After a lot of uncertainty and patience, I finally landed a job and started working last November. I was excited to finally start putting this engineering education to use. I wasn't really sure what to expect or if I would even like it at all... But in any case I figured it would beat sitting around at home for longer! Anyways, it's been a while now so I figured I would share a bit about my work life now. I get a lot of questions whenever I see people, so maybe this will give some insight to everyone who's curious.
The company I work for is called Plant Engineering Services. It's a relatively small company (there's 30 or so people in our office and I think it's one of the biggest... honestly don't know much about PES though) but it's a subsidiary of a very large company called Fluor. Fluor is one of the top engineering consulting and design firms in the US, so I was super thankful for this opportunity. For me, this has been an excellent way to start things off. Being employed by and connected to Fluor has some major benefits. But at the same time, I'm working in a small office where things are more personal. I suppose you could say it's the career equivalent of going to a well respected university but having small classes with professors who know your name.
My boss is a very nice and super extroverted engineer from Lebanon who came to the US for college. Apparently my Master's degree was a big selling point with him, so I guess the extra pain and time it involved was worth it. :)
For the most part I've really enjoyed my time so far! Sometimes things seem a bit slow... Though Erin and I were talking about this and we're starting to wonder if Georgia Tech is to blame for that? We're starting to get the impression that the real world is a lot more laid back and chill than college was. From our experience at least. Everyone at work goes on and on about how busy things are... Granted, some of them do seem to work a lot. But I think a lot of them get paid by the hour and just have nothing better to do. Because they sure aren't as frantic as Tech students with a homework assignment due!
I spent the first couple weeks fitting in and figuring things out. Doing my best to meet people. I think I was a bit intimated by it all at first... I did (do) NOT know how to be an engineer. What in the world are these people thinking to have hired me? But they seem to be think otherwise. :)
Anyways, it really has been fantastic. I've learned a lot so far. And I've learned that I knew more than I thought I did! There's certainly an element of hesitation involved... What if I make a mistake? It has REAL consequences now, not just a bad grade! And there's no solutions manual to check or classmate to compare with after you do the problem! But I've decided that's why I don't have a professional license yet. My mistakes are my boss's responsibility for now. :) That's comforting.
I've been working on one project in particular so far and it has been absolutely fascinating. Basically there's a fertilizer plant just south of Baton Rouge, and they have an ammonia plant on site. The ingredients of ammonia are pretty explosive apparently (methane and hydrogen gas I think). Of course they're pretty tight on safety in these places, they want to know what will happen if such an explosion were to occur... A while back a team of engineers did a bunch of chemistry magic and put together a report of all the possible explosion scenarios. It's our job to tell them what will happen to the buildings that are nearby.
This type of problem actually involves a lot of things that I learned during my Masters program, so I've been really pumped to actually apply it. I hadn't expected to do anything quite like it- at least not so soon. And it's definitely very fulfilling to dig into the problems and understand it. I actually learned stuff! We also got to go visit the site two weeks ago, which I really enjoyed. It makes the reality of it sink in when you actually see these buildings that you've been drawing pictures of and performing calculations on.
My only complaint so far is that I've been flying solo on my project. It's just me and (when he has time) my boss. Everyone else in the office seem to be on the same page with a number of big, crazy projects that are going on. Meanwhile I just sort of chill as I work on my one-man project. BUT apparently I'll be phasing into a new project this week, so I'm excited about that. :)
Other than the work itself, and despite the fact I've been a bit lonely on my project, I've been doing my best to keep on meeting people. It's fun to work at such a small office where everybody knows each other!
If you have a moment, I could always use some prayer! Both in learning to love and befriend my coworkers better and in learning to be the best structural engineer I can be!
Thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any other questions, either in person or in the comments below.
The company I work for is called Plant Engineering Services. It's a relatively small company (there's 30 or so people in our office and I think it's one of the biggest... honestly don't know much about PES though) but it's a subsidiary of a very large company called Fluor. Fluor is one of the top engineering consulting and design firms in the US, so I was super thankful for this opportunity. For me, this has been an excellent way to start things off. Being employed by and connected to Fluor has some major benefits. But at the same time, I'm working in a small office where things are more personal. I suppose you could say it's the career equivalent of going to a well respected university but having small classes with professors who know your name.
My boss is a very nice and super extroverted engineer from Lebanon who came to the US for college. Apparently my Master's degree was a big selling point with him, so I guess the extra pain and time it involved was worth it. :)
For the most part I've really enjoyed my time so far! Sometimes things seem a bit slow... Though Erin and I were talking about this and we're starting to wonder if Georgia Tech is to blame for that? We're starting to get the impression that the real world is a lot more laid back and chill than college was. From our experience at least. Everyone at work goes on and on about how busy things are... Granted, some of them do seem to work a lot. But I think a lot of them get paid by the hour and just have nothing better to do. Because they sure aren't as frantic as Tech students with a homework assignment due!
I spent the first couple weeks fitting in and figuring things out. Doing my best to meet people. I think I was a bit intimated by it all at first... I did (do) NOT know how to be an engineer. What in the world are these people thinking to have hired me? But they seem to be think otherwise. :)
Anyways, it really has been fantastic. I've learned a lot so far. And I've learned that I knew more than I thought I did! There's certainly an element of hesitation involved... What if I make a mistake? It has REAL consequences now, not just a bad grade! And there's no solutions manual to check or classmate to compare with after you do the problem! But I've decided that's why I don't have a professional license yet. My mistakes are my boss's responsibility for now. :) That's comforting.
I've been working on one project in particular so far and it has been absolutely fascinating. Basically there's a fertilizer plant just south of Baton Rouge, and they have an ammonia plant on site. The ingredients of ammonia are pretty explosive apparently (methane and hydrogen gas I think). Of course they're pretty tight on safety in these places, they want to know what will happen if such an explosion were to occur... A while back a team of engineers did a bunch of chemistry magic and put together a report of all the possible explosion scenarios. It's our job to tell them what will happen to the buildings that are nearby.
This type of problem actually involves a lot of things that I learned during my Masters program, so I've been really pumped to actually apply it. I hadn't expected to do anything quite like it- at least not so soon. And it's definitely very fulfilling to dig into the problems and understand it. I actually learned stuff! We also got to go visit the site two weeks ago, which I really enjoyed. It makes the reality of it sink in when you actually see these buildings that you've been drawing pictures of and performing calculations on.
My only complaint so far is that I've been flying solo on my project. It's just me and (when he has time) my boss. Everyone else in the office seem to be on the same page with a number of big, crazy projects that are going on. Meanwhile I just sort of chill as I work on my one-man project. BUT apparently I'll be phasing into a new project this week, so I'm excited about that. :)
Other than the work itself, and despite the fact I've been a bit lonely on my project, I've been doing my best to keep on meeting people. It's fun to work at such a small office where everybody knows each other!
If you have a moment, I could always use some prayer! Both in learning to love and befriend my coworkers better and in learning to be the best structural engineer I can be!
Thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any other questions, either in person or in the comments below.
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