work

Yesterday i got my assigned projects for the year - and my schedule takes me up to July, 2006!! To start off I have a huge project that spans about 8 months, and it's a little intimidating because it's actually a big deal - i will be changing something major in the production process. I have been meeting many other students, both 4 month co-opers and getting to know the other U of T PEYrs, and it seems like my department does indeed give its students a lot of responsibility and some amazing projects. There are some other students who don't even get projects; they just have daily tasks to do. And the Waterloosers get... data entry... lol at least in some cases. Suckers.

So i guess i'm pretty happy at the way things are going, and it looks like i'll be able to get some great experience, work with some chemicals (hurrah), and even potentially get a Six Sigma Plus Green Belt certification. Training has been slow so far, but I will get to take some interesting courses, which i'm not sure that i should name lest i be hunted down and arrested (security is mega tight, i can't even bring my cell to work because it's a camera phone!).

I didn't think that i liked manufacturing environments much after my previous summer's work, but i really like the one i'm at now. For one, it's waaaaaaaay cleaner, just due to the nature of the products. And speaking of the products, it's such a cool thing to see how high-tech things are made. The other reason that i like where i am, is because i will get to do some lab work as well, for all of my research tests and stuff. I love scientific glassware!! And fumehoods and all the rest... tee hee.

Everyone is super friendly; so far i've been tailing some of the full timers, helping them out with this and that. And everywhere we go, it seems like they will chat with people for 5 - 10 minutes about everything under the sun. Today i got a cookie - some Indian treats that a couple of guys in the lab had brought in. Also, when talking to the full timers, so far every single one of them love working at the company. One guy even listed off a few companies that he warned me not to ever work for, and a couple of them had showed up as postings for PEY (ah ha). So it seems like a really nice environment. My department in particular is really relaxed and flexible about work times. I share a cubicle with my 'mentor'/supervisor, which is a little scary, but he's such a jolly man, and all he's ever done is joke around with me. The freedom is nice, and makes me want to work harder so i don't feel like a slacker :P. Also they really like to re-hire students for permanent jobs, so i'd better give this my all.

One guy in my team is actually an EngSci grad, from Aero. He didn't go to grad school, he got hired after graduation (he did PEY at this company). And something that was nice today: some random guy (I can't remember his name!) came up to me and said "You're in Engineering Science right? Wow! That's such a tough program... " and he proceeded to tell me how he went to U of T long ago and had some buddies in EngSci and so many people flunked. Hee hee. Just nice that the program is recognized! Not everyone seems to pay EngSci its due... so it's pretty cool when things like that happen.

On that note, there are 5 EngSci PEYs - myself (Nano), 2 Aeros, 1 Biomed, and 1 Manufacturing. The rest are ECEs and Mechs i think; there's about 17 of us i think. Add that to numerous summer/co-op students, and apparently there are almost 70 students working right now. Pretty crazy. It's a really big place (i get lost a lot), so it's hard to see/find other students; i haven't seen the Biomed or Manu guy since the first day. There's a student council here and they organize lunches and stuff, but there are so many people in so many departments, it's rare to see more than 10 students at a given time. Next week we will get a student lunch though, so that should be fun.

Anyways, that's it for now... working always makes me want to sleep, cuz i hate being tired at work. Even though it only takes me 10 minutes to get to work... haha ya i shouldn't complain... but i can't help it if i feel tired!

nite nite

posted by starfire @ 10:10 PM