So this is what it feels like in the working world......

I've officially started my work at ILX Lightwave as a student intern. My official position is Application Engineer and I report directly to the President of the company on customer laser diode reliabilty tests. Sounds cool right? Well, it is! The job is really fun and sure is a good exposure to future careers in EE.

A quick overview on what i do at ILX. Basically i am in charge of the Application Lab, where we run longevity test on laser diodes. I run the experiment, take data, analyze it and write up reports to be presented to the President who then relates it to the clients. These experiments are done in a HUGE testing system that can basically control any testing variable. So, far i've only been doing internal experiments to familiarize myself with laser diodes. Soon, i'll be conducting customer paid experiments and reporting about them.

Up and coming project: i'll have to assemble the robot arm and use it for the experiments ! How cool is that.. Although i have to present this to everyone in the company. And the pres. did say he wants the Apps Lab to be the focal point during every client's visit. That means it has to be ULTRA clean and ORGANIZED. A very hard thing to do since it has just been moved and it's in complete disarray. Parts and machines laying everywhere with no where to go. Plus i don't really know which machine goes where and which ones must be grouped together. Phewwwwwwwww....Luckily i have a few months to do this. A work in progress kinda deal...

A little about the company :

I have an employee badge ! It's cool just to see it work (beep!) on the doors.

I have a kick-ass huge cubicle complete with computer and such. It feels so grown-up-ish to have a cubicle to yourself with YOUR NAME printed on the cubicle. It's fun having your own stationary set and a ILX mug and such (i know, i am such an easy person to impress and satisfy). The only bad thing about it, is that my cubicle is two cubicles away from the pres. And it is in the main section of the building. And behind my cubicle is the printer. All of these means that i have very high foot traffic outside my cubicle. And therefore, not a lot of privacy. Not that i'm surfing the net or anything when i'm supposed to be charting graphs and writing summary reports.......

You have to wear an anti-static coat to go into Labs or the manufacturing side of the building. So, all day long you'll see people walking around in blue synthetic coats complete with a heel thingies that discharges static electric from the body.

There is a lot of ppl working there ! For a locally based company, it has about 150+ employees working in different sectors. That's considered big. Well for me at least. Need to try to remember all the names....

It has a lunch room! I love company lunch rooms......

I have a company email account, phone and all that stuff. Hehee... just makes me happy that i am working in a real company now.

That's about it about ILX. For now i am enjoying my work there as a student intern. It's fun, informative, good for my resume and it pays alright (better than food service but it's not like i am making a lot of $$). So excuse me while i return back to my work; i think i hear someone coming.........