This term has been a learning experience in more ways than one. Taking a course load with one more than required has made me a very busy person but I don't regret taking hydraulics. It's not something I'm going to commit to as a profession and neither is it a bird course, but it's the most interesting and out there so far. Provided that the extra education is free and that I can maintain decent marks, I don't see why I shouldn't try it out.
The engineering discussions course that I got admitted to is not what I had expected at all. Well not necessarily, I expected it to be a lot of mayhem and time stumbling trying to get its feet. A quick summary is that the class has basically been about designing a new university, what we'd focus on, what's the target group of students, how we'd hope for it to succeed. This was an idea of the prof's that we went along with, it seems a little random and we haven't done the best job at it really, though it's an overwhelming task to try and tackle. I've felt a bit odd that my ideas get shot down a lot when I try and suggest very out-of-the-box topics to discuss in relation to this new university project. The first day I stated my intention to learn more about the engineering society and try and find whether it is an honest group of people or if the problems in engineering are rooted in a flawed system. This was soon dismissed by the prof and I feel a bit rejected in that sense.
I did enjoy presenting bill C-32 about the Copyright Modernization Act that I felt tied into this university project's intellectual property (somehow) and I was able to expose the class to some vital information that I feel would benefit them to know. There was a coo in the second or third week of the class because there was no progression or direction, I think since then it's been better but I feel it spreading very wide now, by now I'm just watching to see what happens with this course, some people are being ridiculously committed to the course. This course is in replacement of a non-science course, which does not tend to impede on homework time. Though I commend people on being proactive, it's a bit much since the main focus of the course is to improve communication skills.
Another thing is that a lot of these students like to talk, I am convinced some enjoy hearing themselves talk, which is fine and dandy for them, but leaves little time for the rest of the students. I prefer to sit back and think for a bit so that I don't say something silly, but this course's marking would suggest that I need to speak up right away. Doesn't entirely make sense to me.
Therefore in summary, my protesting is being squashed, though I get some interesting comments in the conversations on rare occasions. We'll see how this course concludes, it seems its on the course calendar for next year.
A compendium of my encounters in structural/civil engineering at the University of Waterloo, co-op, swing dancing, and life in general.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
I'm in, now how to get my answers...
It's been a while since I've posted, mainly since despite my digging for information, I've been on this side of fruitless in my search. All of the articles that I've come across on the internet regarding issues with engineers and engineering have been actually about the challenges that engineers face, which is entirely different. Nothing so far on the PEO and their model of their self-governing organization, other than what their site and Wiki have to say.
For Fall 2010 I've been accepted into the CIVE497 course that will discuss engineering issues in politics, environment and society in order to improve our communication skills. I have to admit, though I'm not insatiably excited about the course, I feel sometimes like this course could have a lot to offer and that this experience (if all goes well) could shape the rest of my engineering career. During the course, I really wish to be able to challenge the reasoning behind the structure of the engineering government and to fully understand their processes that I don't understand at the moment. Since the course is new, flexible, and presented as a course that can be altered in terms of the direction of discussion according to the students, it seems like I could get my questions answered and possibly spark some interesting debate about the existentialism of the PEO. A kind of 'taking it down from the inside' I suppose.
I have to admit though, discussion of politics and environment as it pertains to engineering (more specifically civil and mechanical engineering) is quite interesting on its own. Even as a recent example, today in Waterloo there was an intense rainfall where between the times of 8:00 and 8:15, 20mm of rain fell and as of the previous night, a total of 65mm had fallen. Pictures circulated the internet of local flooded roads, water gushing out like geysers from storm sewers, and the boardwalk at Silver Lake in Waterloo Park being completely submerged. Projecting the 20mm in 15 min rainfall would mean that this storm was in excess of a 100 year storm, a design criteria I know well from work this term. I can see that at this given amount of rain, the storm system was over capacity and the sediment-laden waters would run off the land straight into the water ways without any sedimentation or filtration. This poses huge environmental impacts since more suspended solids has temperature and habitat effects. I wonder if there's any political impact of this storm, such as water damaged properties or city infrastructure.
