A New Job

The long wait is over. For three weeks I have been working at a new location: Acute Innovations http://www.acuteinnovations.com/ . It’s been a great vacation, but it’s past time to get back into the fray (fortuitously timed to coincide with j’s new job). Acute makes medical devices that relate to the thoracic region (chest area). They are a small company spinning off from a larger company. At the moment they only carry two products both have to do with fixing broken ribs:

They have a couple more products in the works.

Since I actually spent more time in the interview process than at the job, I’ll start by describing that. The interview was a multi stage process:

Step one - a phone interview

I got a great start with Acute by missing the call for my first interview. “Bzzz Bzzz” said my phone, but I could tell by the timing of the buzz that this wasn’t the phone call I was expecting, but instead someone had left a voicemail. Whoops! I should have known better. I had been sitting in a portion of The Box that only gets patchy cell phone reception. With the mistake already made, I decided to make the best of it. Slightly panicked, I called right back: “I’m still getting used to this whole living in a shipping container thing (cough… cough… look how creative and interesting I am with my fantastic living arrangement … perhaps you should bring me in for an interview to learn more even though I missed your phone call and that doesn’t bode well for my reliability as an employee).” Maybe I just confused them by being the first person to ever use a faraday cage as an excuse for anything or maybe they just decided to ignore my showing off. In any case, it worked, and I made it to the next round.

Step 2 – the inquisition

Missing a phone call was pretty easy. The next step seemed like it would be more difficult. I was supposed to be interviewed by everyone at the company, followed by a test of my mechanical aptitude and a design challenge. After fielding hard questions like “What is your favorite book?” and “Do you like to travel?” I felt that it might not be as bad as I feared. This turned out to be the case. I quickly proved that yes I could use a drill, and that yes I could come up with lots of bad ideas for solving a mechanical design problem.

Step 3 – stage fright

Finally, for the last step I had to provide a 30 min presentation in front of the whole company. Unfortunately for the Acute team, I decided to do my presentation on fuel cell systems. They were kind enough to pretend to be awake, and for me it was fantastic. It’s not often that you get the undivided attention of a captive audience to talk about something that interests you, but not them.

Despite having so much time to evaluate their options, Acute decided to give me the job. So now I’ve been working there for three weeks and it has been great. Here are some highlights:

It pays to be prepared:

The time spent in anatomy class is paying off. There’s a ton I don’t know, but at least when someone talks about the anterior posterior motion of the manubrium I know enough that I don’t think I am being sexually harassed.

Cadaver Lab:

The most exciting activity so far has been going to a cadaver lab. You never know how something like this is going to affect you. So my anticipation for the event had been growing all of the previous week. This might explain why I was a little disappointed when I entered the room and realized that everything felt fine. I would not cause a scene today by fainting or vomiting, maybe tomorrow. The cadaver was not a full cadaver, but only a torso. There were no strong smells and the atmosphere was extremely professional. Bereft of a head, arms, or lower body there was little left that invoked the human being this used to be (which might help explain my lack of reaction). The torso had belonged to an 80 year old woman, and there was one tragic reminder of humanity: she had a small band-aid on her right shoulder. The band-aid seemed pitifully inadequate considering her current situation, but, at the time (probably the day of her death), putting it on must have seemed like a good idea. Clearly she did not expect to die that day. Like many medical students and medical device designers before me I can only be thankful that people are willing to allow their death to help advance medical knowledge and effectiveness.

We were there to allow a surgeon to evaluate the latest Acute product and tools. The surgeon was everything I had imagined in a good surgeon: polite, calm, but definitely not there to chit chat. He was there to give his opinion which he provided efficiently and clearly. Then he was done and promptly left.

Writing the Report:

After making it through the whole lab without any serious reaction, I thought that this first venture into the macabre word of cadavers was over. But really, the most unexpected part of the lab came afterwords when looking at the pictures while writing the lab report. Turns out that it is a well known fact (at least around the Acute office) that cadavers look a lot more gruesome in photos than they do in real life. Even after having been there and even taken some of the pictures myself, I still felt a little queasy looking at them. Who would have guessed? I’ll spare you the images (please send letters of thanks to …), but here’s one pic of me in full gear going with the two thumbs up pose. Maybe next time I’ll use the index finger out and thumb up in the “check out my gun” pose.

More than anything I am glad to be working in an environment where people are for the most part happy. Everyone seems to care about what they are doing and are excited to be making a difference. They are happy to help each other (even when I ask how to use the scanner for the 3^rd time). What a refreshing change. What a great place to be working.