Final Post on Work

This laptop I was issued in an azerty keyboard model. It is bizarre, a bunch of the letters are rearranged so if there are typing errors in posts this is probably why. You have to hit shift to get to the numbers and the bloody period. But hey, you don’t need to hit shift for the §, ç, and µ signs that are on the number keys, which is a good thing because I make extensive use of these daily. Apparently the only places in the world that use azerty keyboards are France and Belgium.

I finally got the final grand tour of all of the labs. I was shown all three sections-mechanical, chemical, and advanced characterization. The mechanical lab had all of the usual tests you would expect and more- stress, shear, and tensile, adhesion, friction, geometry, compression, and all that stuff. They have some very high pressure systems there. The chemical lab blew my mind. They had analytical tests I’d never even heard of, and everything I had. And the AC had an ion drill SEM (very expensive scanning electron microscope), a slew of high powered optical microscopy instruments, and a bunch of other high powered equipment. And I can order tests on anything! The BTC is like the General Atomics of Belgium, and is very well known here. I’m not really supposed to talk about specific projects, let alone post it on the internet, but I can give general ideas in person.

The work environment is stellar. Firstly, there are about a dozen static holidays, and I get six weeks of vacation per year. My boss is one of those “can I get you anything?” people, and to a person all of my coworkers have expressed the same. The hierarchy here is blurry, and the lines between “groups” is also fuzzy, and it seems fairly laid back even if there is a lot to do. A catering company comes into the cafeteria with warm meals each day, which you can have if you write your name on the list up to the day before. BTC has free snacks, coffee, and tea, and rather than paper cups you can grab a saucer and tea cup (with the Bekaert logo on it). When you’re done, you just set it to the side of your desk and twice a day the office-keeping staff come along with their cart and take your dishes and trash away. People and groups are urged to share information, resources, and ideas, and basically the only leashes we wear are budgets. The stated goal is to generate an environment that is “creative”.

It does look like I’ll be coming back to the US several times per year (also at least once to Arizona). I’ll also be working some in Eindhoven, NL, and Luxembourg at Bekaert partners’ facilities (day trip range). It now looks likely I will get sent to China once or twice (we’ll save up for an extra ticket for you in that case, Juje!).

So, this is shaping up to be an exciting two years at work. I'll not bore you all with work details for awhile now.