Will Knutson did not first encounter SPARK as a college student looking for an internship.
He found SPARK as a high school student when he was trying to get a better sense of what a future in engineering might look like. At the time, his interests leaned more toward physics and pure math, and his picture of engineering was fairly narrow: hard hats, spreadsheets, and factory floors.
Then he visited SPARK and was, in his own words, “enamored.”
“That was the first time I saw all of what engineering could be,” Will said.
What stood out to him most during that first visit was the variety of the work and the people doing it. He saw a team that could move between industries, product types, and technical challenges with ease. That flexibility made a strong impression. So did Shane Diller, one of SPARK’s owners, who has remained an important mentor as Will’s interests have evolved.
Since then, Will’s own experience has widened to include everything from Formula SAE to musculoskeletal research and lower-body exoskeleton design for people with mobility challenges.
Now, after finishing his first year at Georgia Tech, he is back at SPARK as a summer intern, already working across projects and building a clearer understanding of how product development works in practice.
Working alongside experts
Part of what drew Will back to SPARK was the same thing that caught his attention years earlier: the chance to learn from people with very different kinds of expertise. In talking about the team, he keeps coming back to the range of knowledge around him — from sheet metal to industrial design to highly specialized manufacturing processes.
“You have all these different experts around you, masters of their own fields,” he said, “and they are so open and willing to share that knowledge with me.”
Alongside those experts, Will is gaining real-world knowledge and experience. In just the first few weeks, Will said he had already worked on about five different projects in some depth, and he has been surprised (in a good way) by how much responsibility he has been given, and how quickly the team expects everyone to learn.
“Everyone here is so skilled at learning things very quickly,” he said. “We’ll pick up a project that we have never heard anything about, and within a very short period of time we need to become knowledgeable in that and start figuring out what is necessary for the project.”
For Will, that pace has been one of the most energizing parts of the experience, in large part because of the culture around him.
Experience beyond the parameters of school
One of the things Will seems to appreciate most about SPARK is that it’s a place where asking questions is normal and encouraged.
He describes the team as deeply knowledgeable, but never closed off. Even as an intern, he has not felt pressure to pretend he knows more than he does. Instead, he has found a group of people who are eager to explain, teach, and help him move faster.
“Everyone here is constantly learning,” he said. “Nobody assumes that they know it all.”
That mindset has made a big impression on him. It has also helped him navigate one of the biggest differences between school and practice: the number of factors that shape real-world product development.
As Will explained, at school, many engineering problems are more contained. At SPARK, he is gaining direct experience within a more complex reality.
“One difference between school and real product development is that you’re not always searching for the absolute best solution in terms of pure math or engineering,” he said. “What you’re creating has to meet many parameters, including things like manufacturing and aesthetics. The solution has to reflect what the client wants, not just fix the problem how you think is best.”
Using the internship to test and refine
Though he is still early in his career, Will has already built a wide range of technical interests.
He is heading into his sophomore year at Georgia Tech, and he chose the school in part because of its massive student-run makerspace and hands-on culture. Outside class, he has pursued projects that range from woodworking and rock climbing to building personal fabrication tools and experimenting with 3D printing.
What stands out in talking with Will is how intentionally he approaches engineering. He is not trying to force himself into one lane too early. Instead, he is paying attention to what energizes him, what kinds of projects he wants more of, and what he may want to explore next:
“I just want to gather as much information as I can before I go out into the real world.”
Spoken like a true engineer!