It was interesting to hear from my friend yesterday as we were discussing something as small as the environmental impacts of hand-drying alternatives initiated by Conestoga Mall, she commented on my obvious enthousiasm and knowledge on the subject. Though I feel I know so little and never enough (since the world feels like a limitless source of information). She commented how it got her to stop and think about the alternatives of cloth towels to paper towels to hand dryers (since electricity and industrial cleaners are not directly observable to the user, it seems like they are preferred options to paper towels, though this can be debated either way. I like the idea of cloth towels since one is not likely to use more than one and it's way too easy to take more paper towels than you need, and electric hand dryers are very slow and ineffective in most cases).
Also, I'm looking into this whole Engineers Without Borders and how it works. Since my boyfriend came back from a vacation to Tanzania, he's had a new humbleness for all of the fantastic things in his life such as running water and the ability to buy lots of food on a whim and make a large tasty dinner. As a civil engineer, I see how my studies can be used in the context to directly improve the quality of life for people living in developing countries where the access to clean potable water and sanitation are well defined and separated. I've gotten the urge to want to help, but I feel somewhat skeptical of development organizations. The type of work that I'd be doing in the Waterloo chapter would be to drum up interest in other people in town, nothing directly correlated to helping those in need since only a few people and students are sponsored each year. To volunteer so much as to be considered an involved member of the group in order to be more likely to be chosen seems like something I just don't have the time to do. I'm thinking that working for a firm or a non-profit organization that does civil and structural engineering work for post-disaster relief aid would be really neat and a great application of my skills to the real, deserving world (harsh I know). I quickly looked into it and it looks like it possibly exists.
Anyways, more on this later when I have some time to research.
For Fall 2010 I've been accepted into the CIVE497 course that will discuss engineering issues in politics, environment and society in order to improve our communication skills. I have to admit, though I'm not insatiably excited about the course, I feel sometimes like this course could have a lot to offer and that this experience (if all goes well) could shape the rest of my engineering career. During the course, I really wish to be able to challenge the reasoning behind the structure of the engineering government and to fully understand their processes that I don't understand at the moment. Since the course is new, flexible, and presented as a course that can be altered in terms of the direction of discussion according to the students, it seems like I could get my questions answered and possibly spark some interesting debate about the existentialism of the PEO. A kind of 'taking it down from the inside' I suppose.
I have to admit though, discussion of politics and environment as it pertains to engineering (more specifically civil and mechanical engineering) is quite interesting on its own. Even as a recent example, today in Waterloo there was an intense rainfall where between the times of 8:00 and 8:15, 20mm of rain fell and as of the previous night, a total of 65mm had fallen. Pictures circulated the internet of local flooded roads, water gushing out like geysers from storm sewers, and the boardwalk at Silver Lake in Waterloo Park being completely submerged. Projecting the 20mm in 15 min rainfall would mean that this storm was in excess of a 100 year storm, a design criteria I know well from work this term. I can see that at this given amount of rain, the storm system was over capacity and the sediment-laden waters would run off the land straight into the water ways without any sedimentation or filtration. This poses huge environmental impacts since more suspended solids has temperature and habitat effects. I wonder if there's any political impact of this storm, such as water damaged properties or city infrastructure.
It was interesting to hear from my friend yesterday as we were discussing something as small as the environmental impacts of hand-drying alternatives initiated by Conestoga Mall, she commented on my obvious enthousiasm and knowledge on the subject. Though I feel I know so little and never enough (since the world feels like a limitless source of information). She commented how it got her to stop and think about the alternatives of cloth towels to paper towels to hand dryers (since electricity and industrial cleaners are not directly observable to the user, it seems like they are preferred options to paper towels, though this can be debated either way. I like the idea of cloth towels since one is not likely to use more than one and it's way too easy to take more paper towels than you need, and electric hand dryers are very slow and ineffective in most cases).
