Tag: Civil Engineering

Stepping Back from the Setback

~ The Nerd of May ~ Leave a comment

Hello world!

So, a couple of weeks ago I received word that I was to be furloughed from my position at Barry Engineering this past Wednesday. This setback is caused by the financial crisis that come as a response to a response. In order to limit the spread of COVID-19, a lot of businesses had its employees work-at-home. This, coupled with stay-at-home orders, and designation of essential businesses, caused the economy to crash. This is just a sampling of all the effects of such a shut-down.

Luckily, Civil Engineers are considered essential, so a lot of firms, including mine, were still able to function with these orders for a short time. The problem is that with the failing economy, investors cannot easily fund projects, limiting the amount of available work. It is not sustainable to maintain a full staff on a full time payroll without sufficient income.

Being furloughed is a setback for me, especially since I have only worked for Barry Engineering for 9 months: 5 of those months on contract, and 4 months full-time. I still have so much to learn. There’s so many things I should be able to know to continue my career. In order to better understand my position, let’s take a step back to a simpler time: the summer of 2019.

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Retro-Perspective

~ The Nerd of May ~ 2 Comments

Hello World!

As I hold myself accountable for writing a blog post about once a month, and that my last blog post was about a past event, it’s time for update. This post will be a bit more current. It will be very electric.

So, a month ago, I started my new job at Barry Engineering as an Engineer in Training. This is only my second engineering job ever, and to be honest, I’m pretty lucky to get this far. I overlooked this company. I had the company in my “Job Database”, which is just an Excel spreadsheet I used to keep track of my job applications for a while. I’m not very good at keeping track, because I started only adding dates to my database until after I graduated. Adding on to that, technically, Barry Engineering was listed as “Berry Engineering” at one point. They say hindsight is 20/20, but 2020’s not until next year.

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Graduation Weekend, Part 1

~ The Nerd of May ~ 2 Comments

Hello World!

It was one of the amazing feelings I have ever felt. I was so happy, yet so nervous. It was the satisfying culmination of all the accomplishments I made. I was grateful to God for every moment, everything leading up to it and everything after it. All the people I met, old and new. We celebrated all that we’ve learned. I hope for the best for the future. ‘

The future of that moment is where I am now. I was describing my graduation from the University of Texas in Austin just over 3 weeks ago. I want to tell some of the stories of the weekend and how that compares to now. Why I am writing this a little later is not a result of busyness, but rather recalling all that happened will help me deal with the mellow transition time that I’m in now and make it worth while just like my graduation. I have separated the weekend into two posts, this is the first one. The second one can be found by clicking this sentence when it’s finished. If there’s no link, I should be working on it.

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Like a Typhoon

~ The Nerd of May ~ 1 Comment

This past Saturday, I had to leave my job at Typhoon Texas as Park Services Team Member. I had the job originally when it opened in 2016, and I thought I could do it again in 2018. Since I also have an internship at CP&Y Inc., I could only work Saturdays. It was rather tiring 6 days a week.

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I thought I could do both because I lived in the past. My first summer there in 2016 was one of the best summers of my life. Sure, it was a lot of hard work. Park Services translates to Custodian/Janitorial Duties. So it was a lot of cleaning up. Endless days turning into weeks in the hot sun.  . Working in the waterpark is no walk in park, or free ride, or some other idiom. I learned how to keep  the park clean, how to interact  and help with guests. I enjoyed it.I knew it was a bit of torture, but I kept seeing the sun, not the burning in my eyes or my skin.

The hardest part about all of this is to keep moving forward. I have enjoy where I’m at, and work towards serving others whenever I can, however I can. I went back to Typhoon Texas because I was only remembering the fun splashing and swimming, not the tidal wave of exhaustion I felt everyday. Now I must focus on being a intern at CP&Y Inc.  Continue reading “Like a Typhoon” →

Engineering Externship 2018

~ The Nerd of May ~ 1 Comment

Dear World,

This blog lacks a lot of depth on the Civil Engineering aspects. I admit, I have not done much in school besides learning properties and methods that will help me engineer solutions to civilization’s problems and build new and unique things. It’s nothing. Okay, that’s a lot. Honestly, it’s a bit different from my Catholic mindset, where I talk about my faith. It’s the day-to-day behind the scenes work  that doesn’t get the spotlight. It’s a whole different world.  One of the things I believe is whatever I do has a purpose and should be congruent with my beliefs. I believe that in helping to design and build new things provides a service to the community. So today, I wanted to delve into an experience that helped me better understand construction and how a construction site operates.

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