Blog Entries 

Week 1

Blog 1

Tomorrow I start my internship at ThunderBird Products and I am super excited. Here I will learn software for taking orders and creating designs for the metal. I will also learn how to discover prices for different things people ask for, use those prices to give quotes to customers that give the price of what they are asking when including what they are asking for, labor costs, and tools. For my project I will go through a whole order from start to finish and experience all parts of the business. I am super excited for this experience and I feel I will enjoy it a lot. I'm excited to see how I will enjoy a desk job and I hope I still have some adventurous aspects.

Blog 2 

Week one was a lot of fun and I have learned so much already. I started with learning basic CAD and got myself familiar with it. I was using a layout program that is used to design and create the path that the water jet follows to cut a design into the metal sheets. I started with simple shaped and just learning all the tools and then was given old order sheets and was able to use my learning to create the designs. After creating these designs i would check the order sheet and would see what kind of material they want, how thick it needs to be, how big of a sheet that material comes in, and how many units they want. With that info I can use the program to find out how many units can fit on one sheet, and find out how many sheets they will need. Once I find all that info out I can put it into a file I can then put into a separate program that controls the water jet. This program will tell me how long it will take to cut this sheet, and how much it costs to cut this sheet. With this info I can add that cost with the cost of the sheet of metal and divide that amongst the amount of units made with that sheet to find the price per unit. With this number I can give a quote to the customer. This was all super fun to learn and I enjoyed all of it. In the future I hope to learn harder programs that are 3d and possibly even try out the 3D printer. I also would want to try out the hands on machines that bend the metal around, but I'm not sure what I am aloud to do safely.

Week 2

Blog 3

This week so far has been a lot of fun. Today (Wednesday) I got to see some of the work on the floor as well as go more into ideas for my final project. The biggest challenge I have faced is keeping myself engaged behind the desk for hours at a time. I love the work I'm doing, but some points can be repetitive and already being tired and sore from activities make sitting down most the day even harder. To overcome this I want to find more enjoyment in the things I'm doing like learning more about the program and trying to find ways to make things easier and quicker so I can get things done faster and not feel bored of it. I will also advocate for myself more and try and find more opportunities and things to learn during this amazing opportunity I have. For example I have kept hearing about the 3d version of CAD and how it is a lot harder then the current program that I'm using. I would love too take that challenge and I think I have it in me to try and learn about it. There are some issues with the licensing of the program and limited access but there is something we can maybe work out so I could try it out. Additionally, I would love to try some more hands on work, including work on the floor and in the warehouse. I don't specifically know what kind of things I want to do but having that balance of being out of my cubical would be a nice change. Overall I have realized that this was the best opportunity for me and I have not only learned a lot about the business, but a lot about myself and my work ethic and ways I like to learn and stay productive.

Blog 4

This week was a lot of fun and I feel I have grown a lot. I started the 3d program and it was a lot of fun but super hard and defiantly a challenge. It was super confusing and something I will have to persistent with if I want to learn. I also got one of my first live jobs and it was a lot of fun but also had its challenges. The reference for the quoting was a straight blueprint of what they wanted and it was cluttered with a lot of unneeded info and also left out important measurements. This was defiantly a hurdle I had to overcome and wasn't something I could give up right away when faced with it. I found that you could find some measurements but though steps of adding off different info which was overall such a heinous job but I was able to complete it eventually. After designing and quoting the order, I got to learn the business program that give the official quote and emailed it back to the customer which was really cool. I feel more and more official every day and I enjoy the work I do a lot. With reaching halfway through I feel I have learned so much and done a lot, but also feel I have so much I can still do.

Week 3

Blog 5

After reaching over half way through my internship I have realized how thankful I am for this opportunity. This internship has taught me so much about every aspect of this business, as well as learning so much about myself. In total so far I have learned 2d+3d CAD, how to find out pricing for an order and formally quote the customer, how to set up the water jet, how to layout designs in the most efficient way, and many many more things. Yesterday (Tuesday) I even learned how to weld, which was so amazing and was such a cool experience I did not think I would have been able to learn. Not only am I learning everything I want to learn about, I am also in an amazing environment with super cool people that make everything a lot more enjoyable and easier to learn. I am truly grateful for this opportunity and I believe this was the best outcome I could have ended up with.

Blog 6

Interacting with other people in the workplace has been a lot of fun. A lot of these people are outgoing and friendly and very helpful. They have been great with offloading some work so I have something to do, and also explaining thoroughly what I need to do and how to do it. It is really cool to see people using the same program I am learning but with their years of experience with it. It seems like second nature to them and its really cool to see. They all treat me as another worker which is super welcoming and has overall made this experience a lot better.

Week 4

Blog 7

As I continue internship I have exponentially grown in my skills around the shop and behind the computer. This has been amazing so far and I feel I have learned so much but still feel I have so much to learn, too much to learn in only a week and a half. Not only have I felt my skills have gotten a lot better, but my mentor and other workers have noticed it and have been trusting me with harder assignments, and today another worker offered to teach me something in solidworks. He taught me how to design sheet metal and I don't know if I expressed how much I enjoyed it but even if it seems boring or simple I found it super interesting and was super stoked. I learned how to take a 3d shape and lay it out as it would be before you have folded it into the final project. After designing a miter I got to have it cut and then folded it into shape. This was all so cool and the one I made is now a design they will refer to it in the future if they need those dimensions, and I am credited as the creator which is so cool. I also have gone way further in solidworks as a whole and I'm actually contributing to the company with my work which is awesome.

Blog 8

My advice to someone who wants to pursue the engineering field is to have drive. I learned this from my mentor but to have drive will take you anywhere in life. If you want to do anything and pursue your dreams the biggest thing it takes is to have the drive to get things done, and to have the want to grow and improve. One example my mentor gave me was how his best welder recently quit. He could have chose anyone and asked if they would take his spot and would have probably gotten an answer like "sure why not." However, if another worker would have come up to him and said "hey, what can I do/learn to be able to fill this role" He would choose them over everyone else because they have the drive to get better and do good. This can be applied to anything and the most important part of achieving your dreams and goals is the first steps that give your opportunity and learning experience.

Week 5

Blog 9

I am not excited at all to go back to school. I wish I could stay here and continue working for this company for much longer. I have really enjoyed this entire experience and have learned so much. I haven't had real school in months and I am not prepared to go back and start. I don't know if there are any skills I can really bring back to school but I will have a more specific goal for the future which will help for deciding colleges. I will know what to look into and really have that in mind. Overall I am going to miss this place a lot and I do not want to go back.

Blog 10

After this amazing experience I am grateful for so many things. First, I am so grateful for how many things I was able to do in my time there. I was able to learn a lot behind the desk like quoting and PO's, and 2D + 3D CAD. That was super fun and I found a lot of enjoyment in that. I was also able to do a lot of hands on work which I wasn't expecting but I'm so happy it happened. I was doing a lot with the water jets and cleaning up parts, while also helping put away orders and seeing every aspect of the process. I am also very grateful for the people I met. It was such a fun environment and everyone felt real. I was welcomed and didn't feel weird being 20+ years younger then everyone else. I was also able to learn a lot more by people offering to teach and give tips. I am so grateful and could not see myself with a better internship.