Big Time Changes!
A lot has changed for me both personally and professionally in the last month. A rundown of the main events:
- At the beginning of December I got engaged to my girlfriend of four years (who lives in Atlanta, GA);
- Received my semi-annual review; and
- At the end of December I officially said my goodbyes to the Covington, KY office and headed south down I-75 to start work at Trinity's Atlanta, GA office.
Before leaving Kentucky, I had my third semi-annual review since joining Trinity. As a G56, you will receive a review from your immediate supervisor in June and December of each year. Every six months you will receive a set of goals that you are asked to accomplish. These goals can range from a target utilization (percentage of billable hours) to educational advancement (taking a modeling course). The review process represents an excellent way to assess what your current strengths and weaknesses are as a consultant and also represents the primary avenue by which merit increases are evaluated. As part of the semi-annual review process you will also be given the opportunity to do a self-review. These self-reviews are also reviewed by your immediate supervisor and can be a great way to remind them of what you have accomplished in the past six months or are hoping to accomplish in the future.
Just prior to Christmas was my last physical day in the Kentucky office. I will always be extremely grateful for the great opportunity that office gave me by getting me started in my career with Trinity. The people in the Kentucky office are consummate professionals who I greatly enjoyed working with and I wish them nothing but continued success in the future. I am extremely thankful that both the Kentucky office and Atlanta office were willing to work with me to pursue the opportunity to transfer offices within the company.
I officially started in Atlanta on January 3rd, although throughout December my workload was split between Kentucky and Atlanta work, and I have to admit that I was slightly nervous walking into the office for the first time. It felt like being a new-hire all over again with that fact that I hadn't met anyone from the office in person. The big difference this time around was that I was armed with a year and a half of great experience under my belt and was much more confident that I'd be able to walk in and hit the ground running (unlike my first few weeks in Covington!). My nerves were quickly alleviated as everyone in the office was extremely welcoming and excited to have me on board.
I will be able to transfer a lot of the skills (particularly Air Dispersion Modeling) that I learned in Kentucky down to Georgia. I've been able to hit the ground running on a few different modeling projects already. In the Kentucky office, we dealt nearly exclusively with Kentucky area clients (and occasionally Ohio and Indiana) so the main challenge was learning the state-specific air regulations for Kentucky. In the Atlanta office, I will potentially be dealing with clients from Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee. After spending a year and a half to get a truly solid grasp on the Kentucky regulations, I know I will have a lot of work to do to come up to speed on the state-specific regulations for all four of the new states I will potentially be dealing with. It will be a definite challenge, but one that I'm very much looking forward to!
Even though all Trinity offices follow the same standards and procedures, as represented by our ISO 9001 certification (quality control), I've noticed over the past week that there can be many differences between individual offices. In the future I'll share a little more on this subject and try to give even better insight on what it is like to move from one office to another in the company. Thanks for reading!
A Year Later
Just over a year ago I interviewed with Trinity at the Greater Cincinnati (Covington, Ky) office location.
Even though I felt good about my chances when I walked into the interview room, looking back now I can remember how nerve wracking it was to spend the day interviewing amongst a group of very highly qualified candidates. It can be a stressful time when looking for a job and especially for those with graduation coming up and not knowing what future plans are going to entail. I remember walking out of the interview process and replaying each answer in my head and questioning whether there was anything I had or hadn't said that I wished I would have slipped in.
A year later I can definitely say that I am thrilled to be on board with Trinity. Trinity is an extremely organized and efficient company as represented by the ISO certifications that we currently hold. I've found that all of my coworkers in my office and around the country are always willing to lend a helping hand.
I have had a tremendously positive experience so far and I'm really looking forward to continuing to grow as a consultant. It has been amazing the transformation that I've undergone since starting here last June. I feel like I'm definitely starting to get a solid handle on things and it has been very nice to be able to take a more active role in engaging directly with clients for certain projects. Even though I've learned a lot so far, there is so much still left out there that I do not know yet. The challenge with Air Quality work is that you can never be an expert in everything. There is just simply too much information out there. I've started to find areas that I've developed an interest in and I'm looking forward to cultivating my skills and knowledge as I move forward with Trinity.
Fast Start to 2011!
A belated Happy New Year to all!
I took a week off over the holidays to head back home to Michigan to spend some time with my family. It was very nice to be able to relax for a bit and recharge my batteries! Since returning to Northern Kentucky, I think it is safe to say that 2011 has gotten off to a very fast start! This past week I've been spending most of my time working on a Title V Renewal Permit Application Package. Title V Sources are defined as "Major Sources" with regards to air pollution and these types of facilities are required to renew their permit once every five years.
A typical Renewal Package can consist of an application, detailed emission calculations, forms, site plans, and process flow diagrams. Needless to say these applications require a lot of time and effort to make sure that everything is done the right way and in a high quality manner. As part of my work on the Renewal Package for the current facility I am involved with, I've had to work extensively with the lead engineer at the plant to ensure that we are properly quantifying their emissions and accurately describing the processes that take place at their facility.
Client communication is one of my favorite things about consulting. It is great to be able to communicate and work with varioius people at different plants in different cities across the country. Every client is different but as part of the consulting business you have to understand what you need to do to keep your clients happy! I look forward to continuing to grow as a consultant in 2011 and gaining an even better relationship with some of my existing clients while fostering relationships with new clients.
Hello to all future readers!
To kick things off on my personal blog space, I thought I would give everyone a little bit of background on myself.
My name is Jake Stewart and I currently work in the Trinity Office in Covington, Kentucky which is just outside of downtown Cincinnati. In fact, I am actually looking at the downtown skyling as I type this blog! I started with Trinity on June 1, 2010 as an air quality consultant. It has been a tremendous experience so far and it is nice to finally be getting to that poin twhere I am beginning to feel more and more comfortable with my job and responsibilities.
Since a majority of my blogs will focus on my professional background, I thought I would use this initial entry to detail a little bit of my personal background. I grew up in a small town and ended up attending the University of Michigan where I majored in Chemical Engineering. I have a Bachelor's degree from U of M and I'm sure you can tell from my username that I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent in Ann Arbor, Michigan. At Michigan I was heavily involved in with a variety of different activities but I was most passionate about intramural sports and Michigan football. Before interviewing with Trinity, I'd held a summer internship in the air quality consulting field prior to my senior year of college and decided that it was something that I was definitely interested in pursuing as I moved forward into my search for a full time job.
Over time, I will periodically update this blog in order to best capture all that encompasses being a Grade 56 (entry) level consultant with Trinity. Thank you for reading and I look forward to posting again soon!
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