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Monthly Archives: November 2011

New-Job Burnout

23 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by EngineerChic in Career

≈ 4 Comments

I’m going to share with you a phenomenon that I’m experiencing  right now –  New-Job Burnout.

I didn’t even know that such a thing existed until I googled it! Apparently its quite common in young professionals, especially in their 1st year of work. Basically, it is a condition that occurs after long periods in a stressful work environment and is often caused by:

  • Unclear description of your role or responsibilities on a project/ in a team
  • Poor communication within your department/ dysfunctional department
  • Lack of autonomy and micromanagement from supervisors
  • Poor match between the job and one’s values.
  • Poor job fit — Skills, work hours, physical demands, etc.
  • Extremely high levels of mental or physical activity is required long-term, sometimes without breaks during the day.

Most of these are especially common in your first job as you might not be in the right position or field just yet. I’ve experienced first hand how sometimes, it can be really difficult as a junior to know what is expected of you and in a less-structured work environment, its easy to feel a bit lost.

Common Symptoms of Burnout include:

  • Insomnia or excessive sleep or both in one week
  • Long lasting fatigue or run-down feeling
  • Frequent illnesses such as colds and flu
  • Teeth grinding.
  • More missed days of work.
  • Confusion, disorientation, forgetfulness, inability to concentrate.
  • Anger directed at people that are making demands, i.e. boss and family. Rising levels of anger over time.
  • Self-blame for fulfilling the demands of others against one’s will..
  • Sarcasm and cynicism.
  • Negative attitude, becoming worse over time.
  • Irritability and agitation.
  • Feelings of being overwhelmed.
  • Loss of the ability to organize and set priorities.
  • Decreased work output.
  • Explosive episodes of unprovoked anger.
  • Tension headaches and migraine, increasing in frequency.
  • Indigestion, stomach ulcers.
  • Weight loss or gain.
  • Feelings of loss of control, paranoia or helplessness
  • Panic attacks or fits of crying
  • Road rage.
  • Interaction problems with friends and family and colleagues

If you’re starting to experience these then you should consider addressing the problem right away before you ‘hit the wall’ so to speak.  It surprised me to have to admit that the stress was affecting me so much. I live a very healthy life – I exercise regularly, eat healthily, drink lots of water and take vitamins, but all of this just wasn’t enough. It turns out that the number one reason anybody burns out, is that they’re not giving their body and mind the time it needs to rest and recuperate energy. This is extremely important to maintain a healthy balance.

So how can you prevent Job Burnout:

  1. Take breaks – make sure you take a lunch break and a coffee break every few hours
  2. Take Vacations where you do nothing but relax
  3. Be assertive with your time. Its alright to put in overtime to get the job done, but don’t let this become the norm and ensure your supervisor acknowledges the extra time you’re putting in.
  4. Have a weekly ritual that’s just for you to spend time on you – get your nails done once a week or devote one evening a week to having a long, relaxing soak in the tub
  5. Leave the office at the office. I am very guilty of this one – get home and turn on your laptop to check emails? Don’t do it! They can survive without you for a few hours!
  6. Don’t take on too many extra-mural commitments. Although its great to be involved in things out of work, limit them to one or two activities at most. This way, you will be able to devote enough time to each of your commitments, and avoid feeling guilty when you can’t get around to everything you’ve committed yourself to! (again – I am guilty of this one!)

I’ve been put off for a few days to recover and rest but hopefully will be back on my feet again soon. One thing I am definitely going to do is take more breaks!

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Best TED talks I’ve come across for a while

20 Sunday Nov 2011

Posted by EngineerChic in Engineering Research - Yummy Yummy!

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I came across these over the past two weeks and thoguht I’d share.

The first one is quite short-and-sweet and gives me hope for the younger generation. Its quite daunting, but also awe-inspiring how kids these days know so much more about technology and the internet than I do (and thats saying ALOT since I’m a blogger- hello?!)

12 Year Old App Developer

The next video I watched on my cellphone on the long road home from work. Well, I started listening to it in the car (I do this for audio clips, not visual ones so I don’t end up in a ditch somewhere, but decided 5 minutes in to pause until I parked off. I climbed out of my car and sat there, awe-struck for the entire video. It was simply amazing.  It envoked some strong emotions, I must admit.

