I have come back to blogging! From July to December 2020, I busily interned at a medical device startup on its medical ventilator project as an electrical engineer intern. So, what have I learned during the internship?

Lesson 1: Figure Out What Matters For Me

I feel somewhat vulnerable in saying this, but I do discover that work makes up an important aspect of my identity. Working on a medical device gives me a certain sense of commitment. When the work is aligned with my personal values, that work itself becomes a form of self-expression.

After considerate soul searching, I realize that what matters to me is:

Wellness

Wellness is the foundation of everything for me. For me there are three main pillars of wellness: physical, mental and spiritual.

To take care of my physical wellness, I exercise for 45 minutes every day.

To take care of my mental wellness, I meditate for at least 10 minutes every day.

To take care of my spiritual wellness, I (am still trying) to pray every day.

I realize that I do not care much about what technology I would use at work. My background is in electrical engineering and data science, so I would be most comfortable doing work in these fields. However, any work that contributes to wellness is something that I would be very interested in ;)

Learning/Growth

Learning, as I personally tend to believe, is why I am here on this earth. I would like to have a job that nourishes my inner need to learn and grow.

Lesson 2: Soldering Is Never Outdated

I happen to perform a lot of soldering work for creating protoboards during my internship. The work reminded me of my undergraduate years and can be a real test for a person’s focus and patience. No matter how old-fashioned soldering sounds, it would never be outdated : )

Lesson 3: Speak Up For Myself

Because no one else will. I’ve learned this the hard way.

Lesson 4: Company Culture Matters

I checked on the internet and found out that there are four main types of company cultures: clan culture, adhocracy culture, market culture, hierarchy culture. Personally I like clan culture the most, which is what experienced during my internship. In particular, I enjoy working in a mission-driven organization.

Lesson 5: Keep A Work Log/Put Work Organized In A Neat Folder

One thing I regret is not documenting my work in a clear and coherent manner. By keeping a work log, I would have a clearer sense of what I struggled with or how I progressed in my career.

Lesson 6: Have A Agenda Slide For All Presentations

Thanks to my boss for pointing this out to me. Always put a concise agenda slide before all other slides to let people know what we are going to talk about during the meeting.

Lesson 7: Embrace Change

It is certainly hard for me to leave my internship where I spent much time crimping, soldering, assembling, doing the most engineering-ish work. However, I am also aware now that I need to let go of certain identities to embrace new ones, like data science. Engineering is fun work: you get to get your hands dirty and have a sense of craftsmanship. And sometimes, multimeters, o-scopes, crimpers, pliers, solder, soldering station, Arduinos, Rapsberry Pis can seem to be your companions:)

Still, sometimes, we just need to let go and begin some new adventures.

Lesson 8: Complete the Hardest Task First

It’s more motivating this way.

Lesson 9: Keep Workspace Organized

The conversation I was often having with myself involves:

  • Where is XXX? It should be here but it isn’t.

  • Where should I put XXX? Is there a designated place for it?

You see, not having a organized workplace can drive me crazy. I actually spent a whole afternoon organizing the soldering station and component bins area, categoring components and putting them in designated boxes.

With a cleaner desk, comes a cleaner mindset!

Lesson 10: MATLAB Can Create Music

Unbelievable right? Somehow my impressions of MATLAB are still filled with matrices and plots. For the first time in my life I created three alarm audio files using MATLAB!

Lesson 11: People are More Willing to Help Than I Think

Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange is a site that helped me tremendously during my internship. I was surpised by how much people are willing to help! There are so many brilliant minds out there, and I cannot be more grateful when these minds pour some of its knowledge into mine.

Lesson 12: Choose Myself

This is a bit personal, but important enough for me to share. [Note: Information below is direct quote from a post by Minimalism Made Simple]

When you choose yourself it doesn’t mean putting people last, it just means you are putting yourself first.

It means you are taking care of yourself to help others.

What good would you be to someone if you didn’t know how to take care of you?

This is time to take priority in your own life. Learn the things that make you happy and sad.

When you take care of yourself and love yourself you open up a world of happiness for yourself and others. So go ahead look into the mirror and say today… I choose me.