Also, I'm looking into this whole Engineers Without Borders and how it works. Since my boyfriend came back from a vacation to Tanzania, he's had a new humbleness for all of the fantastic things in his life such as running water and the ability to buy lots of food on a whim and make a large tasty dinner. As a civil engineer, I see how my studies can be used in the context to directly improve the quality of life for people living in developing countries where the access to clean potable water and sanitation are well defined and separated. I've gotten the urge to want to help, but I feel somewhat skeptical of development organizations. The type of work that I'd be doing in the Waterloo chapter would be to drum up interest in other people in town, nothing directly correlated to helping those in need since only a few people and students are sponsored each year. To volunteer so much as to be considered an involved member of the group in order to be more likely to be chosen seems like something I just don't have the time to do. I'm thinking that working for a firm or a non-profit organization that does civil and structural engineering work for post-disaster relief aid would be really neat and a great application of my skills to the real, deserving world (harsh I know). I quickly looked into it and it looks like it possibly exists.
Anyways, more on this later when I have some time to research.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
The good, the bad, the missing
Having not posted for a while, I've been sitting around contemplating where I'm at with how I feel about engineering. After having talked to recent graduates from engineering programs and non engineers, I see that there are a few of the former that have come across the same weird feeling as I have, whereas the latter does not seem to see the reason for my concern.
I tried searching the internet for other people that may be blogging about their mixed feelings on the medical, law, or engineering professions, and there's surprisingly little about the profession group organization itself. Most things that come up are issues that engineers face, or how engineers have had to face a corrupt group that they had to work with. I'm wondering if the topic of corruption or issues with the governance of the PEO is just something I perceive, or that people aren't speaking about it. Recent graduates have told me that they've contemplated why the PEO acts the way they do, why their literature is packed full of "gossip" over who sued who over improper engineering practices (this seems like petty squabbling to me when engineering designs are not compromised). Apparently, I'll learn more about the PEO during the Iron Ring Ceremony that I will have in about 2 years time. Some of the information provides insight into why the PEO is organized as it is, and some information will make silly concepts even sillier. One of the aspects of the PEO that I find silly is how the PEO portrays itself to the public, requiring engineers to make the public aware of the profession, yet many of their resources and decisions seem closed-book.
Non-engineers have generally been of the opinion that these type of professional organization woes happen with multiple professions such as doctors, lawyers, architects, and anything with a registered organization. It was pointed out that at this point, what matters is that my life's work is what I am interested in, and that I just have to deal with the ridiculousness of the self-governed organization because I will get it almost anywhere. Essentially, I'm being told to, as in the words of my very good friend Chris, "suck it up, princess". Not desirable, but I see the truth in what they sat, I just have a hard time accepting it.
The good that I have concluded about the professional engineering is that it is essential to have a governing system to structure engineering design in order to protect the public. I see this moreso than anything in structural engineering. As a sidenote, it is interesting to see how the general media covers the consequences of the breaking of dams in Alberta. This type of catastrophe is the kind that an engineer hopes to never have associated with their name for the livelihood in the engineering industry. I have been finding through my co-op terms that your engineering reputation in the industry is extremely important as a measure of trust, though this is perhaps one of the profession's weaknesses. Engineers would rather jump through as many hoops as possible within the PEO to maintain a clean design history free of major errors. Therefore, I see nothing majorly wrong with the PEO Act which instructs engineers on their duties, roles, and obligations since I believe these are essential common sense (should this exist) ground rules. On the other hand, the human aspect of the PEO seems a bit flawed with respect to the information that I know.
And now for something completely different...
I may yet have an outlet for my engineering profession queries. During my next school term in fall 2010, UW is setting up a course to explore the current issues facing the engineering industry. These topics will hopefully branch into sustainability, economics, and politics. The actual purpose of this course is to improve communication skills via conventional (written, spoken) and non-conventional (blogs, vlogs, audio recordings) means. Now, this course is by application only, which I had done (in a oh-so-boring conventional letter mainly because I wanted to use a form factor for my appliation that I was comfortable with). I hope to be accepted where I may be able to ask my questions about the engineering industry and the function of the PEO and other societies for engineers. This could be a good think tank pick-other-peoples'-brains opportunity that may strengthen the resolution of my questions. I have no problem in admitting that I was wrong about my feelings of the industry or the profession, I just feel like I have a lack of information available, or that it's just not a common enough viewpoint to be able to find that many others to discuss this with. Why are fresh ideas hard to find?
