This experience has shown me a lot about the world of work and what I might want to learn before going into it. This internship taught me about Job opportunities I was completely unaware of. I have heard of reverse osmosis but I never knew how much of an impact it had. It is used in so many different industries for such varied purposes. Learning how to work with reverse osmosis membranes will offer a large variety of jobs to apply for which is incredible. This makes me wonder how many other jobs I don’t know about. I will most likely try and find these jobs in the future. I also learned that your major in college can be used for many different industries. An example of this is how Avista’s CEO, Dave Walker co-founded Avista. He majored in business in college and had an interest in science. He co-founded Avista so he can utilize his business degree while also being able to enjoy the related science. With this knowledge, when I start looking for a job I can look for positions that my major could help with even if the company isn’t completely relevant to my major. This internship has also pushed me to consider different majors. I want to major in mechanical engineering but this internship showed me what I could do with a chemistry or chemical engineering degree. I may choose to major in one of those instead of mechanical engineering. With this new information I will be able to find jobs that are potentially obscure and find ways to apply my major to those niche jobs.
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Photo EssayPart 2
Part 1
2. How was your work as an intern meaningful to your education? This internship has been very meaningful to my education because it taught me things that are not usually taught in school. It taught me how to engage with other coworkers. Before this internship I didn’t feel comfortable holding a conversation with someone I knew little about. This internship has given me a lot of opportunities to practice this skill. This is important because there will be times where you have to work with someone that you may not know, so being able to get to know them is a great skill to have. It has also given me insight into a potential career path that was unknown to me before this internship. 3. How was your work significant or meaningful to the world beyond school and your specific internship site? My work will be very meaningful to Avista. The information that I have been processing will be used by Avista to help them figure out what to look out for and what to expect from different industries. This will also help the industries that work with Avista. Avista will get more information about what is going right or wrong with each of the industries’ membranes. Then, they can use this information to help them with any problems that may occur. This will allow the industries to use their reverse osmosis systems for longer periods of time. Part 2
2. How might internship influence the direction of your life? This internship might influence my choice of major when going into college. I am currently deciding whether I should major in mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, or chemistry. This internship has shown me some of the things I can do with chemistry and chemical engineering. It also showed me how difficult it can be to find a job. After contacting many companies, I felt like I might not find an internship. After finding Avista, I realized it might take more work to find the best internship or job. During my search, I realized many factors I didn’t realize would be important. Something like distance from my house was not considered much until I actually started looking for an internship. This could influence the jobs I will look for in the future. 3. How did interpersonal relationships and/or collaboration at work influence your understanding of life outside of high school? I think that the friendly relationships I have made with many of the people at Avista is something that I will benefit from in the future. It has built confidence in my communication skills, and will allow me to be less nervous when speaking to a person I don’t know much about. This Is the sign of the company I am interning at. This is the outside of the front of the building I am interning at. This is the hallway were the office I am working at is adjacent to. This is the Office I am working at. I spend most of my time in here working on the computer. I am very luck to have it. This is my Mentor's desk. I come here to see her whenever I have questions or have finished parts of my project.
There have been many times during my internship when I have advocated for myself. Anytime I have a question I usually write it down and then wait to ask it when my mentor isn’t busy with her work. I find that there is a balance between asking too many questions and asking too few. What I have learned is find the most important questions and ask those. How do I determine what is an important question? That all depends on who you are asking. If you are confused and don’t know what to do, it is always better to ask a clarifying question than to guess what you need to do.
