internship at SOLIDWORKS. Almost instantly, Janarthanan found himself right in the thick of AI development, helping to shape the future of intelligent services that streamline workflow. “I basically work on AI agent development to automate the mundane tasks and enhance the productivity across different teams,” he told me.
What stands out most in Janarthanan’s story is just how much room for creativity and learning he’s been given. In the AI space, things move fast—one day there’s a new model, and the next, it’s already making its way into real-world code. Janarthanan didn’t just get a front-row seat; he got to dive right in: “I’m allowed to try out new technologies, which are being released all the time,” he grinned. When OpenAI launched a new tool, he started plugging it into his project the very next day. That level of trust isn’t always guaranteed in an internship, and he knows it. “If I were under a different employer, I may not be allowed to explore so many different tech stacks,” he said.
Janarthanan’s impact hasn’t gone unnoticed. He’s helped develop a sophisticated video editing platform that transforms the workflow for the product management team. “I’m also working directly with Manish [Kumar], the CEO of SOLIDWORKS,” he shared, still sounding a little surprised at his luck. “That was really a surprise, actually. I did not know that I would be working with the CEO directly!” It’s the kind of story you hope to retell one day—starting off just eager to learn, then suddenly fielding advice from leadership.
He didn’t stop at one team, either. Janarthanan enhanced a documentation workflow too, building an AI-powered chat tool that helps teams create better help docs (something all of us who’ve wrestled with dense documentation can appreciate). By the time his internship wrapped up, these tools were set to become an integral part of the SOLIDWORKS experience, a testament to how seriously the company takes hands-on intern contributions.
The lessons go beyond code. Watching Janarthanan navigate different teams and departments, it was obvious he’ll walk away from this experience with more than technical milestones. “Working with the cross-functional teams will help me improve communication between them and complete their requirements successfully,” he reflected.
Support, he said, was foundational here. When he hit a wall with technical hurdles, there was no shortage of colleagues stepping up. “I was getting help from my manager … and the product manager,” Janarthanan said. “Together, they helped me set up the local models on the virtual machines … so that I could overcome that challenge and proceed with my application development.” His experience—collaborative, encouraging and open—is what many of us hope our first industry experiences will feel like.
Nithya Rajkumar, AI Intern with SOLIDWORKS
For AI Intern Nithya Rajkumar, the world of machine learning is not just a buzzword; it’s a hands-on challenge with the potential to reshape design. Working with the SOLIDWORKS AI and Machine Learning team, also known as the Generative Experiences team, Nithya tackles one of the industry’s most complex problems. Her project is ambitious yet simple in its goal: “Given a 2D image of any real-world object, I need to build a model that can give me the 3D version of that object on SOLIDWORKS.”
This task placed her at the forefront of innovation. The ability to automatically generate a 3D model from a simple picture would revolutionize the design process, making it faster and more intuitive for users everywhere. As Nithya noted, this isn’t just a SOLIDWORKS project; it’s a race among all major CAD software companies. “If you take, like, any other CAD software in the market right now, all of our competitors included, no one has been able to solve this problem yet,” she explained. “It’s a rat race to see who gets there first.”
Working in a research-oriented role comes with unique challenges compared to more deterministic software development. Success isn’t measured by daily completed tasks but by gradual progress in a field without guaranteed answers. “You’re sitting at your desk every morning to solve a problem that no one solved before,” Nithya said. Initially, this was a difficult adjustment for someone who is goal-oriented and accustomed to quantifying progress.
“I’ve pretty quickly realized that I’m not able to quantify my progress here, so initially that was really difficult to deal with,” she admitted. This feeling of doing a lot without seeing immediate outputs was a significant hurdle. However, the culture within her team provided the perspective she needed. Conversations with colleagues helped her understand that this is the nature of research. “You can’t really expect an output all the time,” she said. “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s about the process.” This shift in mindset allowed her to embrace the trial-and-error nature of her work and find satisfaction in the journey of discovery itself.
There’s an excitement surrounding AI that permeates the entire team, from engineers to product managers. “Everyone’s really in the loop of what’s going on, so we have a lot of interesting conversations,” she said. This open and collaborative atmosphere means support is always available during a formal meeting or a casual coffee break. The constant exchange of ideas and honest feedback creates a practical and grounding influence, helping to keep ambitious research projects on track.
“It’s just really nice to have those kinds of people around you,” Nithya said. “It’s a great place to be, and a great time to be in the AI and machine learning space. I’m really, really glad to be here.” Her experience is a testament to the power of a supportive culture in fostering innovation, where tackling unsolved problems is not just a job but a shared and exciting endeavor.
What we’ve learned
Reflecting on this past summer, I’m amazed by how much we accomplished together, from solving real-world problems to learning from each other and discovering what makes this company truly innovative. The end of the internship doesn’t mean the end of our story at Dassault Systèmes; for many, it’s the beginning of a longer journey here. But no matter where our paths lead next, we carry the confidence and curiosity sparked by this experience.
If you’re considering your own next step, I can’t recommend checking out the opportunities for a Dassault Systèmes internship enough. Head over to our careers page to see the latest openings for internships and full-time roles. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to grow in an innovative, collaborative community, you might find that this is exactly where you want to be.