Check it out:

The Birth of a Word

 

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ASME IMECE 2011

20 Sunday Nov 2011

Posted by EngineerChic in ASME

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I was in Denver, Colorado last week to attend the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE). Denver is lovely city with a cosy-feel although its quite a large city! It also has a beautiful airport – designed to resemble mountain peaks (although I thought it looked like a parachute hanger- which was much cooler in my opinion). Eco-Hawk and I took a bus out to the little town of Boulder – about 45 minutes out of the city center. The mountains are just gorgeous but I almost froze to death! It turns out that nothing I own is nearly warm enough to survive a winter in the US! Plus, its Summer right now in SA. I’ve realised that the thing I love the most about the USA is this – The Cheesecake Factory. (Of course it had to be food 🙂 )

The congress was great although I only stayed to attend committee meetings for ASME. It does seem that I have taken on a bit more than I can chew and will have to start saying ‘no’ quite soon before the wheels start coming off. Right now, I’m working on connecting Early Career Engineers to opportunities and programs within ASME. We’re trying to reach out to “ECE”s all over the world and offer them roles within our group, so if you’re interested, get in touch!

Working for ASME is really great. Apart from the opportunity to travel (which is really awesome) I get to meet the most interesting people (and sing karaoke in front of the President of the Society – eek #liquidconfidence!).  I love how informal it is and it seems like everyone in the Society just wants to help you succeed. ASME volunteers are a great bunch. I also bumped into the E4C crew, who are always great to connect with (and who owe me a guest-blog! Yes, you agreed to it!)

Very exciting, ASME’s President Victoria Rockwell (yes, she’s a woman!) has just landed in SA to attend a conference on education. I’ve been busy trying to put together a program for her to connect with some key people while she’s here, which I know is going to be great. First on my list is SAWomEng, of course. EWB also has a day to showcase their current/past projects, so I hope we can make the most of that opportunity (because I don’t think I did much winning-over with my singing :/ ) ouch…

 I’ll be having dinner with Victoria and a bunch of young engineers from SA who have done some great things on the development scene on Friday, so I’ll keep you posted on how this week pans out!

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Engineer Joke of the Week –

05 Saturday Nov 2011

Posted by EngineerChic in Engineer Joke of the Week

≈ 4 Comments

If you’re feeling a little lost, don’t be. You’ve just been redirected to the new website from the old site. Thanks for stopping by!

I thought I’d lighten things up with some good old…

Engineer Jokes of the Week!

To kick off, I’m going to share a little secret with you…There is a subtle competitiveness between engineers of different disciplines.  You might try to deny it, but deep, deep down, you know I’m right – Mechanical Engineering is by far the best choice 😉

Psych! But really, we all believe that our discipline is somewhat better or more important that the others. I’ve had heated debates with electrical engineers about how without us, their jobs would be meaningless. Their reply, of course, is that mechanical machines will be lifeless without them! At the end of the day, it’s a really pointless argument because we all know that all engineering disciplines are equal, and that some disciplines are more equal than others (like mechanical engineering).

Here are a few engineering discipline jokes  😛

 

1. Four Engineers and A Broken Car

There are four engineers travelling in a car; a mechanical engineer, a chemical engineer, an electrical engineer and a computer engineer. The car breaks down. “Sounds to me as if the pistons have seized. We’ll have to strip down the engine before we can get the car working again”, says the mechanical engineer. “Well”, says the chemical engineer, “it sounded to me as if the fuel might be contaminated. I think we should clear out the fuel system.” “I thought it might be an grounding problem”, says the electrical engineer, “or maybe a faulty plug lead.” They all turn to the computer engineer who has said nothing and say: “Well, what do you think?” “Ummm – perhaps if we all get out of the car and get back in again?”

 

 

2.  Engineer as a Designer of the Human Body

Three engineering students were gathered together discussing the possible designers of the human body.

One said, “It was a mechanical engineer. Just look at all the joints.”

Another said, “No, it was an electrical engineer. The nervous systems many thousands of electrical connections.”

The last said, “Actually it was a civil engineer. Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area?”

