Whirlwind
Well, I thought my semester would slow down after I finished the weeks I described in my last post. But that was only the beginning. It's been insane. I'm finally sitting here on Thanksgiving break with the time to sit back and reflect a bit. Let's take the updates one thing at a time.
The job search has to be the first update because so much time and energy has been put into it. I have gone through a lot of first round interviews, and four second round interviews. I've been to Greenville, South Carolina; Phoenix, Arizona; Peoria, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; and Dayville, Connecticut. I have 3 job offers so far, and I expect a 4th to come next week. Here are my options.
General Electric - Edison Engineering Development Program.
Caterpillar - Engineering Development Program
Eaton - Leadership Development Program
Rogers - Development Engineer
I've already declined the GE job. It's just too big a commitment to make outside of work. Its 25-30 hours per week on top of the 40-50 hour workweek. I want to work to live, not live to work. So that's not really a good position. The Eaton development program is interesting, but after finding out more, it's much closer to a mechanical/management job. Process/Quality engineering and management really isn't the direction I want to go right now. I may want to be in management eventually, but not right away. Rogers, the offer I expect in the next week, is a great company. The big problem I have with them is that I don't see what I'm working on. I work only with materials (they are a high end specialty materials company). The job I'm planning to take is with Caterpillar. They have an amazing materials department. They work on proactive and retroactive materials engineering. So I'm gunna be working on failure analysis and materials selection. Plus, it's the highest paid position of the ones I'm looking at. So it's a win win. The only negative is that I'll be moving far away from the family and friends, but that really has been the way it's been for all the jobs. So when comparing jobs, that is not even a negative.
Now that I have the beginning of my career path set, I have two advantages. First of all, I don't have to worry about the job search next semester. Also, I can relax a bit academically. I finally "dropped the ball" with my composites test. I absolutely bombed it. Partially because I didn't study enough, but mainly because I've been gone so much I've fallen behind in the class. But this semester and next, I only need to graduate. I can get straight C's (which won't happen, but it's nice to is know I don't need to stress). If I pull a C or B out of composites this semester I will be home free. Only 14 hours next semester to take. My schedule is:
Composites II
Alloys
Environmental Degradation
Senior Design
Abnormal Psychology
This weekend has been amazing, I've been able to actually sit down and relax. Not do a damn thing for an entire 3 days in a row. I literally think the last time that happened was in the two weeks I had after coming back from Europe. Spiritually, I'm still drained. I've been extremely busy, and my prayer group, St. Joseph the Ripped, has fallen through the cracks. We don't meet anymore. So I obviously have more to work on spiritually, but also academically. The next three weeks will be a blur; I have a polymers paper, a senior design presentation, a senior design project proposal, a polymers test, and a statistics test. Plus finals!! But then I'll be home free. Life is a whirlwind, but I'll survive, and succeed. I have no doubt. Prayers are always appreciated though.
The job search has to be the first update because so much time and energy has been put into it. I have gone through a lot of first round interviews, and four second round interviews. I've been to Greenville, South Carolina; Phoenix, Arizona; Peoria, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; and Dayville, Connecticut. I have 3 job offers so far, and I expect a 4th to come next week. Here are my options.
General Electric - Edison Engineering Development Program.
Caterpillar - Engineering Development Program
Eaton - Leadership Development Program
Rogers - Development Engineer
I've already declined the GE job. It's just too big a commitment to make outside of work. Its 25-30 hours per week on top of the 40-50 hour workweek. I want to work to live, not live to work. So that's not really a good position. The Eaton development program is interesting, but after finding out more, it's much closer to a mechanical/management job. Process/Quality engineering and management really isn't the direction I want to go right now. I may want to be in management eventually, but not right away. Rogers, the offer I expect in the next week, is a great company. The big problem I have with them is that I don't see what I'm working on. I work only with materials (they are a high end specialty materials company). The job I'm planning to take is with Caterpillar. They have an amazing materials department. They work on proactive and retroactive materials engineering. So I'm gunna be working on failure analysis and materials selection. Plus, it's the highest paid position of the ones I'm looking at. So it's a win win. The only negative is that I'll be moving far away from the family and friends, but that really has been the way it's been for all the jobs. So when comparing jobs, that is not even a negative.
Now that I have the beginning of my career path set, I have two advantages. First of all, I don't have to worry about the job search next semester. Also, I can relax a bit academically. I finally "dropped the ball" with my composites test. I absolutely bombed it. Partially because I didn't study enough, but mainly because I've been gone so much I've fallen behind in the class. But this semester and next, I only need to graduate. I can get straight C's (which won't happen, but it's nice to is know I don't need to stress). If I pull a C or B out of composites this semester I will be home free. Only 14 hours next semester to take. My schedule is:
Composites II
Alloys
Environmental Degradation
Senior Design
Abnormal Psychology
This weekend has been amazing, I've been able to actually sit down and relax. Not do a damn thing for an entire 3 days in a row. I literally think the last time that happened was in the two weeks I had after coming back from Europe. Spiritually, I'm still drained. I've been extremely busy, and my prayer group, St. Joseph the Ripped, has fallen through the cracks. We don't meet anymore. So I obviously have more to work on spiritually, but also academically. The next three weeks will be a blur; I have a polymers paper, a senior design presentation, a senior design project proposal, a polymers test, and a statistics test. Plus finals!! But then I'll be home free. Life is a whirlwind, but I'll survive, and succeed. I have no doubt. Prayers are always appreciated though.