I'm in a class this semester that assembles a group of other engineering majors to work on a real project from a real company. My group's project is based on looking into alternative options for a current process that's in place by this company for fixing something. Yes I'm being vague on purpose. After a few months of doing research, calling different companies, testing different options, writing reports, etc. what do we have to show for it? Well, the most conclusive thing we have is an option that improves performance by something like 4%.
4%
Sure the problem is more complicated than I'm making it, but it's also a lot more specific than I'm making it.
I don't know if I can spend my life trying to make some super specific operation 4% better without thinking of it as a means to an end. I don't know if I can spend a huge chunk of my waking hours working as a means to an end. That sounds awful. I want to believe in what I'm doing... is that really too much, or too idealistic a thing to ask?
The class next semester will continue our project, so maybe something we started will end up as a viable option. And maybe what we've done will result in saving the company money over time. That's all well and good. But looking back, it feels like a giant waste of time to present to this company all that we've done and basically just be saying, "well, here's 4%, you're welcome company".
oh yea, and turns out our extra 4% solution probably won't be used because it takes too long... great
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