Sunday, November 10, 2013

So it turns out... Change is GOOD!

So last time I wrote I was packing up my professional life, and getting ready to set out on a new journey.  It's been almost a year and a half, and I must say, what a year (and a half...) it has been!    Despite being unhappy at my previous position, it was what I knew, and I was hesitant to give up that comfort.   I started my internship in June last year, and like I said, I didn't know what to expect.  It was something that I had to do as a graduation requirement for my Engineering degree, so I went blindly forth to start my new life as an Engineer.

When I had my interview I was nervous, but something just felt right about the place.  I left feeling pretty confident, but still unsure if THEY thought I was as good of a fit for the company as I did.  It turns out, they did too!  I was impressed when I got a card from the HR department before I even started welcoming me to the company.  It really says a lot about a company when they are so invested in their employees that they go the extra mile and do something like that, even for a summer intern!

Then my first day, nervous, not knowing what to expect, I walked in and at the front desk they had a sign welcoming me to the company.  I got settled, and right away they had me working on a design, something that I hadn't done at my previous job in a very long time.  I was treated less like an intern as an intern than I had been at my job of almost ten years.

So the summer went on, and although I knew my employment there was only a sure thing until school started back up in August, I really enjoyed my work I was doing, and was starting to realize how much I loved working there.  I guess I never really realized just HOW unhappy I was before.  Well it turns out, they had enough work to keep me on over the fall semester, and so I continued on working there, and trying to decided what I was going to do once graduation came around, which was all dependent on passing the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam and finishing my senior design project.

Late in the fall I had a discussion with my supervisor about what I planned to do after graduation, and I threw caution to the wind and said how much I loved it there, and that ideally, if they had a position, I would love to stay on at the company.  He didn't really say much, and I figured it was a long shot.

In December of 2012, I found out that I passed my exam, successfully presented my project and found myself the 10th graduate of the Western Illinois University Engineering program.  Yippie!   But still with no job, I had applied a couple of places, but I was still holding out hope for staying on.  Then one day I got a meeting request, and my supervisor and one from the Structural group sat down and asked if I would be interested in joining the structural team.  I said that would be fantastic, as that was where my passion really was.  I did enjoy the work I did in the civil group, but buildings and structure was my focus starting out in Engineering school.  So I got an offer in late December/early January, and I began my life as a full time Structural Engineer Intern that week!