TBT Engineering is a civil engineering firm located in Thunder Bay that specializes in highway design, geotechnical engineering, environmental engineering, engineering and legal surveys, material testing and inspection.
As an Intern, I assist the technicians in the laboratory, testing concrete, soil and superpave aggregates to ensure materials meet certain specifications to qualify for road construction and other projects. I perform gradations, proctors and take natural moisture content for aggregate testing. The lab has been very busy so my 8 hour work day has grown to 9 or 10 hours some days. Today, I left home at 6:30 a.m. and rode my bike to work. I arrived 15 minutes early at 6:45 am to start a busy day.
In the morning, I start by taking samples out of the oven from the day before and set them up to be tested later in the day. We start with the higher priority samples first, for example, proctors. The work is very interesting and very dirty! After that we go straight to Production, which usually consists of basic gradations for the Ministry of Transportation.
In the lab, I perform and assist in the following tasks:
Proctor – finding the optimum moisture content of the sample through method of compaction.
Gradation – size down the stone and record the masses to make sure the samples reach the standards.
Investigation Tubes – size down soil samples which are used for geotechnical profiling, these samples are taken at different depths and locations on a job site.
Maintenance – clean and maintain the work area and testing equipment.
TBT Engineering Limited treated me very well. I work with a great team in the lab. My co-workers are helpful and friendly. Most of them are heading back to College or University and this is our last day of work!! I consider myself very lucky to have worked at TBT Engineering Limited this summer. I have gained relevant work experience, technical skills as well as organizational, time management and team work skills.
Jonathon Kranyak
Hometown: Thunder Bay, ON
Friday, September 3, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
September 2 - Xerox Research Centre
Today marks my second last day of working at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC), and I must say, I am quite sad it is ending. My placement has been absolutely amazing! It was informative, eye-opening, challenging and fun.
I’ve worked on many different things here, but my main job consisted of operating a complex bit of hardware and software known as the Strobe Stand. Using image analysis software and some other neat tricks, it looks at the jetting behavior of newly developed inks at different user-set conditions. I ran a series of experiments and made a presentation that was delivered to everyone working on the project at a meeting.
There has been the occasional unpredictable day during the short while that my supervisor’s lab was under renovations, but today was pretty much as predictable as they come. I made numerous test prints for new inks on a modified printer to check how they performed on paper. These will be evaluated by a multitude of different tests to quantitatively measure many different characteristics of the ink. I also set up new printers and readied them to start a ten-day-long experiment.
This being my last full day at work, employees from the lab kindly treated me lunch. Everyone who works here is extremely approachable and knowledgeable, and always willing to answer any questions I might have.
I would like to thank Shad and XRCC for the amazing internship opportunity. Working here has given me some truly valuable insight into the field of research and what to expect in the workforce that I would not have gained anywhere else.
Nick Bandiera
Hometown: Oakville, ON
I’ve worked on many different things here, but my main job consisted of operating a complex bit of hardware and software known as the Strobe Stand. Using image analysis software and some other neat tricks, it looks at the jetting behavior of newly developed inks at different user-set conditions. I ran a series of experiments and made a presentation that was delivered to everyone working on the project at a meeting.
There has been the occasional unpredictable day during the short while that my supervisor’s lab was under renovations, but today was pretty much as predictable as they come. I made numerous test prints for new inks on a modified printer to check how they performed on paper. These will be evaluated by a multitude of different tests to quantitatively measure many different characteristics of the ink. I also set up new printers and readied them to start a ten-day-long experiment.
This being my last full day at work, employees from the lab kindly treated me lunch. Everyone who works here is extremely approachable and knowledgeable, and always willing to answer any questions I might have.
I would like to thank Shad and XRCC for the amazing internship opportunity. Working here has given me some truly valuable insight into the field of research and what to expect in the workforce that I would not have gained anywhere else.
Nick Bandiera
Hometown: Oakville, ON
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
September 1 - New Brunswick Education
I can’t believe that my last day of work has arrived. The past four weeks have been incredible, and they have just flown by. Leaving the Department of Education this afternoon will be disheartening, since I have really had such an amazing time here.
The work I had to do was very entertaining. I had the pleasure of reading through thousands of perception surveys from all the schools across the province. Teachers, parents, and students had made comments about the school, and I made codes for the different comments that were made. You couldn’t help but chuckle at some of the comments, they were just too funny. After all of that, I had to compile the results into a table, so a report could easily be written from them.