(and I know I’m shooting myself in the foot a little here, but I love this one) 

 3. How Many Engineers Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb

How many first year engineering students does it take to change a light bulb?
None. That’s a second year subject.

How many second year engineering students does it take to change a light bulb?
One, but the rest of the class copies the report.

How many third year engineering students does it take to change a light bulb?
“Will this question be in the final examination?”

How many civil engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
Two. One to do it and one to steady the chandelier.

How many electrical engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
None. They simply redefine darkness as the industry standard.

How many computer engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
“Why bother? The socket will be obsolete in six months anyway.”

How many mechanical engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
Five. One to decide which way the bulb ought to turn, one to calculate the force required, one to design a tool with which to turn the bulb, one to design a comfortable – but functional – hand grip, and one to use all this equipment.

How many nuclear engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
Seven. One to install the new bulb and six to figure out what to do with the old one for the next 10,000 years

And my personal favourite (because lets face it, we all love mocking software engineers!)

4. The Frog and the Software Engineer

A man was crossing a road one day when a frog called out to him and said: “If you kiss me, I’ll turn into a beautiful princess”. He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket.

The frog spoke up again and said: “If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week.”
The man took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket.
The frog then cried out: “If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I’ll stay with you and do anything you want”. Again the man took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.
Finally, the frog asked: “What is the matter ? I’ve told you I’m a beautiful princess, that I’ll stay with you for a week and do anything you want. Why won’t you kiss me ?”
The man said, “Look I’m a software engineer. I don’t have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog is cool.”

 

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Winter Business Wear

02 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by EngineerChic in Engineer Chic!, Marketing Yourself!

≈ 1 Comment

Since IMECE is around the corner, this year being held in the Mile High City of Denver, Colorado, I tought I’d give you a couple of ideas on how to dress for success in Winter.  If you’re new to Engineer Chic, you might want to have a look at previous posts on What Does Business Casual Mean Anyway? and Ten Wardrobe Must-Haves for Any Engineer Chic .

I personally love dressing up in the Winter. There are so many great looks, but for business, the following tips will help you make your mark!

Winter Look 1: Go Classic

As we’re well into Spring down here in Sunny South Africa, I’ll be pulling out coats and boots from our Winter which has just passed. Our fashion follows the US by 6 months, but luckily for me, this year I wont be horribly out-of-date. The trends for this season are Classic, Classy, Sexy!   My favorite Winter items in my closet are classy and timeless which means I wont need to go running to the mall just yet.  Its a really great idea to invest in some good, classic Winter clothes: genuine leather boots and a well-fitted coat are a must! They will cost you a bit, but will be worth it in the long run!

Winter Look 2: The Coat

I am a huge fan of a cute fitted coat – and this year, the waist is back! Get yourself a coat that suits your body shape.  Remember that very long coats only look good on very tall, slim girls (you don’t want to turn up looking like a vampire). For shorter ladies like me, go for something above the knee that flares in a gentle A-line cut. This also flatters curvy hips, especially with a wide belt arouns the smallest part of your waist. Paired with straight-cut trousers (or dark skinny-jeans for business casual) this is a really hot look! For business, stay with clean lines and neutral colours.

Winter Look 3:  The Skirt

The high-waisted skirt is very much alive and kicking this winter – yay!  Wear over stockings for the cold and with boots for a really cosy feel- which brings us to the next great Winter business look… 

 

Winter Look 4: Boots

 

Again, classic high-quality leather boots will be money well-spent!
I love ankle-boots, as long as they’re not too bulky, or a simple, fitted brown/ black pair just below the knee. Beware of boots that stop mid-shin as they are the least flaterring to shorter/ curvier shapes!
 
 

I love these!

Winter look 5: Accessories

The best part about Winter clothes is that there are just so many of them! Layering is a gorgeous way to stay warm and scarves or hats in the latest styles are always a great way to spice up an outfit. This year, to add some colour, go for a long scarf in a rich, solid colour (no knits).  A deep turquoise, purple or eggshell would be the perfect glamorous finish to a classic ensemble!

Hats are also in this Winter, so keep those ears nice and toasty with these!

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