I put in my notice at The Empire this past week.
My official last day is Jan 27th.
I will be flying to D.C. the night of January 30th in an attempt to join rebel forces.
Here's to a new year and some excellent new adventures.
Miss you all
also:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/were-eating-less-meat-why/
Showing posts with label Star Wars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Wars. Show all posts
Monday, January 16, 2012
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Summer Employment - The Empire
So after reading Michael's post about his summer employment, I thought I would share a few things with all of you about my time so far working as a storm trooper for the Empire. (I am going to refrain from using the company name - I would appreciate if you all did the same.)
Well, I should rephrase: my time at what I THOUGHT would be analogous to working as a storm trooper for the Empire. It's actually really enjoyable here. I love everyone I'm working with - they are (mostly) very upbeat, funny, easy to be around, and very patient with their teaching. Everyone also seems (although I am beginning to see idosyncracies in this already) to be very flexible and easy going with schedule changes, the major renovations and construction about half of the building is going through, and with helping each other out when it's needed. I was hired as part of the Systems Improvement group, which is really glorified experimental optimization for each step of the process, but I'm getting to know a lot of people in the Production and Transformation groups. I'm not sure if those are different groups or if one is a sub group of the other, but regardless, I'm getting along just fine.
One thing that has not come up, ever, is the fact that we work for what many in the world consider to be an evil agricultural organization that monopolizes seeds and financially ruins small farmers for inadvertantly growing their crops. Most people outside of my Colby friends actually don't recognize the name of this company, don't know what the company does, what their history entails, or even realize how ubiquitous their GM crops are in our grocery stores once I explain everything to them. This also means they don't know why I'm slightly embarassed to openly share where I work. But so far no one at work has even hinted at the fact that they are aware of how the company is viewed by many. (Interestingly enough, I was trained in what to do incase we are ever greeted by protesters on-site. Their policy was specific enough that they probably are experienced in the subject.)
But I really have been impressed so far: the science here is viewed as science. Not as a way of solving world hunger, not as a way of producing tons of money, not as a way of working for good or evil. It's instead just science: How can we make this work? How can we make it work better? What does this exactly mean? How do we address these potential problems? No one has shared with me what particular genes do, which makes me wonder if that is only known by the people who are organizing the projects on the highest level. I don't know for sure.
Additionally, on the company home page, there is a section labelled "Issues/Critics" that links to articles written around the country about the company/practices and the problems people have with them. I find it really interesting that they are so open about sharing this information. On the public home page they address each issue, past and present, from toxic agents to genetic modification to legal matters - all in a very open way. After reading it, I thought they were as truthful as they could be - you should all go poke around the website and tell me what you think about those sections if you have 20 minutes to spare.
After looking at all of these issues, how much of the problems with this organization can be blamed on the employees? Is it apathy towards these issues that makes them guilty? Does focusing on your science make you exempt to the company's objectives and decisions in questions of ethics? How do you interpret their openness about the problems and criticisms they face from the public and the media?
Have I really sold my soul, or could it be true that the dark side isn't all that dark?
Well, I should rephrase: my time at what I THOUGHT would be analogous to working as a storm trooper for the Empire. It's actually really enjoyable here. I love everyone I'm working with - they are (mostly) very upbeat, funny, easy to be around, and very patient with their teaching. Everyone also seems (although I am beginning to see idosyncracies in this already) to be very flexible and easy going with schedule changes, the major renovations and construction about half of the building is going through, and with helping each other out when it's needed. I was hired as part of the Systems Improvement group, which is really glorified experimental optimization for each step of the process, but I'm getting to know a lot of people in the Production and Transformation groups. I'm not sure if those are different groups or if one is a sub group of the other, but regardless, I'm getting along just fine.
One thing that has not come up, ever, is the fact that we work for what many in the world consider to be an evil agricultural organization that monopolizes seeds and financially ruins small farmers for inadvertantly growing their crops. Most people outside of my Colby friends actually don't recognize the name of this company, don't know what the company does, what their history entails, or even realize how ubiquitous their GM crops are in our grocery stores once I explain everything to them. This also means they don't know why I'm slightly embarassed to openly share where I work. But so far no one at work has even hinted at the fact that they are aware of how the company is viewed by many. (Interestingly enough, I was trained in what to do incase we are ever greeted by protesters on-site. Their policy was specific enough that they probably are experienced in the subject.)
But I really have been impressed so far: the science here is viewed as science. Not as a way of solving world hunger, not as a way of producing tons of money, not as a way of working for good or evil. It's instead just science: How can we make this work? How can we make it work better? What does this exactly mean? How do we address these potential problems? No one has shared with me what particular genes do, which makes me wonder if that is only known by the people who are organizing the projects on the highest level. I don't know for sure.
Additionally, on the company home page, there is a section labelled "Issues/Critics" that links to articles written around the country about the company/practices and the problems people have with them. I find it really interesting that they are so open about sharing this information. On the public home page they address each issue, past and present, from toxic agents to genetic modification to legal matters - all in a very open way. After reading it, I thought they were as truthful as they could be - you should all go poke around the website and tell me what you think about those sections if you have 20 minutes to spare.
After looking at all of these issues, how much of the problems with this organization can be blamed on the employees? Is it apathy towards these issues that makes them guilty? Does focusing on your science make you exempt to the company's objectives and decisions in questions of ethics? How do you interpret their openness about the problems and criticisms they face from the public and the media?
Have I really sold my soul, or could it be true that the dark side isn't all that dark?
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