The people that I worked with are unbelievable. They are just some of the funniest and kindest people I have ever met. They are what made this experience so incredible for me. I will miss them dearly when I have to say goodbye.
I am so happy that I decided to take this internship. Although I was slightly nervous in the beginning, everything has just turned out so well. It truly has been an unforgettable experience for me!
Nicole Bendrich
Hometown: Fredericton, NB
The work I had to do was very entertaining. I had the pleasure of reading through thousands of perception surveys from all the schools across the province. Teachers, parents, and students had made comments about the school, and I made codes for the different comments that were made. You couldn’t help but chuckle at some of the comments, they were just too funny. After all of that, I had to compile the results into a table, so a report could easily be written from them.
The people that I worked with are unbelievable. They are just some of the funniest and kindest people I have ever met. They are what made this experience so incredible for me. I will miss them dearly when I have to say goodbye.
I am so happy that I decided to take this internship. Although I was slightly nervous in the beginning, everything has just turned out so well. It truly has been an unforgettable experience for me!
Nicole Bendrich
Hometown: Fredericton, NB
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
August 31 - Christie Digital
I walked in this internship thinking it was going to be one of two options: A summer placement where I would do menial and useless cubical work, or an intense position that only a super genius could fill. And by the end of this month I realized that it was definitely the second one. I’m definitely not a portable super quantum computer on wheels, able to do anything within a couple seconds, but I tried my best and found that it was enough.
The first couple days at Christie were some pretty shocking days. I came in and was totally blown away by the people who were working there, and how smart they were on the topics that circulated inside the company. Then I was taken on a tour… This building had EVERYTHING! Its own workshops, stores, workout rooms, cafeteria, offices, labs, production facility, you name it; the only thing they no longer had was a pool. And to top off being thrown into this immense building filled with academically inclined people, I realized I had to become one of those people in order to function here. Sure enough, my supervisor jumped right on that and launched me into the system with hundreds of pages of reading, and confidence that I would shine.
As the days went by, I soon became familiar with everything that was going on. In order to complete those projects I learned to access parts and their information, how to analyze data efficiently, how to find accurate data, the specific science behind it, how to buy parts (yes, I got to shop and buy hundreds of dollars work of parts; awesome I know), create my own experiments, and write up reports, among many other things. The nice thing is that all of these things seem so second nature by today that I even found it hard to really ask myself what did I gain… the environment I was in made it seem as though I had known these things all along.
But with all of this ending, and my grade 12 year approaching, I am more and more grateful that I had this chance to be in the position I was in for the summer, and I know it has given me many new skills and thoughts that I will carry on with me in my years to come. To be honest, it's taken a couple minutes to write this, but I am a ranter and know that if I could, I would write another 10 pages to fully express the things I have experienced in this past month, but then it wouldn’t be a blog, it would be another report.
So to finish with a closing statement, I would definitely say that I do not regret applying for an internship one bit. This opened my eyes and helped me look at my future through different, more patient and experienced eyes. It was a great experience, I would recommend it to anyone and it helped shape me a lot.
Laurentiu Anton
Hometown: Kitchener, ON
The first couple days at Christie were some pretty shocking days. I came in and was totally blown away by the people who were working there, and how smart they were on the topics that circulated inside the company. Then I was taken on a tour… This building had EVERYTHING! Its own workshops, stores, workout rooms, cafeteria, offices, labs, production facility, you name it; the only thing they no longer had was a pool. And to top off being thrown into this immense building filled with academically inclined people, I realized I had to become one of those people in order to function here. Sure enough, my supervisor jumped right on that and launched me into the system with hundreds of pages of reading, and confidence that I would shine.
As the days went by, I soon became familiar with everything that was going on. In order to complete those projects I learned to access parts and their information, how to analyze data efficiently, how to find accurate data, the specific science behind it, how to buy parts (yes, I got to shop and buy hundreds of dollars work of parts; awesome I know), create my own experiments, and write up reports, among many other things. The nice thing is that all of these things seem so second nature by today that I even found it hard to really ask myself what did I gain… the environment I was in made it seem as though I had known these things all along.
But with all of this ending, and my grade 12 year approaching, I am more and more grateful that I had this chance to be in the position I was in for the summer, and I know it has given me many new skills and thoughts that I will carry on with me in my years to come. To be honest, it's taken a couple minutes to write this, but I am a ranter and know that if I could, I would write another 10 pages to fully express the things I have experienced in this past month, but then it wouldn’t be a blog, it would be another report.