I think I have have followed the advice from a paper we received called “How To Be An Intern Who Everyone *Actually* Remembers” as much as I could. The first piece of advice from the paper is that you should always be working, and I have done that to the best of my ability. I have my project that I am working on that keeps me busy all day. That is one of many things I like about my internship. I have a project that I am working on and I feel like I am adding value to the company, and it keeps me busy. The second piece of advice from the paper says that you should always bring a notebook to a meeting. I do bring a notepad wherever I go and I try to take notes on almost everything. There was one point where I didn’t bring my notebook, but that was because they were cutting open a membrane and I didn’t want my notebook to get dirty. The third piece of advice is to get to know all your colleagues early. I have tried to do this the best I could, but it can be difficult as my project has me working by myself. I have been able to meet people as the days go on and I have been memorizing names by writing them down. Advice number four, show up on time (or early) for everything. I do this all the time. From when I come in in the morning, to when I have to meet someone, I am always early or on time. I like getting there early to be sure I am never late. The last piece of advice the paper offers is that you should dress more professionally than you need to. I feel like I do this well. I look respectable and I present myself well. I think I have done a great job following this advice. My project that I have been working on for my internship can be summarized by data organization and presentation. My project consists of taking data that the Avista team has recorded in a spreadsheet and organizing it by the industry of the companies. Reverse osmosis systems are used by a diverse set of industries: from soda bottling to wastewater. When the membranes used for reverse osmosis systems get material stuck on them, they stop functioning to their fullest potential and they need to be cleaned. That is where Avista comes in. They get membranes from companies and then test them to see what the problem is and what cleaners need to be used in order to have them working again. However, there are times when a membrane is beyond repair so they also sell other chemical solutions, such as coagulants and antiscalants, that will help prevent whatever happened from happening in the future. After Avista tests the membranes and figures out what cleaners they need to use they put that data into a spreadsheet. That is where I come in. I am taking that data and organizing it by the industry of the company who sent them membranes. After I have completed the organization I am going to design graphs to compare pre and post flow and rejection of membranes from each industry. Some skills I would need for this project would be knowledge of math and Excel. Having good statistical math skills will help me to understand how the graphs are going to be set up and Excel knowledge to be able to make the graphs in Excel. I also used deductive reasoning and organizational skills for the sorting and organizing process. I needed the support of my mentor to help me figure out which industries the companies that weren’t assigned industries should be in. She also helped me to understand what all the data from the spreadsheet meant. This has been a fun and challenging project that has kept me very busy the entire day which makes me happy. This is an amazing experience that I have been truly enjoying. I’m very appreciative for the opportunity to complete this task and help the company.
Mentor interview (paraphrased)Is there anything you want me to know about you? I am pretty easy going and am okay with having fun at work as long as the work gets done. I like punctuality and enjoy being a researcher. What is your job title? Director of Research and Development and the Laboratory. What are your main responsibilities? I manage the Lab and R&D, make sure work gets done on time, manages current projects, reviews final reports, present material to upper management, and work with tech services on troubleshooting. Why did you choose to work here? Initially I wanted to go into the forensic sciences but came across Avista from a friend who was interning there. The work they did was similar to forensic science, but with reverse osmosis membranes instead of people, and included inorganic sciences which interested me. What was your major? My major is in Chemistry. Do you like what you do here? Yes, I love working here. Is there anything you wish you’d realized about the world of work when you were my age? I was already working in a job by the time I was your age so I was pretty familiar with the world of work. However I do wish I would had learned how to put together a resume. What is a typical work day like? A typical day starts off with me logging in and checking my emails. I respond to important ones and then I look at the priority list for the Lab and R&D. I start on those and look at the project list and see how far along they are. Then I send out reports to customers and answer questions for the sales group. What is the purpose of this organization? The purpose of the organization is to help customers with problems and to provide solutions to those problems through chemistry. Our final goal is to make reverse osmosis membranes last longer. What other advice do you have about working here? Some advice I would give about working here is that you need to be very organized by yourself and to have the drive to do the work you do. You hold many positions here and you may not always have instructions on what to do all the time so organizing your work and wanting to do your work is very useful. How important is getting along with other people in your career? It is very important to get along with your coworkers. This is even something I look at when hiring new staff. Staff who dislike each other can cause problems so you want people who can get along with others. What personality traits, skills, or knowledge are important here? Having a background in chemistry, engineering, and chemical engineering, being self managing, being able to communicate with upper management, being creative, and basic knowledge of Microsoft Office. It is also important to be able to handle unclean membranes so you can clean them. Also having a good personality. Is there anything else you would like to add about yourself, the organization,or your career? I was the first person in my family to get a degree. I am appreciative that I got this job and for the people I work with. I also think what we are doing here is needed and important to the water industry. Reflection of the First WeekMy internship at Avista Technologies has been going well. I am getting used to the day to day of the work and what I am supposed to do here. From the time I have spent there has been a few things that I noticed that seemed interesting. One being how everyone interacts with each other. As I said in the previous blog their relationships and community reminds me a lot of how my school functions. Because everyone gets to know each other they start to be able to have fun while they work. This was the biggest connection between my internship and school. There were a few moments during the internship that were very fun. One that I enjoyed was the lunch on Tuesday. This was very special because for that day one of the employees made tacos and had everyone spend some quality time together. I went along kinda nervous but eventually opening up and actually talking with my coworkers. It was a very fun time. This week has had me learning a lot about what Avista does. The simplest form I can explain it is that they work on extending the lifetime of reverse osmosis systems. The biggest skill I have developed was my communication skills. Even though I am still working on it I feel like I have been able to talk with my coworkers better. At first I would stumble through my words because I would be nervous but now I feel ok talking to them. I have been getting to and from my internship by driving myself. I got my license almost just before this and it was good timing. The commute is alright and it is helping me become a better driver by making me do things I normally wouldn’t just driving to school. Overall the first week has been a great experience.
