First Week of On the Job Training

Greetings to everyone! How are you? Was this a productive week for you? I hope you all are doing well, and don't forget to stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water!

I'm currently doing on-the-job training at the Municipal Planning and Development Office (MPDO), and it's been a week since we started, so now I want to share with you my experience here in the office.

MONDAY

Even though it was only our first day, everyone of us was handed projects right away. We were each given Barangay projects because there is a lot of work here at the workplace and to make things easier, me and my OJT colleagues will prepare plans and design.

I was assigned to do the design, plan, and estimate of this covered court to be built in Barangay Mayha. The design they requested were quite detailed, so I requested references to previous covered court projects. Because there are so many things that need to be done, I believe I'll be able to do it in two weeks.

So far, I've enjoyed my first day thanks to the insight of the Engineer assigned to this office. She is very accommodating and assists us when we have queries about the project's budget, design, or materials.

TUESDAY

Yey! It's our second day of being an OJT trainee, and we're getting used to our surroundings, but conversing with other employees is still hard. We're heading to a commercial building under construction in San Andres today; it's a little out of the way, so we're taking a van to the site.

I was a little dizzy during the ride, so I brought some mint candies and sat on the windowed side of the van to get some fresh air and avoid becoming dizzy right immediately. When we arrived at the site, the foreman invited us in to inspect the interior design and see what needed to be modified or replaced. We returned to the office after our site inspection was over.

WEDNESDAY

It's been half a week! I'm also used to working from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., so I'm not late for our OJT. Even though I'm still quite drowsy at 6:00 a.m., I need to get up and take a bath in order to ready for work.

We went to the Hanging Bridge project in Barangay Mayha, where we met their Barangay kagawad, ma'am Nena. She showed us the way, which was a bit of a bumpy path. We arrived safely and immediately headed to the suspension bridge to try to cross it. They're well-constructed, and crossing the bridge isn't too unsteady.

We returned to the office right after our site visit to finish the other assignments we were assigned. The engineer corrected the AutoCAD drawing she created for me, stating that I would adjust the column sizes or specs on the beam.

THURSDAY

We're getting close to the weekend! We've been here for almost a week and have accomplished a lot, but our allocated barangay tasks have yet to be completed. Today, we didn't go on a site tour and instead focused on the duties we were assigned.

I only need to export the perspective or structural design of the covered court to AutoCAD for the appropriate dimensions and more information of the full court structure. I still have a lot of work to do, but for now it's just first because the engineer said it's fine if it takes a while as long as we finish before our six weeks of on-the-job training.

FRIDAY

Finally, it's Friday!

Every Friday, we must submit the status or report on the projects we have been allocated. The engineer is the woman in green who helps us figure out what's wrong with our work and what we need to modify or change in our designs.

It's good that my design has only a few tweaks, so I'll be able to relax this weekend. They also gave us an assignment to do by Monday, but it was fine because it allowed us to learn a lot about our future job as CIVIL ENGINEERS.

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Thank you for your time and interest in reading all the way to the very end of my article. Hope you had a great day!

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