Men of Merck, Make Room for a Lady

As many of you have already heard, I recently accepted an offer as Staff Engineer with Merck & Co.'s Manufacturing Division in West Point, PA. Because bioengineering is the only engineering major with more women than men, I tend to forget what a male-dominated field engineering is. That veil was abruptly lifted during my visit to Merck. In the course of my six-hour interview, the only women I met were the secretary and the HR representative. Even during lunch, I saw a rare female face speckled in the crowd of men. I remember leaving the site thinking "this team really needs a woman"... lo and behold, three weeks later, I'm proud to say that it looks like that woman will be me. As the majority of my friends are males and engineers, it is needless to say that I am excited about my future working environment. Me strutting around in heels as the rare female on a floor of 80 engineers? And all of this happening at one of the top-ten pharmaceutical companies in the world? Let the good times begin. :-)

Pompous joking aside, I am actually very nervous about this position. Not only is this my first time working in industry, I am leaving behind my five years of training in bioengineering and trekking out into a completely different route: operations. Although it's a biotech company, the position I'm taking on has nothing to do with bioengineering. In short, I will be joining a team of internal consultants who optimize the vaccine sterilization process and fix it when something goes wrong. I'm a strong believer (and hopefully, practicer) of life-long learning, and I am sure my bioengineering education will always be there if I choose to call on it, otherwise I would never have accepted a position that is basically the ideal job for an IEOR graduate.

And finally, not to ignore the obvious, but my acceptance of this position does make me a not-so-temporary resident of Philadelphia. In January, I vowed to love Philly, and Philly has been loving me back. I finally feel at home, and Philly's food obsession has started to suck me in as well. For the first time, I will acknowledge, that there is the slightest possibility that I may never call California home again, but that chance is very small. And considering how wonderful winter and spring breaks have been, I must say I'm enjoying coming home and treating California like a tourist. Obviously not as great as seeing my loved ones on a regular basis, but great nevertheless. And the best part about having awesome friends in multiple places is that when something great like this happens, you get to celebrate many times over.

Peace, Love, and Biotech,

:-)