Raw Engineering
A funny thing happened to me this morning at the office…
As soon as I sat down at my desk with my coffee and bagel, my desk phone rang:”This is Dannah,” I say.”Oh, hi Dannah…I’m looking for Steve?” the man says on the other line.”I’m sorry, but I think you have the wrong extension.” Two seconds after I hang up…the phone rings again. and again. Both times, the caller is looking for Steve.
hmmm..
Apparently, I had been placed at Steve’s old desk (he transferred to a different building). So when I call out from my phone or receive calls from others, the ID registers as Steve, instead of my name. I found this odd since I had already been logged into the system and have been linked to my own extension. After further investigation and experimenting with my office-mate’s telephone, I discover that my desk phone is connected to two different extensions: the one that I had been assigned to, and one that belongs to Steve.
double hmmm..
Unable to reach my administrative assistant, I was instructed to ignore my ringing phone for the time being until the technical issue is resolved. Which would not have been such a big deal–if Steve wasn’t such a popular guy around here–and the phone wasn’t ringing off the hook the rest of the morning.
– This incident is pretty symbolic of my first few days at Schlumberger: hectic and confusing though pretty simple. I have been busy setting up my computer and getting connected to the network, touring the facility, completing my online training, and getting all my administrative affairs and clearances in order. In the meantime, I have also been studying a handbook that explains the basic mechanics behind oil well drilling.
I also learned that I have been placed to work within the New Technology group—which I’m VERY EXCITED about. I am working in the department that dreams up and designs the new tools and mechanical processes that will go on to fabrication, testing and eventual implementation. The guys I work with are consultants to the rest of the other groups to innovate and improve upon previous designs. The New Technology group also works to customize an existing tool to fit the needs of the customer and the specifications of the drilling project.
If this group isn’t all about raw engineering–I don’t know what is. I am absolutely ecstatic :) Though I will be working mostly in the office since I’m an engineering intern, I still need to have my own Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for instances when I will be working in the lab. PPE is all the gear you need to wear when you work in the lab when testing the parts. PPE includes: steel toe boots, hard hat, blue Schlumberger jumpsuit, and safety glasses. I am currently waiting on my custom fitted blue jumpsuit and hot pink hard hat to come in (the hard hats are usually white, but we have pink ones for visitors to wear—and since I’m partial to pink…).
Today, I got to pick out my very first pair of steel toe work boots! The cool thing is, they don’t look or feel like how I expected them too; I imagined them to be more masculine looking and heavier on my feet. Pretty stylish for an industrial boot…
