The Orientation

      Today was my first day on the payroll. I had to go to intern orientation. I was in a group of about 20 other interns, they came from North Carolina (NS State) to Seattle (U of Washington). I knew all these kids were smart, because Boeing's intership program is somewhat exclusive. I had no idea they were all going to be suprisingly nice, and outgoing. I'm usually the only person in a group to speak up, and make friends, but everyone was being a Type A personality. So, how exclusive is Boeing's intership program? In the Puget Sound there were 10,000 internship applications and they only accepted 250!
      So, what was the orientation about? In general, it was about what is on, and how to use Boeing's intraweb. More specifically: How to use the Employee Timekeeping System (ETS), how to select a health care and dental care (Benefits), Boeing Ethics, Boeing Employee Credit Union, Travel Expenses, and other general things.

• The Intraweb - This system is incredible. There are like 1000 different sites that let you search for EVERYTHING. In fact, there is a thing called BLUES (Boeing's Look Up Everything System). There is information about everything, the health clubs, and fitness centers, info about the parapyschology club, the beermakers club, and about 1000 other clubs.


• Employee Timekeeping System, ETS - They have a pretty sweet timekeeping system. During this part of the orientation, we learned about the different types of common "baseline work schedules." You can do the "4-10s": work 4 days a week, 10 hours a day for 40 hours total a week, which means you get one off. Or, the "9 80s": work 9 out of 10 days, 9 hours a day. Or, the standard 8 hour work day. I think the 9-80 is pretty sweet, I want to see if my manager/mentor will let me to do that one. Having every other friday off sounds like something my lazy ass would love.


• Benefits - There is a HMO plan, a traditional plan, and a hybrid between the two. The hybrid, a CCS (I don't remember what it stands for) is totally free, which is pretty cool. There is also a free dental plan, but, I don't really care, because I don't think I'll be needing any dental work this summer. I was planning on getting in some bar fights... but I think I'll skip those this year. When you're out of Idaho, the bars just aren't the same :)


• Ethics - They really place a huge emphasis on "doing the right thing." The orientation leader said we were going to watch a video of an example of a good ethics. I'm thinking: "ummm.... riiiight, this'll be a great time to catch up on that sleep I missed out on this morning", but it was short, interesting, and it was an ACTUAL example of someone reporting an incident, and how it saved a satellite launch.


• Boeing Employee Credit Union, BECU - A pretty sweet credit union. They basically sign you up for free, and give you free checks. They actually are a pretty sweet bank... maybe I'll get an account. I've got to talk to my accountant/financial advisor/bankroll/lawyer first, but I think she might agree.


• Travel Expenses - I get money for moving over here... solid.