Da Real World.........
Well,,, I finished my first official week as an Engineer. I haven't really been doing too much yet. It takes a good while to get the hang of things, which my supervisor understands and is really cool with. By THINGS I mean basically terminology. I have this huge stack of MIL SPECS (military specifications) they gave me to read through. It's MIL-STD-123-34 this... and LPD 8 30-ST-3-5 and DDG 95 that........ so for the most part, I have NO CLUE what the other guys in my department are even saying right now when I hear them talking to each other. The good thing is, is that so far ALL of my co-workers and my supervisor are really really good people... so they understand that I don't know what all of this is really about yet.
The cool things that i've done this week:
Going up into the bridge and the command center on a battleship and soaking in the view from the "captain's chair",
Doing air-borne acoustic noise analysis on the bridge using a hand-held dBA meter that costs $18k,
Going into the Sound Lab and calibrating amplifiers and digital recorders (one that costs $100k) to prepare for structureborne noise analysis next week,
Touring around the Engineering buildings, some which are top secret level only, and meeting other Engineers working for the new DD(X) battleship designs.
The not so cool things that i've done this week:
Sitting at my desk... staring at my computer that I couldn't logon to till today,
Reading MIL SPECS...not knowing what they even mean,
Feeling like I should be doing something cause i'm getting paid so much.... but nevertheless,, continuing to sit.
I did get my official responsibilities for the DDG 97 (latest ship). I'm in charge of noise analysis on 4 systems on the ship, can't even remember the names.. but they sound intimidating). I'll be in charge of about 8 next time though so I need to get the hang of this.
Next week I shouldn't be farting around at my desk as much cause they want me to start doing CAD drawings for air-borne acoustical test designs. Good thing I took AutoCAD in grad school. Shouldn't be a problem.
Another thing that is kinda cool too is that I get to wear a white hard hat (yes, I have to wear a hard hat when i'm around the ship or I could die). Different hat colors is how everyone distinguishes each other from different departments. The white and gray hats mean "Engineering". So it's kinda funny when i'm walking around the ship wearing my hat cause everyone stares at me cause so far I haven't seen anyone else my age..PLUS I look alot younger for my age anyway. So these really big roughed-up looking welding guys are giving me this look like "young punk kid thinks he's better than me". Actually... it's probably just a "that kid looks young to be in Engineering" look -- but... I don't know. Me and Charles (another Engineering in my dept) had to go to the Maintenance building to get our van looked at and ready for upcoming testing trips we have to do in New Orleans soon. So we asked this one for some information and he points to this other guy...... this other guy then yells "Don't sic the white-hats on me!!". I thought that was funny...... I don't know if that means we're feared or just not liked --- I would prefer to think FEARED!!
Well.. that's about it for now. Monday we start the structureborne noise analysis which will last all week. Plus, I get paid next thursday.. (we get paid every thursday.. but not on your first week of work)
Stay frosty.. and freaggin'update your journals!! John... Brian... Katie..??!!!!!
Alright... G$ out.
The cool things that i've done this week:
Going up into the bridge and the command center on a battleship and soaking in the view from the "captain's chair",
Doing air-borne acoustic noise analysis on the bridge using a hand-held dBA meter that costs $18k,
Going into the Sound Lab and calibrating amplifiers and digital recorders (one that costs $100k) to prepare for structureborne noise analysis next week,
Touring around the Engineering buildings, some which are top secret level only, and meeting other Engineers working for the new DD(X) battleship designs.
The not so cool things that i've done this week:
Sitting at my desk... staring at my computer that I couldn't logon to till today,
Reading MIL SPECS...not knowing what they even mean,
Feeling like I should be doing something cause i'm getting paid so much.... but nevertheless,, continuing to sit.
I did get my official responsibilities for the DDG 97 (latest ship). I'm in charge of noise analysis on 4 systems on the ship, can't even remember the names.. but they sound intimidating). I'll be in charge of about 8 next time though so I need to get the hang of this.
Next week I shouldn't be farting around at my desk as much cause they want me to start doing CAD drawings for air-borne acoustical test designs. Good thing I took AutoCAD in grad school. Shouldn't be a problem.
Another thing that is kinda cool too is that I get to wear a white hard hat (yes, I have to wear a hard hat when i'm around the ship or I could die). Different hat colors is how everyone distinguishes each other from different departments. The white and gray hats mean "Engineering". So it's kinda funny when i'm walking around the ship wearing my hat cause everyone stares at me cause so far I haven't seen anyone else my age..PLUS I look alot younger for my age anyway. So these really big roughed-up looking welding guys are giving me this look like "young punk kid thinks he's better than me". Actually... it's probably just a "that kid looks young to be in Engineering" look -- but... I don't know. Me and Charles (another Engineering in my dept) had to go to the Maintenance building to get our van looked at and ready for upcoming testing trips we have to do in New Orleans soon. So we asked this one for some information and he points to this other guy...... this other guy then yells "Don't sic the white-hats on me!!". I thought that was funny...... I don't know if that means we're feared or just not liked --- I would prefer to think FEARED!!
Well.. that's about it for now. Monday we start the structureborne noise analysis which will last all week. Plus, I get paid next thursday.. (we get paid every thursday.. but not on your first week of work)
Stay frosty.. and freaggin'update your journals!! John... Brian... Katie..??!!!!!
Alright... G$ out.