the girl engineer that is me

I was about to do some housekeeping for my computer for this recently concluded sem, and I found some photos I kept about the Design Project (the historical one-month only module) I took. It brought about painful memories of that hellish month (ang drama grabeh), but now I'm really glad I went through that experience because it feels rewarding to have overcome it. Thank you Lord.

Yeah I know I look tired. This is my typical no-fuss school get-up. Nobody really cares what people wear in engin.


So for our project, we were given a problem about constructing a supporting structure for a basement in a building so that it won't collapse while it's being made. One of the requirements was to come up with something like this, a layout plan.


We went to a real construction site to help us better visualize those abstract things described in our textbooks and engineering codes, and to see for ourselves how they do it in real life.


We were particularly concerned about these labyrinthine structures called struts because that's what we were planning to use for our design. These things look haphazard but they are actually mathematical equations materialized.


We paid attention to how these things are usually connected to each other, how far apart they must be horizontally and vertically, what kinds of bolts are used, among other things.


I could have shown a better picture but this is the only one of me donning the engineer get-up. I cannot camwhore while everyone else is busy listening to the consultant ya know.


This is the consultant, or a quarter of him anyway.


Pages upon pages of preliminary hand calculations just to get started with the design proper. Trial and error somemore.

Haha well, a very brief glimpse of what transpired during the first month of the school term. Sleepless nights, tons of perspiration, buckets of tears, and some hair loss were also part of it.

Words cannot describe how relieved I felt when it was all over.