I tried searching the internet for other people that may be blogging about their mixed feelings on the medical, law, or engineering professions, and there's surprisingly little about the profession group organization itself. Most things that come up are issues that engineers face, or how engineers have had to face a corrupt group that they had to work with. I'm wondering if the topic of corruption or issues with the governance of the PEO is just something I perceive, or that people aren't speaking about it. Recent graduates have told me that they've contemplated why the PEO acts the way they do, why their literature is packed full of "gossip" over who sued who over improper engineering practices (this seems like petty squabbling to me when engineering designs are not compromised). Apparently, I'll learn more about the PEO during the Iron Ring Ceremony that I will have in about 2 years time. Some of the information provides insight into why the PEO is organized as it is, and some information will make silly concepts even sillier. One of the aspects of the PEO that I find silly is how the PEO portrays itself to the public, requiring engineers to make the public aware of the profession, yet many of their resources and decisions seem closed-book.
Non-engineers have generally been of the opinion that these type of professional organization woes happen with multiple professions such as doctors, lawyers, architects, and anything with a registered organization. It was pointed out that at this point, what matters is that my life's work is what I am interested in, and that I just have to deal with the ridiculousness of the self-governed organization because I will get it almost anywhere. Essentially, I'm being told to, as in the words of my very good friend Chris, "suck it up, princess". Not desirable, but I see the truth in what they sat, I just have a hard time accepting it.
The good that I have concluded about the professional engineering is that it is essential to have a governing system to structure engineering design in order to protect the public. I see this moreso than anything in structural engineering. As a sidenote, it is interesting to see how the general media covers the consequences of the breaking of dams in Alberta. This type of catastrophe is the kind that an engineer hopes to never have associated with their name for the livelihood in the engineering industry. I have been finding through my co-op terms that your engineering reputation in the industry is extremely important as a measure of trust, though this is perhaps one of the profession's weaknesses. Engineers would rather jump through as many hoops as possible within the PEO to maintain a clean design history free of major errors. Therefore, I see nothing majorly wrong with the PEO Act which instructs engineers on their duties, roles, and obligations since I believe these are essential common sense (should this exist) ground rules. On the other hand, the human aspect of the PEO seems a bit flawed with respect to the information that I know.
And now for something completely different...
I may yet have an outlet for my engineering profession queries. During my next school term in fall 2010, UW is setting up a course to explore the current issues facing the engineering industry. These topics will hopefully branch into sustainability, economics, and politics. The actual purpose of this course is to improve communication skills via conventional (written, spoken) and non-conventional (blogs, vlogs, audio recordings) means. Now, this course is by application only, which I had done (in a oh-so-boring conventional letter mainly because I wanted to use a form factor for my appliation that I was comfortable with). I hope to be accepted where I may be able to ask my questions about the engineering industry and the function of the PEO and other societies for engineers. This could be a good think tank pick-other-peoples'-brains opportunity that may strengthen the resolution of my questions. I have no problem in admitting that I was wrong about my feelings of the industry or the profession, I just feel like I have a lack of information available, or that it's just not a common enough viewpoint to be able to find that many others to discuss this with. Why are fresh ideas hard to find?
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
My engineering dichotomy...
I find the topics I study and work with (structural and geotech stuff the most) really interesting and useful. I guess I define my sense of usefulness for my studies by how much I can better the world around me. See, what I like about civil engineering is that there's a very short metaphorical distance between what you design and what happens in the real world, that's fantastic in my opinion (though we very much need the theorists and researchers in our world). Designing a massive building would not fall into my definition of usefulness since I really believe that the best designs return the earth to their natural conditions or complement the natural surroundings as much as possible.
