Analog Diary: The First Day
Today was my first day working at Analog - an interesting and nerve-wrecking experience. I'm wtiting this post at almost 11pm after a long and tiring day. The first day was so overwhelming, but I feel glad to say that everyone I have met so far are extremely nice and thoughtful.
The day started off with my supervisor, giving me a tour of the office. She introduced me to a couple of people, who helped me throughout most of today. My supervisor started telling me about her background in engineering and how she became interested in it, and it was so surprising to hear that when she did her first engineering internship, she hated it! Her story really inspired me to think that maybe within these two weeks I could learn more about a career I don't know much about now.
I then sat down to work with my coworkers. They introduced me to something called an 'Arduino' board, which I think is a circuit board. To be honest I'm still not quite sure what it is or what its use is, but I know that it involves coding and soldering. Most of the time with my coworkers was spent trying to start up the launcher. I mostly was reading about Arduino boards and projects - clearly I still need to read more!
At around 11:30, my supervisor invited my coworker and I to join a weekly group meeting. Besides me, there were around six people there, including the boss. They were having a conference call with a man in India! My supervisor introduced me to him and then asked everyone at the meeting to explain their backgrounds in engineering, which was probably my favourite part of the day. Everyone's stories were so diverse and interesting, and I enjoyed listening to the advice they gave me about choosing a career. I had to introduce myself too, and everyone seemed enthusiastic to hear about me even though I must have sounded like an idiot because I was so nervous! I then had to listen to the meeting about problems that the employees faced during the week, and most of it was so complicated and I couldn't fathom to understand how anyone could remember so many codes! They all looked like random letters and numbers stringed together to me. But Tony, the boss, was considerate in that he explained certain things to me.
After an hour and 20 minutes in the meeting, it was finally the best part of the day - lunchtime! I went with my supervisor to the cafe for a wrap and came back to the canteen in Analog to eat with her. My coworker invited me later to join her and the rest of the college students to finish my lunch. I was nervous because I'm so shy but they all seemed like a lot of fun to talk to!
After lunch I finally got down to setting up the circuit board. My coworker showed me the names of the bits and pieces and told me that my main aim is to create a game of 'Pong'. Yeah, I'm making my own game! Hopefully I'll be able to give more detail on it when I understand how to use the Arduino board better. I was soon left to my own devices to set up the board. It was mainly fitting the pieces into the correct places of the board. It didn't take as long nor was it as complicated as I expected!
If I'm going to be honest, the last hour of work was quite boring. I finished setting up my board but my coworkers were busy on a call so I couldn't figure out what to do next. Instead, I went on my blog and started designing it.
My supervisor let me go home half an hour early to catch the bus with a coworker. It was nice having someone to talk to about trivial things after a long day of talking about serious work! ;)
I can't wait to see what I'm going to be working on tomorow!
-Jennifer
The day started off with my supervisor, giving me a tour of the office. She introduced me to a couple of people, who helped me throughout most of today. My supervisor started telling me about her background in engineering and how she became interested in it, and it was so surprising to hear that when she did her first engineering internship, she hated it! Her story really inspired me to think that maybe within these two weeks I could learn more about a career I don't know much about now.
I then sat down to work with my coworkers. They introduced me to something called an 'Arduino' board, which I think is a circuit board. To be honest I'm still not quite sure what it is or what its use is, but I know that it involves coding and soldering. Most of the time with my coworkers was spent trying to start up the launcher. I mostly was reading about Arduino boards and projects - clearly I still need to read more!
At around 11:30, my supervisor invited my coworker and I to join a weekly group meeting. Besides me, there were around six people there, including the boss. They were having a conference call with a man in India! My supervisor introduced me to him and then asked everyone at the meeting to explain their backgrounds in engineering, which was probably my favourite part of the day. Everyone's stories were so diverse and interesting, and I enjoyed listening to the advice they gave me about choosing a career. I had to introduce myself too, and everyone seemed enthusiastic to hear about me even though I must have sounded like an idiot because I was so nervous! I then had to listen to the meeting about problems that the employees faced during the week, and most of it was so complicated and I couldn't fathom to understand how anyone could remember so many codes! They all looked like random letters and numbers stringed together to me. But Tony, the boss, was considerate in that he explained certain things to me.
After an hour and 20 minutes in the meeting, it was finally the best part of the day - lunchtime! I went with my supervisor to the cafe for a wrap and came back to the canteen in Analog to eat with her. My coworker invited me later to join her and the rest of the college students to finish my lunch. I was nervous because I'm so shy but they all seemed like a lot of fun to talk to!
After lunch I finally got down to setting up the circuit board. My coworker showed me the names of the bits and pieces and told me that my main aim is to create a game of 'Pong'. Yeah, I'm making my own game! Hopefully I'll be able to give more detail on it when I understand how to use the Arduino board better. I was soon left to my own devices to set up the board. It was mainly fitting the pieces into the correct places of the board. It didn't take as long nor was it as complicated as I expected!
If I'm going to be honest, the last hour of work was quite boring. I finished setting up my board but my coworkers were busy on a call so I couldn't figure out what to do next. Instead, I went on my blog and started designing it.
My supervisor let me go home half an hour early to catch the bus with a coworker. It was nice having someone to talk to about trivial things after a long day of talking about serious work! ;)
I can't wait to see what I'm going to be working on tomorow!
-Jennifer
My Arduino circuit board, all set up and ready to be soldered!
Comments
Post a Comment