On Interning

1 August marked the last day of my 12-week internship.

Well, some would choose a 24-week attachment rather than 12-week, citing reasons such as being able to learn more and that the company is more willing to teach.

Yes, they are true. But that doesn't mean a 12-week internship will half the amount learned. What matters most is the experience, regardless the length.

My internship company::The relatively small office
My tidied desk before leaving::My pass
In the desk-bound 12 weeks, though they didnt really follow the training schedule due to 'unforeseen circumstances', I still managed to learn from the numerous small tasks here and there.

Since my company is dealing with water treatment related projects, naturally i was able to learn much from this industry.

One interesting experience would be the visit of skid fabrication workshop.

Skids are like separate structure which parts of the water treatment processes are built upon. For instance, one skid can be for chemical dosing where pipes, valves, pumps are built on steel structure and such structure allows easy transport and installation on actual site.

A chemical dosing skid::Valve tags
Reverse Osmosis module trains::Skid fabrication workshop
But this also mean they have to be designed properly such that they are able to connect to other skids with proper alignment of pipes and such. Just like jigsaw puzzle.

Other significant experience will be the opportunity to visit the Singapore International Water Week convention at Suntec City in June. Actually, it was an exhibition where all other water industry-related companies will be present, showcasing their technology and products.

The Singapore International Water Week Convention::My Pass
Jar test apparatus::Flocs forming
It was definitely a good time for all to network and learn.

Another interesting task was to assist in jar test. Well, to know the type of chemicals and the concentration to use for optimum floc-forming and coagulation will be through a jar test.

Varying known amount of chemicals are added to each jar with the water required to be treated and mixed and observed.

It was very amazing how the flocs will just appear only when you started to mix them, and not at the point when you added the chemicals...

Small flocs and big flocs
But at the end of the jar test, report has to be done. Luckily i wasn't ask to do it. Ha.

Overall, the internship experience was good, though i wish more can be done.

But it is also through such experience that i came to realise how tough engineering work can be. It is not the kind of work done but the amount of work to do.

It just isn't easy.


I'm glad it is over. I can't imagine if it is 24-week instead.