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Steve - Student Trainee (Electronics Engineering)


After finishing my undergraduate program in Electrical Engineering at University of Portland, I was given an opportunity to participate in Bonneville Power Administration’s Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) during my Masters program at the Portland State University. Without any engineering experience prior to BPA, I was really nervous and didn’t know what to expect. It didn’t take too long before I felt comfortable here, thanks to my awesome mentor. He is very knowledgeable and helpful, but best of all he made me feel that I was wanted and needed at BPA.

Tomorrow, I will be going to Bonneville Dam to install a system that will acquire data from the governing mechanism of the generator. I am very excited about this trip because this is my first assignment on my own at BPA. I’ve tested both the equipment and our software that will perform the data acquisition for the next few months at Bonneville Dam. I will also get to find out if a new feature I designed to automate data delivery, saving valuable driving time, will work.

After I am finished getting ready for the trip tomorrow, I am headed off to class. I am now taking Digital Signal Processing, Communication System Design and Power System Design at PSU. I chose these classes because they will help me with the work I do at BPA. The great thing about my job is that I am never stuck doing one thing. I am doing hardware work today but after this assignment I could be working on software using various programming tools. I am not always in the office either. Tomorrow I will be at Bonneville Dam and for next few months I am schedule to go to The Dalles Dam, John Day Dam, McNary Dam, Port Angeles substation, and Boundary substation. I am able to make these trips even though I am in school, because BPA works with my school schedule.

Last month I went to The Dalles Dam for the different project and met an electrician who helped us set up our system there. He gave me a grand tour of the dam. I love meeting new people and working with them. But most of all I love my job, and I hope to come back to BPA when I am done with the school.

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     Page last modified on Monday April 12, 2004.