Work:

Today marked the beginning of my first real job. I'll give you all the low-down on what I did today with periodic interjections concerning thoughts and impressions of the job position.

Orientation started at 8:30, but my ride to the metro began at 6:40 so I got there rather early. I decided to burn the time at Starbucks which is connected to the lobby of my building. After semi-awkwardly sipping a coffee by myself (see Joel's blog) I got my guest badge and began the video regiment. They sat the six of us new employees in a conference room and fed tapes into the VCR that had lame 80's/early 90's actors telling us about how to use a fire extinguisher and what sexual harassment is. Midway through the video marathon, the benefits guy came in and explained what benefits were available to us. I'm fairly impressed with what the company has to offer. One thing that I am excited about is that they are trying to promote fitness so the company will pay $100 each month to any gym membership you have. I hope that they will approve EarthTreks because that would cover all expenses! Anyway, this is also when things got a little awkward. The benefits guy asked who fell into the management category since they get an improved retirement plan and immediate medical coverage. I was the only one to raise my hand. And then I felt silly, being placed with the management group when all five other people in the room were older and more experienced than I was. One guy was already working for Pepco and was just switching departments... and there I was, green as grass grows reaping in the benefits. I could see why there is and always has been a divide between management and everywhere else. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but I was separated from the rest of the group from then on- sometimes physically, but mostly socially.

After all of the orientation stuff was done I got to go meet my group and get started. My direct supervisor is the cool lady I interviewed with, so it was nice to see a familiar face and exciting to get to work under her. I met probably 80 people really quickly as I was given the office tour and shook a bunch of hands. One of the guys I recognized from Maryland, but we had never met so it was cool to talk with him about school and stuff. Turns out he walked (that means graduated) with me and had already been working for two months. For the rest of the day I shadowed him as he started a project from the beginning so I could get an idea of what I would be doing. So here is what I do:

The city already has a fair amount of electrical systems infrastructure (power lines) provided by Pepco. A person who is building in the city or is expanding their electrical needs in any way will become one of our customers. They ask for power and I have to design the layout to give them that power. And from there it becomes amazingly complicated, even with the simplest of projects, when you have to consider codes, safety, and the builders who will be implementing the design. It's a little bit like complex legos. The job is not ultra-technical like where you're trying to model an oak tree by chiseling every detail out of stone. Rather it's like building the oak tree with legos, but you have to make sure the color of the pieces are all right and the pieces all fit so that the model is structurally sound and robust. There's my analogy.

Lastly, the environment. One of the first things my boss told me was to never come in a tie again. Nobody who works on that floor wears a tie. The people are pretty cool and a bunch of them have already invited me to ask them any questions I come across, so I plan to do that. My cubical is bare, but I plan to make it homelier soon. A plant and a couple of picture frames will liven up the place. With this long post, I think I've reported on everything. Day two begins in 7 hours and 20 minutes to I'm gonna hit the sack. Peace.