My issues with engineering arise from the societies that isolate engineers and the profession from the rest of the population. The professional organizations establish the code of ethics that engineers need to abide by, which sounds perfectly legitimate considering the impact of what they design. Where I start to question them is when they take so much pride in displaying the legal issues of people claiming to be engineers, or when an engineer is exposed for gross violations of the code of ethics. I feel as though the engineering organizations and societies instill a sense of cultish secrecy, and then they wonder why not enough people (women for example) are joining. Myself still looking from the outside, why would a woman feel completely comfortable in a field where the societies perpetuate a "gentleman's club" atmosphere? flawed logic I know, but I get that feeling sometimes. I think the reasoning is that you want to keep the societies as a think tank for those trained to think in diverse ways and to keep the profession honest means to kinda close it off to the public. It doesn't have to be this way, it's their current model because people are apathetic or approve of the way things are currently. At the same time, professional engineering is trying to reach out...I don't know seems a little too much like our current closed-door government for my liking.
So that's where my thinking is at for engineering, and why I feel that staying in school will a) let me avoid the parts I do not like b) delay my entry to the industry until I perhaps come to terms with the dichotomy or c)...something else I have not thought of. I spent a while mulling this post over though it's still not complete, there's soo much on this topic I want to explore.
My issues with engineering arise from the societies that isolate engineers and the profession from the rest of the population. The professional organizations establish the code of ethics that engineers need to abide by, which sounds perfectly legitimate considering the impact of what they design. Where I start to question them is when they take so much pride in displaying the legal issues of people claiming to be engineers, or when an engineer is exposed for gross violations of the code of ethics. I feel as though the engineering organizations and societies instill a sense of cultish secrecy, and then they wonder why not enough people (women for example) are joining. Myself still looking from the outside, why would a woman feel completely comfortable in a field where the societies perpetuate a "gentleman's club" atmosphere? flawed logic I know, but I get that feeling sometimes. I think the reasoning is that you want to keep the societies as a think tank for those trained to think in diverse ways and to keep the profession honest means to kinda close it off to the public. It doesn't have to be this way, it's their current model because people are apathetic or approve of the way things are currently. At the same time, professional engineering is trying to reach out...I don't know seems a little too much like our current closed-door government for my liking.
So that's where my thinking is at for engineering, and why I feel that staying in school will a) let me avoid the parts I do not like b) delay my entry to the industry until I perhaps come to terms with the dichotomy or c)...something else I have not thought of. I spent a while mulling this post over though it's still not complete, there's soo much on this topic I want to explore.
Monday, May 31, 2010
The real world of engineering
I happen to attend a friend's birthday picnic where a lot of my high school friends and acquaintances made the majority of the group. Through talking with a few of them, my friend Molly especially, I find I am really not alone when it comes to being disillusioned with the industry for which we are studying. In her case, she gets the concepts of honesty, fairness, accuracy, and integrity of journalism repeated to her, and she sees a lack of it when it comes to examples in real life.
Though I really enjoy learning the concepts of civil engineering (thus far), some of my co-op experiences have left a sour taste in my mouth regarding how the system works in practice. I've seen probably the more dishonest side of engineering consulting, where I've seen the engineers I work with make deals under the table with clients to win a bid, or to avert government fees, or even designing an aspect of a job in which the engineer has absolutely no experience. It just doesn't seem right, nothing stops these people, and their stamp seals the deal. The engineering stamp carries a lot of legal responsibility, meaning that they stake their job on the honest and integrity of the documents stamped. Through very strong objection, I've had major projects sent out to a city for permit where the engineer stamped and signed the drawings without review. Though this was a very unique and extreme situation with this engineer, I still can't believe there are such people practicing and designing infrastructure that society uses.
Another issue I find with engineering in the industry is how lazy everything is. We learn in school about new materials, new ways of approaching design and how they are more thorough than the tried and true methods. I get to my co-ops, and all the jobs involve a copy and paste of specifications, design ideas, or even parts drawn in AutoCAD from previous projects. What's even more interesting is that the projects they are being copied have been submitted, but they are not built yet, meaning that sure the idea passed the review on paper, but they could be perpetuating a bad idea or something the construction guys know from experience that cannot be done or that there's a better way. For example, pipes that would seem to fit in the ceiling together nicely may not jig nicely when it comes to the physical installation due to tolerances in error, which is very common.
