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.
A compendium of my encounters in structural/civil engineering at the University of Waterloo, co-op, swing dancing, and life in general.
Monday, May 31, 2010
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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