Here again, ESR10 telling about her PhD. This time, I would like to tell you something about how is to visit and work for one week in a company.
As part of my PhD project, one of my secondments was at Metek, with the precious aid of Matthias Bauer, following and mentoring my activities there. I worked in Elmshorn from 10 to 17 april 2014. First two days spent in deciding which was the best thing to do, as it often happens when there are plenty of things to do. From Monday on, the idea was to make the chain of radar data processing more efficient and fast.
Hard work, moments of enthusiasm and of depression, alternated by run in the park to relax and refresh the mind in the night, and walks to the mensa at noon...sometimes running because of rain!
In the end, a code has been produced and another one is on the way, to provide a calibrated radar doppler spectra in ncdf format, and then to calculate the higher moments of this spectra.
Again, not only coding!! First of all, I went on top of a radar car to open the radar, and look inside. I ”met “the magnetron, and all the other basic components of this incredible instrument that really fascinates me a lot.
And, finally, not only this! Working at the company was great: everyone so nice and polite, and on the very last day, the unique chance to take part to the retirement lunch of an employee.... A speech in german from the boss of the company and a reply from this happy man. I have to admit that, even if I’m studying german, I didn’t get a word of the whole talk, but sometimes, in these cases, when you don’t understand the words, you pay more attention to body language, to the eyes of the people, to the emotions flying around, and actually it was really emotioning to be there, in that small group, as a outsider observer, to see again how work can create deep human relations.
It was great, simply great.
Thanks to Metek, all the people there, Matthias, thanks.