First I just want to say one thing. . . WOW! It feels weird to know that on Monday I won't walk into the office and say Hi to Allen or make sure I set up what I need for the day. That instead I will be walking up three flights of stairs into a classroom full of poeple I haven't seen in three weeks. Wow lots of threes. Anywase its a mixed bit of feelings. I am excited because I learned so much at my internship and hope to use some of what I learned back at school. One of the major highlights had to be talking to my mentor about the second or third to last days and having him tell me that he loved what I had done with my project.

My last day was different, not in a bad sense. Most of my department knew it was my last day but some didn't. Which meant that randomly I would have someone go 'Hey Beth on Monday are you doing this?' and then my response of 'No, today's my last day.' So it was very interesting to see how quickly everyone including myself became accustomed to having me there. Hopefully my project will leave them with something they can use to be more proficient and professional.

DaY fIfTeEn

This set of pictures are part Option Two part Option Three.

This building is under the flight path for the airport. It sits directly by the marina and has continuous amounts of planes flying over. And because of where it sits, the city of San Diego would not allow SeaBotix to demolish the building, only remodel. There are only two post that are part of this building from the 1920's.

Here is the building I work in with a plane flying over, just part of the norm for here. Over the last three weeks I have become so use to planes flying over head that I don't hear them anymore.

dAy FoRteEn

Full Name: Bruce Sutphen

Job Title: Engineering Manager

Company: SeaBotix

Location: 2877 Historic Decatur Road, Suite 100, San Diego, California, 92106, USA
It is located at the end of Liberty Station, it overlooks the marina.

I n t e r v i e w Q a n d A

What lead to you to this career?

I’ve been in the marine industry for 20 years, associated with boat design. And this is a new up and coming developing market place. I had some friend’s who were associated with SeaBotix who told me about, and it is a developing company and in these economic times I chose to work for an industry that had development associated with it.

Did what you studied in college attribute to where you ended up?

Yes. One of the things I found that with college and school is learning how to learn. But one of the things you’ll see is if you have an enthusiasm or excitement about a topic or study, especially for me that I excelled at it (Bruce is referring to physics) when I didn’t have much of an enthusiasm toward that field I didn’t do as well at it. It was interesting, I studied physics and art and I have used the physics ever since. I ah even used a development of what my thesis was on for an America’s Cup campaign so I got them to fund the whole thing. It has been a continuation of college and an evolution.

Was there anytime where you looked back and wished you hadn’t gone one way and wished you had done something differently?

I think there are times when you are young and you know, I graduated in 88 so I am 22 years out in the market place. I think there are times where you wish that at the time when you look at it from a micro stand point of view and your like, well am I really happy doing this? And I think what ultimately happens is you look at the picture and how you evolved through all the phases and would I change anything; no. I wouldn’t change anything, was I happy with each little detailed step …no but for the most part of it I was extremely happy with the path. And have been lucky enough to travel in different places of the world and see beautiful places of the world.

DaY tHiRtEen

P R O C E S S

The simplest way to show a process is through steps. So below are individual steps to a piece I am working on for SeaBotix. This is also a representation of similar work I did on my project, the only difference is that instead of a vector art piece it was a template for Quick Start Guides.

This picture is showing the beginning steps. The first is to change the original image to that of one that has fewer colors. After that I then was able to start layering the colors.

This set of pictures was a lot trickier then the previous. Shown are all the minute colors that add to the total effect. The little flecks of blue or yellow are what end up produces something that looks really cool. This little bit very much tied into my project because there were many times when I had little changes I needed to make that were tedious but in the end made the template or Guide look a lot better.

This last picture is the end result. It is what all the hard work accumulates to. This picture like my project is something that I am very proud of because I put lot of time and effort into it and the end result in my opinion was great.

DaY TwElvE

CoLlAbOrAtIoN

During a typical workday I work directly with maybe one or two people. Indirectly I am working with about ten, whatever I am working on gets reviewed by my mentor (he is the Engineering Manager) and from him it goes to either Marketing or the head of the Engineering Department.
What I am working on is a collaboration between the Marketing and Engineering departments. It influences this company pretty directly. The Quick Start Guides are one of the first things a client sees when they get there completed ROV. I was given drafts of guides that had been done previously and was able to redesign them to be easier to understand and pleasing to the eye.

For me I think knowing that this is what a client uses to get started impacts what I do greatly. If the guide is really technical and confusing then a client will have a very hard time understanding it and might end up doing something that will damage the ROV.

I am not sure how this department would work if they had someone other than my mentor as Manager. Bruce seems to somehow know about everything that is going on and finds a way to juggle all of and still get things done. I think that if someone new was to come in the department would fall apart for a while, and any hope of collaboration or getting a new product out would be at great risk.

DaY eLeVeN

dAy ElEvEn

This week was a bit of everything. A lot of my time basically revolved around working on my project. On Monday I brought in Lemon Cake that I had made over the weekend and everyone loved it. Yay! One of the big challenges this week was due to my computer and the fact that it has decided to hate me. During the coarse of three days Adobe Illustrator crashed 5 or 6 times. Dealing with a program that you need to work and just wont is extremely frustrating and tiring. By the end of the week I was able to get the program working.

A highlight was being able to turn in the first drafts of my project. My mentor had me print one out and looked it over. Having him say he really like the design was a good feeling. It just helped make all the problems seem worth it. . . . well almost. It was memorable because of the little moment, having lunch with different people and just the little things that happened in the office.

DaY tEn

DaY tEn

This is a screen shot of what I have been working on. Doesn't look to exciting I know but actually its probably one of the first things a client see's when they go to use their ROV for the first time. Its tedious and hard at times but it allows myself to incorporate different aspects of what I enjoy into one. Working on this leaves myself asking if this is what I really want to do as a future career?


Below are listed some questions I might ask my mentor:
Were your college course's specifically geared toward ROVs?

Have there been times when you have looked back and wondered why you chose this job?

What led you to this career?

Have you been able to incorporate a hobby into your job?

How do you deal with challenges that come your way?

These last few days have been slightly tedious but low key. I am trying to finish up my project and get it ready for my mentor to review and make any changes if needed. It has been a little trying at times because of the rain and being inside all day but at the same time I am able to get a lot of work done. Hopefully I will be done with the general template tomorrow though.