This just all makes me want to return to university of grad school or more, because I'm not comfortable with the real world yet, I feel as an undergrad, I wouldn't have the expertise to be able to change it, because that is very much a goal of mine. I don't want the status quo, even if I make a very small bubble of influence around me, I want to know that engineers can be more hard-working than they are and put less emphasis the dollar values of their projects and their wallets at the end of the day.
Though I really enjoy learning the concepts of civil engineering (thus far), some of my co-op experiences have left a sour taste in my mouth regarding how the system works in practice. I've seen probably the more dishonest side of engineering consulting, where I've seen the engineers I work with make deals under the table with clients to win a bid, or to avert government fees, or even designing an aspect of a job in which the engineer has absolutely no experience. It just doesn't seem right, nothing stops these people, and their stamp seals the deal. The engineering stamp carries a lot of legal responsibility, meaning that they stake their job on the honest and integrity of the documents stamped. Through very strong objection, I've had major projects sent out to a city for permit where the engineer stamped and signed the drawings without review. Though this was a very unique and extreme situation with this engineer, I still can't believe there are such people practicing and designing infrastructure that society uses.
Another issue I find with engineering in the industry is how lazy everything is. We learn in school about new materials, new ways of approaching design and how they are more thorough than the tried and true methods. I get to my co-ops, and all the jobs involve a copy and paste of specifications, design ideas, or even parts drawn in AutoCAD from previous projects. What's even more interesting is that the projects they are being copied have been submitted, but they are not built yet, meaning that sure the idea passed the review on paper, but they could be perpetuating a bad idea or something the construction guys know from experience that cannot be done or that there's a better way. For example, pipes that would seem to fit in the ceiling together nicely may not jig nicely when it comes to the physical installation due to tolerances in error, which is very common.
This just all makes me want to return to university of grad school or more, because I'm not comfortable with the real world yet, I feel as an undergrad, I wouldn't have the expertise to be able to change it, because that is very much a goal of mine. I don't want the status quo, even if I make a very small bubble of influence around me, I want to know that engineers can be more hard-working than they are and put less emphasis the dollar values of their projects and their wallets at the end of the day.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Introductions and new beginnings...
[Prelude]
Being an internet user that has shied away from blogging, I have found a topic that I could very likely ramble on about. Nothing formal, nothing fancy, since my thoughts on engineering, sustainability, green energy, and how the engineering society tends to work are still a work in progress, radical, and bit silly like me.
I am currently halfway through my third year of civil engineering at UofWaterloo, meaning I've already put a decent chunk of study time into this program (a lot of which is bland required courses in order for the civil engineering program to be accredited by the Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO)). Though the courses are cute, fun, and a repeat of high school, it was great to start getting my hands dirty (literally in the case of geotech) last term where the courses reflected the potential paths to take once you graduate. Since it's UW, I've had a collectively a little over a year of work experience as a type of intern in order to learn about the profession and kinda get a feel for what I'm to expect once I graduate.
Does it speak too loudly to say that after these coop experiences of "real life" engineering, that I'm 99% decided that I'm going back to grad work to stay in school and avoid the real world of engineering?
Actually, my past two terms have been fantastic with my first two co-ops placements being a real life-changing experience that I'm grateful I had, but I struggled a great deal with the social interactions of the workplace.I have been working in consulting engineering work for all four co-op terms, which is very fortunate for me because that's the type of work environment I was looking into. Though I worked on civil, mechanical, structural, electrical, and architectural design, the consulting process is the same with budgets, feasibility designs, stamping of drawings, city permits, etc. Fortunately, I have had some inspecting experience through my first two co-op terms, which actually made nice outings from the office to provide a balance that maintains your sanity...kinda :)
Without going into too much detail, co-op #1 was at a small engineering firm and my main project was structural design of a local condo. Fantastic opportunity because structural was like, top of my list for specializations and still is. Pretty intense for first co-op since I had a stack of 4th year design textbooks on my desk the entire term. Co-op #2 I returned to the same company and ended up working on many little jobs mainly in the building mechanical field. I had more interaction with the clients and contracted engineers and I met some of the nicest and most driven people. Sustainability was a big focus that term with quite a few projects requesting solar thermal designs, geothermal, photovoltaic and grey-water heating. Co-op #3 was at a larger consulting firm working on purely mechanical in order to get a new perspective on building sciences that I couldn't get through school. The detail I learned about plumbing and HVAC still surprises me because I catch myself poking around buildings or craning my neck on the bus to check out a new building's chiller. Ever wonder what that massive building is on the 401 billowing out a bunch of steam? Ask me someday, no I didn't help design it, I just know what it is :). I enjoyed the larger company dynamics, and they did a great job on making it still really social, hence I returned for co-op #4...which is where I am now. Got a job at their other building in town working for the civil department, and though I didn't have any interest in transportation and water quality because of the profs that taught the courses, the bits and pieces I've seen so far are cool. The people are super fun, it's kinda environmental work, which makes me kinda embrace my "yay hippie alternative transportation bottled-water is evil" side.
