Into the World of Engineering: Sometimes by baby steps...

... and sometimes by leaps and bounds.

Well, the past two weeks at Rockwell have been a whirlwind. I have gone from being assigned a fairly clear cut task of turning a set of LabView test code into C# to a multifaceted project involving requirements capture, systems work, and hardware design. It's still the same project, mind you. The scope has just increased. I am now set to go into the real test ground... Initial Design Review... that's a little (insert sarcasm) meeting where the customer, project engineer, systems, hardware, and software people all gather to see the results of YOUR requirements capture, to decide whether a thing can be done or not, and hopefully, how it should be done. I can say one thing for certain. I have never had this kind of responsibility laid on my shoulders over the entire time of my co-op.

We're talking time estimates, materials research, interface design, and many a long conversation with hardware engineers trying to figure out what they actually designed. Almost everything that goes into a bid, without doing the actual bid. I can't recall how many times my manager has resorted to an expression like, "This is engineering, man. This is the thing!" as he is mentoring me through the process. I feel like this next week could be sink or swim for me. I guess my job isn't on the line, but it feels like my competence is.

If anyone reads this blog still... I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers as I head into a tough week. I am hoping I won't have to pull weekend hours to get ready for this thing, but I guess it is possible. I have a lot of work yet to do before showtime on Tuesday. I am trusting God to guide me through this experience. It has the potential to be very rewarding. That is my hope and prayer at least.