Work Examples

It's pouring rain here in KC & I'm in a blogging mood, so thought I'd tell you about my first couple of months work experience.

In the T3 division we specialize in custom Access databases to manage our client's mountains of emissions data, as well as the installation/customization/support of Environmental Management Information Systems (EMIS).  My first week here I was able to assist on an Access database for a telecommunications company, helping them identify & sort all of their stationary & portable generators for permitting.  The project is actually out of the St. Louis office, but we crunched the numbers & assisted them - that's one of the really cool things about Trinity, you get to work with people all over the country & on multiple & various projects.  I'm the kind of person who can get bored very quickly in the corporate world, but there's enough variety here to keep you engaged.

As a fellow blogger pointed out, there is a lot of reading.  I've been digging into the EMIS systems & teaching myself how they work, reading their documentation, etc.  I'm not big on the self-teaching method, but you've got to start digesting the mountains of information somewhere & this is where to start.  Luckily, my manager had been working on setting up a training course before I was hired & it was just approved.  All the T3 folks will be coming to the KC office 5/1-5/2 for a training course that will make us certified implementers of one of our partner's software - Very cool & exciting!

Last week all I had going was the EMIS education work, and an EPA request for one of our customers sites in Portland needed immediate attention.  Since I was available I went to the customer's HQ here in KC & spent 1 1/2 weeks scanning docs for the EPA request.  It was a little tedious being clerical work, but the legal dept. was footing the bill for the cafeteria & they fed me really well.  And they didn't just have a break room - they had a full soda fountain & featured a local KC coffee called The Roasterie which shames the Folgers coffee also produced here.  Also of note was that the Corporate EHS Director came up to me & thought I looked familiar.  After talking we remembered where we'd met - I'd given him a black eye at a Krav Maga class (unintentional of course - he bruises easy), & we talked training occasionally to break up the monotony of the clerical work.  Funny how small the world is sometimes.

Also last week I attended Smoke School and am now Method 9 certified for visible emissions.  Just another example of the varied & cool things you get exposed to here.  Can't wait to use this for a client!  The rain is stopping & so am I.