Anyways, there's lots to say, all in due time, I'm feeling a bit too uppity for a rant on the engineering system and how it's implemented at the post-secondary level, though even writing that down makes me want to get started, hah.
Being an internet user that has shied away from blogging, I have found a topic that I could very likely ramble on about. Nothing formal, nothing fancy, since my thoughts on engineering, sustainability, green energy, and how the engineering society tends to work are still a work in progress, radical, and bit silly like me.
I am currently halfway through my third year of civil engineering at UofWaterloo, meaning I've already put a decent chunk of study time into this program (a lot of which is bland required courses in order for the civil engineering program to be accredited by the Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO)). Though the courses are cute, fun, and a repeat of high school, it was great to start getting my hands dirty (literally in the case of geotech) last term where the courses reflected the potential paths to take once you graduate. Since it's UW, I've had a collectively a little over a year of work experience as a type of intern in order to learn about the profession and kinda get a feel for what I'm to expect once I graduate.
Does it speak too loudly to say that after these coop experiences of "real life" engineering, that I'm 99% decided that I'm going back to grad work to stay in school and avoid the real world of engineering?
Actually, my past two terms have been fantastic with my first two co-ops placements being a real life-changing experience that I'm grateful I had, but I struggled a great deal with the social interactions of the workplace.I have been working in consulting engineering work for all four co-op terms, which is very fortunate for me because that's the type of work environment I was looking into. Though I worked on civil, mechanical, structural, electrical, and architectural design, the consulting process is the same with budgets, feasibility designs, stamping of drawings, city permits, etc. Fortunately, I have had some inspecting experience through my first two co-op terms, which actually made nice outings from the office to provide a balance that maintains your sanity...kinda :)
Without going into too much detail, co-op #1 was at a small engineering firm and my main project was structural design of a local condo. Fantastic opportunity because structural was like, top of my list for specializations and still is. Pretty intense for first co-op since I had a stack of 4th year design textbooks on my desk the entire term. Co-op #2 I returned to the same company and ended up working on many little jobs mainly in the building mechanical field. I had more interaction with the clients and contracted engineers and I met some of the nicest and most driven people. Sustainability was a big focus that term with quite a few projects requesting solar thermal designs, geothermal, photovoltaic and grey-water heating. Co-op #3 was at a larger consulting firm working on purely mechanical in order to get a new perspective on building sciences that I couldn't get through school. The detail I learned about plumbing and HVAC still surprises me because I catch myself poking around buildings or craning my neck on the bus to check out a new building's chiller. Ever wonder what that massive building is on the 401 billowing out a bunch of steam? Ask me someday, no I didn't help design it, I just know what it is :). I enjoyed the larger company dynamics, and they did a great job on making it still really social, hence I returned for co-op #4...which is where I am now. Got a job at their other building in town working for the civil department, and though I didn't have any interest in transportation and water quality because of the profs that taught the courses, the bits and pieces I've seen so far are cool. The people are super fun, it's kinda environmental work, which makes me kinda embrace my "yay hippie alternative transportation bottled-water is evil" side.
Anyways, there's lots to say, all in due time, I'm feeling a bit too uppity for a rant on the engineering system and how it's implemented at the post-secondary level, though even writing that down makes me want to get started, hah.
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