So to finish with a closing statement, I would definitely say that I do not regret applying for an internship one bit. This opened my eyes and helped me look at my future through different, more patient and experienced eyes. It was a great experience, I would recommend it to anyone and it helped shape me a lot.
Laurentiu Anton
Hometown: Kitchener, ON
Friday, August 27, 2010
August 27 - Hatch Ltd.
My final day at Hatch, my cubical neighbor greeted me with a friendly smile and a ‘Good morning’. I sat down at my computer and continued working on my presentation, which was scheduled to occur in 3 hours. The presentation explained my experiences at Shad Valley and my internship in the Hydrotechnical department at Hatch engineering company. The presentation took place in a big board room in which I felt intimidated by. Fortunately, the presentation went well and the participants saw a brief 20 minute overview of my Shad Valley experience.
Over the course of the past four weeks, I’ve gained much more than I ever thought I would. I’ve learned everything from water principles to soil properties. I also learned how to write up a basic report and to test wire harnesses, all in just 19 days. But the major project I worked on was to design an open-channel drain. Over this short period of time I’ve learned that engineering is a constant learning process and at the end of the day it comes down to finding a solution.
When lunchtime came around the hydrotechnical department followed its weekly routine of going out for lunch and this Friday wasn’t any different. I enjoyed lunch with my fellow Hatch employees who are both amazingly friendly and approachable people. As the final hour was drew closer, I was completing questionnaires and saying my goodbyes The final thing that I did was hand in my swipe card and walk down from the 4th floor to catch my bus. As I was leaving I thought that this could be the last time that I am leaving the Hatch building, or perhaps in the future I may walk down these steps again.
Mariya Spylchak
Hometown: Winnipeg, MB
Over the course of the past four weeks, I’ve gained much more than I ever thought I would. I’ve learned everything from water principles to soil properties. I also learned how to write up a basic report and to test wire harnesses, all in just 19 days. But the major project I worked on was to design an open-channel drain. Over this short period of time I’ve learned that engineering is a constant learning process and at the end of the day it comes down to finding a solution.
When lunchtime came around the hydrotechnical department followed its weekly routine of going out for lunch and this Friday wasn’t any different. I enjoyed lunch with my fellow Hatch employees who are both amazingly friendly and approachable people. As the final hour was drew closer, I was completing questionnaires and saying my goodbyes The final thing that I did was hand in my swipe card and walk down from the 4th floor to catch my bus. As I was leaving I thought that this could be the last time that I am leaving the Hatch building, or perhaps in the future I may walk down these steps again.
Mariya Spylchak
Hometown: Winnipeg, MB
Thursday, August 26, 2010
August 26 - Sentex Data Communications
Thursday, 9:15 in the morning, summer 2010. Usually, at this time, this season, I would prefer to lie in bed, laze around or play video games. But not this month!
Since the first day of my internship here at Sentex Data Communiactions, I wake up every day bright and early (well not early really) knowing that my day is going to be filled with excitement, challenges, jokes and fun! It has been 3 weeks already and whether it’s the assignments that I work on or the hilarious conversations and jokes that take place, there has not been a single day when my brain is left unchallenged and dead.
During my first week, I was introduced to the staff (very cool people!), given a tour of the building and informed of what Sentex does and its operations etc. Next, as requested, I gave a brief presentation about myself, Shad, my experience at Shad, and our Shad Nationals project. Making the presentation was of great benefit to me as well as to my Shad Cup team as our product was subjected to many important questions that we had not addressed before.
I was introduced to my assignment early second week. I was to create and design Android applications using Eclipse, a platform designed for building integrated web and application development tooling. Well when I first heard it, I made no effort to hide the fact that David might as well be speaking to me in another language. I had no idea what I was being told to do, let alone be able to do it, considering my vast lack of experience in the field. Now, thanks to 3 weeks worth of patient help, advice and walking over (every time I had a problem), I am extremely proud to say that I now know exactly what “” means among many other things! I was given a brief introduction to programming, and given various online tutorials to follow. I am happy to say that although at times, it was frustrating to see projects fail, it was truly rewarding and a shining TA-DA moment (with the sound effects and all) when I got some of them working (Calculator, Currency Converter etc.)
Wanting to succeed in my assignment was my goal and motivation, but really honestly speaking, it was the random conversations (StarCraft, cars, boats, arranged marriages and food), the hilarious jokes (Ninja-Bread Man-David), Jabber and the “intellectual” talk that livened my day, everyday! Wanting to be a farmer, I never imagined myself working for a month in front of a computer, 8 hours a day, 4 days a week. But this internship has opened a door to a whole new world for me, one that I will continue to explore even after the end of the month as I want to learn programming, more about app development, Arduinos etc.
