May I ask what city you're in? I suggest you check out the site MeetUp. There you'll find a bunch of people interested in the same thing you're interested in doing the things that interest you. I use it for a rock climbing group since none of my friends climb. Also, and I know it sounds a little sketchy, you should try the personals on CraigsList. I know a bunch of people who have become friends through these ads. It could be worth a try. Stay positive. Listen to uplifting music with cool videos. And lastly, Hakunah Matata. Everything will work out in the end. Keep the mindset of "every possible situation is the best possible situation." In essence, of all the parallel universes, this is best possible one. Self fulfilling prophecies and all that jazz.
Erie, PA. There's a "Road Riders", Ruby Users, and Writers group for Erie. That's it. Personals might be something to look into. Honestly, the biggest problem is that I'm essentially an overpaid clerical/secretarial person who is supposed to be doing Engineering work. This job is a co-op, one where I'm supposed to be learning and getting first hand experience, and I'm not getting anything out of this. I'm hoping to try and use that as a reason to get out of this position after Spring, so that I don't have to waste my summer in this position too.
Have you mentioned your thoughts on the lack of pertinent practical experience to someone in a position to change that? Have you reached out to senior engineers in the organization and asked them to mentor you or bring you in on projects? Just curious because sometimes people find that it's as simple as nobody realizing that you have greater aspirations for learning. It could be that the person that was previously in your position had no such intentions. Hang in there, this experience will help you appreciate where you land next.
That's something @Blob_Castle@ brought up too, that I had not thought of (but will be doing!!!). I'm a Chemical Engineer - all the senior engineers are Civil or Mechanical/MechE Tech, two areas that aren't within my realm. The vast majority of design and project work is contracted to outside sources, that's the nature of this company. The only thing that might be a possibility is to take up some corrosion oriented work, as I have a bit of experience in that.Also, thank you and @Blob_Castle@ and anybody else for giving a damn and reading all of that. It's a bit whiny of a write up...this past month and half has not been very good for me mentally.
This may sound cheesy, but I always find a top performer in every organization I've worked for and specifically ask them if they'd act as a mentor for me. We schedule a call or a lunch every so often and go over any challenges or goals that I have. You could do this in any career and the mentor wouldn't need to be an engineer too, just someone accomplished that you could learn from. I've learned a lot over the years, even while in seemingly "dead end" positions. Hope this helps.
It's some great advice. It's just a matter of finding out who those people are. The departments are pretty segregated so I don't have work exposure to the people outside of mine, which is 4 people including myself.
The writers one could be interesting, IMHO. Is there any possibility of talking to your boss and potentially doing more work more in your skill set? Even if it's on top of what you're doing now, at least you'd be doing something you're more into.
It could be, but I'm already in the midst of three music related projects and don't think I could contribute that much to it. That's a very good idea. I don't think there's much Chemical Engineering within this company (I've literally only met one other Chemical Engineer, also not doing ChemE related work). But it's certainly worth a shot.
Understandable. Well, if you want to collaborate at all, I am a jazz bass student almost done with my third year. So long as the music grooves, I'm down. Yeah definitely. And if there isn't, you could collaborate with the other Chemical Engineer and work on some funky project on the side potentially.
Oh man, now that's some good stuff! I don't have enough recording equipment for non-electronic music yet though, otherwise that would be fun :(. The other Chemical Engineer is a 50 year old management guy that works out of our main office, which is over an hour away from here.
Well we'll see what the future has in store. Halfway point? If you can't tell, I'm trying to find as much positivity in this situation as possible haha.