The first days of my internship have been completed and they have been really fun and enjoyable. There were also a lot of things that I found interesting about the place including how it feels so big on the inside. Many rooms feel so spacious that it seems the building is much bigger than it appears from outside. The building is also designed as a loop with offices protruding from it. This was very interesting because the offices aren’t big rooms everyone works in. They are just small parts off the loop. This will have coworkers walking pate each other a lot if they need to go somewhere in the building. This is very nice because it creates a community and everyone knows each other and are very friendly. On my first day there were a few people that I met and they were all very kind to me. The atmosphere here is one of a tight knit community. They make work fun by making jokes and having conversations, while also working very hard on the work they do. I felt very at home here because that is similar to High Tech High were we can laugh and talk while still working hard.
I am very excited to be working with a company to help them with a projectI they needed done. I’m glad that I don’t just sit there and do small things like getting coffee and snacks like interns on TV. I am also excited to start a routine here. Learn how this place operates and understand were I should go or what I should do in certain situations. I also want to get to know my coworkers and feel comfortable talking to them and asking them questions. Right now I feel a bit awkward around them because I am new and they all know each other well. It is just like going to a new place; you feel so lost and awkward that you don’t want to ask anyone what to do because you don’t want to be a distraction. Now something that I am worried about is messing up something important. I know how simple this answer is but that is a very valid thing to worry about. If you mess up that important thing then you may hurt the company and show that you are not responsible with important tasks. I also am worried about where I should go when I have no instruction. It can feel weird to wait for someone to ask what you should do so I may feel like I should go and do what I had already been doing but then they might have wanted me to do something else so it can be very worrying trying to find out where I should go. Despite my worries I think my time working for Avista Technologies will be a great learning experience. Today is Career Day; if you don't know what Career Day is, it is a day where each student goes out and shadows a person at a real job for the day. I did this day with my mother at Aviara Oaks. My mom works as an office worker for the school. Her day to day is very busy; there seems to always be something that she has to be doing. Whether that be kids coming in late, Do the attendance, help volunteers, make copies, or others, she will always be working on something. Anything that comes to the school goes through the front office. She also has to write into the system who the subs are for the teachers and staff that are absent. This is what happens when someone at the school is not at work. They need to get a sub so the school can operate without them. If an office worker or teacher is late then there would be times where the parents would stand there waiting or kids would mess around during important hours. Another thing that is important for an office worker is their attire. They must dress professionally because they are usually the first thing a parent sees when they come into the school. It is a very good first impression that your office workers look professional and not sloppy and lazy.
Overall I enjoyed my career day experience this year. I helped out by doing a job that no-one in the school wanted to do. That job was delivering boxes of books that were for the school benchmark test. This may not have been the most exciting job but I did enjoy it. I think it was just knowing that I helped and that I had something I could be doing the whole time. I did have another job which was to teach my mom and her coworker how to use google forms. This didn't take too long, which if I didn't have the box delivery job, would have been my only job at that point. I would have had more time waiting to be able to help rather than doing anything. I expected the professional world to be professional but there was this slight hint of childish fun that helps keep things interesting and not boring all the time. Some skills that would help anyone with a job as an office worker would be multitasking, communication, and consistency. You would have to be good at multitasking because you never know when another job opens up and you must do it as well as getting what you were working on done. Communication is needed to be able to talk well with coworkers, parents, and children. Lastly, consistency is needed because a lot of an office worker's job is the same every day so being able to do that well every day is important. This Career Day has been an informative experience. |