My take home message from this internship? -No matter where it is you work or what it is you do, be comfortable with everyone and enjoy yourself, because that’s where the real learning happens!
Vigne Sridharan
Hometown: Guelph, ON
Since the first day of my internship here at Sentex Data Communiactions, I wake up every day bright and early (well not early really) knowing that my day is going to be filled with excitement, challenges, jokes and fun! It has been 3 weeks already and whether it’s the assignments that I work on or the hilarious conversations and jokes that take place, there has not been a single day when my brain is left unchallenged and dead.
During my first week, I was introduced to the staff (very cool people!), given a tour of the building and informed of what Sentex does and its operations etc. Next, as requested, I gave a brief presentation about myself, Shad, my experience at Shad, and our Shad Nationals project. Making the presentation was of great benefit to me as well as to my Shad Cup team as our product was subjected to many important questions that we had not addressed before.
I was introduced to my assignment early second week. I was to create and design Android applications using Eclipse, a platform designed for building integrated web and application development tooling. Well when I first heard it, I made no effort to hide the fact that David might as well be speaking to me in another language. I had no idea what I was being told to do, let alone be able to do it, considering my vast lack of experience in the field. Now, thanks to 3 weeks worth of patient help, advice and walking over (every time I had a problem), I am extremely proud to say that I now know exactly what “” means among many other things! I was given a brief introduction to programming, and given various online tutorials to follow. I am happy to say that although at times, it was frustrating to see projects fail, it was truly rewarding and a shining TA-DA moment (with the sound effects and all) when I got some of them working (Calculator, Currency Converter etc.)
Wanting to succeed in my assignment was my goal and motivation, but really honestly speaking, it was the random conversations (StarCraft, cars, boats, arranged marriages and food), the hilarious jokes (Ninja-Bread Man-David), Jabber and the “intellectual” talk that livened my day, everyday! Wanting to be a farmer, I never imagined myself working for a month in front of a computer, 8 hours a day, 4 days a week. But this internship has opened a door to a whole new world for me, one that I will continue to explore even after the end of the month as I want to learn programming, more about app development, Arduinos etc.
My take home message from this internship? -No matter where it is you work or what it is you do, be comfortable with everyone and enjoy yourself, because that’s where the real learning happens!
Vigne Sridharan
Hometown: Guelph, ON
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
August 25 - NB Power
As I stepped out of the van - I settled into a routine that had become second-nature to me over the past five weeks. Today was August 25th and yet another educating, interesting and all around amazing day at Point Lepreau (Nuclear) Generating Station.
I entered the building by passing security, and continued on to smile reassuringly at the newcomers trying desperately to learn the ins and outs of radiation protection monitors. I pushed open the double doors to the health physics lab and was greeted by many friendly faces. The lab techs were already hard at work doing various tasks from testing effluents to fixing gamma spectrometers.
My own work day started off by heading down to the crane hall and assisting Health Canada representatives in moving their “phantom man”. Not in fact a real man, but a plastic simulation used for quality control purposes. We counted the “man” on our full body counter and I helped identify which radionuclides were present.
For lunch we went to the on-site cottage and not only did we have a barbecue, but several of us partook in a game of washer toss. On our way back, we stopped in at the silos that housed nuclear waste and ended the day with a tour of the control room. With only two days left, I was still learning lots and discovering new aspects of the plant every day; hopeful to return at a later date and unravel the challenges that await at Point Lepreau.
Lucas Jarche
Hometown: Sackville, NB
I entered the building by passing security, and continued on to smile reassuringly at the newcomers trying desperately to learn the ins and outs of radiation protection monitors. I pushed open the double doors to the health physics lab and was greeted by many friendly faces. The lab techs were already hard at work doing various tasks from testing effluents to fixing gamma spectrometers.
My own work day started off by heading down to the crane hall and assisting Health Canada representatives in moving their “phantom man”. Not in fact a real man, but a plastic simulation used for quality control purposes. We counted the “man” on our full body counter and I helped identify which radionuclides were present.
For lunch we went to the on-site cottage and not only did we have a barbecue, but several of us partook in a game of washer toss. On our way back, we stopped in at the silos that housed nuclear waste and ended the day with a tour of the control room. With only two days left, I was still learning lots and discovering new aspects of the plant every day; hopeful to return at a later date and unravel the challenges that await at Point Lepreau.
Lucas Jarche
Hometown: Sackville, NB
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