Tuesday I started work. I’m working for a county government office doing sustainability initiatives. Basically my department’s goals are twofold: (1) educate and encourage employees to change their habits to be more enviro-friendly, and (2) act as “sustainability consultants” and figure out ways to green the county’s operations. Specifically, my two major projects are revamping the content and structure of the county’s sustainability Intranet (which provides information to employees), and developing a environmentally preferred purchasing handbook for other agencies to consult when purchasing items and services. In addition, I’ll be helping fill in any gaps. The department is only 5 employees, plus 2 Americorps volunteers, so everyone pitches in on everything.
On Thursday I spent the morning at the headquarters for the Public Health Department’s Nutrition Services. I worked with two of their interns on making video clips to educate employees about a new policy that aims to promote both healthy habits, and sustainability/waste reducing habits. So yeah… if I ever get youtube links to those, I will pass them along, as I star in a couple of them. ☺
On the way to the Nutrition Services office, I accidentally got off the bus 4-5 blocks early and had to walk through a not-so-nice part of Oakland. It was daytime and not a SUPER sketchy part, so it probably wasn’t all that dangerous, but man I forget that the life isn’t all suburbia and safety! (I’ve been very careful about remembering to lock my apartment door, and to make sure a friend makes sure I get home safely in the nighttime. I have to admit, though, I get scared walking down my apartment building’s hallway sometime because it’s really long and creepy.)
Friday I spent most of the day doing a stereo-typical intern task. (Actually, it wasn’t making copies, sharpening pencils (although nobody does that anymore anyway…), or getting coffee, so I guess it wasn’t THAT bad.) I had to go through 6 months’ worth of waste bills and basically just track all of the accounts (probably around 40 different ones), checking that all the bills were there and flagging any anomalies in pricing or weight of the waste. Then I had to do all kinds of funky Excel stuff and do some accounting to make sure things were in order. It wasn’t very glamorous, but when I found an error and recouped $300 for the county, it was worth it! Throughout the whole process, I was thinking, “Why didn’t they just enter the data and file the bills each month?” – it would’ve been so much easier in the long-run, but they prefer to do it like a certain someone I know does taxes: just let the paperwork pile up and then wade through it only when you’re finally forced to. Haha!
After my first week, these are my impressions of the public sector, and of California in general:
Public Sector: lofty goals, which I appreciate. However, these seem to come with a whole lot of baggage and red tape. I think that I would be frustrated with how slow things are (although this can be the case with large corporations, as well), and especially working for the county, there are some stakeholders who are elected officials, so they have constituents to consider, which further complicates things. To illustrate how slow and bureaucratic things can be: the county is using federal funds to purchase electric car charging stations and they negotiated a great deal with a company. This was a year or two ago, though, and now that funding is FINALLY approved, these chargers that they made a bid on are no longer the most cutting edge. It’s crazy that things are so slow that by the time they get put in place they’re practically obsolete!
On the other hand, though, I really do appreciate that the people working in public service (for the most part) seem genuinely passionate about improving society. I like the warm and fuzzy feeling of it all. Plus, you really can’t beat the hours: 9-5 with an hour lunch break, and often people come a bit late or leave a bit early. When I hear other friends talk about working past midnight at their finance internships, I have to admit that I feel a bit smug. But then I remember they’re not working for free and the smugness fades. Haha!
As for the Bay Area… I’m loving it!!! I know I was warned over and over that it wouldn’t be hot over the summer and I should bring sweaters and warm clothes and layers, but the week I arrived it was FREEZING! Since there’s no humidity, once the sun goes down the temperature just drops. This week it’s finally getting nicer, but I would definitely do some things differently if given the opportunity to repack my suitcase!
Otherwise, though, California has been great. I’m slowly making more friends (luckily I have a couple good friends in San Francisco and Emeryville, as well as awesome family in the area!). During my lunch break on Friday I ran some errands, and as I walked around it was finally warm and sunny out, and I just felt so incredibly happy and fulfilled. I definitely feel (most of the time) like I’m in my element out here. That said, I also really love the Boston area (and the family and friends who live there), and it would be one of the hardest decisions to pick between the two places. We’ll see how the rest of the summer goes!
1) I did my taxes by Feb 15 this year.
ReplyDelete2) Mark Twain supposedly said, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."
3) Interesting observations on working in the public sector.
4) Be careful out there. Have fun. See you in August!