<p>Hey,</p>
<p>Not sure if this is the right place to put this but I guess since I'm in engineering i'll post here.</p>
<p>Do you guys normally have awkward silences in your conversations at work? This normally happens are lunch. It was the worst during my 1st internship. We had a group of 8 or so students sometimes just eat our food silently at a lunch table. </p>
<p>I guess its because with my regular friends we've chosen each other but now we're just grouped together.</p>
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Do you guys normally have awkward silences in your conversations at work?
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Once in awhile... No awkward silence during happy hour, tho... :p</p>
<p>It kind of depends upon the group of people, and upon how long they've all been working together. I can imagine that if it's just a group of interns going out to lunch who haven't worked together a lot, then it'd be pretty quiet. There've not really been any trials-by-fire that y'all would've gone through together. When you get a group of people who've worked together in small teams for several years, everyone knows everyone, everyone knows everyone's spouses and kids, and there's plenty of conversation and banter. </p>
<p>I think it also depends upon the work environment. If you're in a place that cares that you're a human being, it can be a lot less oppressive than if you're in a place that sees you as a human calculator. If you feel like you're an asset to the company, you're going to be a lot happier and a lot chattier, and if you feel like the company will go to bat for you, you're going to feel less like anything you say could cost you your job so you'd better stick to talking about the weather. In my company, the principals can get away with swearing a whole lot more than the junior engineers can. ;) It's the same sort of thing.</p>
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In my company, the principals can get away with swearing a whole lot more than the junior engineers can. It's the same sort of thing.
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Just don't go work for gov't if you like to swear. Too much "political correctness"... :p</p>
<p>Have you guys not been working there very long? I'm usually somewhat reserved on new jobs until I get to know everyone better then become very open. I think that's pretty normal though. If these guys have been working there together for a while then I'd say they are rather introverted and maybe you should help them all open up a bit.</p>
<p>Or is everyone a really nerdy engineer with no conversational skills?</p>
<p>The others are probably feeling the same way. Somebody needs to break the ice... everyone can't be that introverted.</p>
<p>Just start up a conversation - about anything. We had about the same group of interns over the summer. Only 2 people knew each other before, and now everyone knows each other.</p>
<p>Sometimes we have happy hours after work or go to someone's apartment for games. You just need at least one extroverted person to start up a conversation. Talk about school, work, your supervisor, politics, anything interesting lately, your weekend, sports, fashion, anything!!</p>
<p>After a while, people's comfort zones will widen up. The best way to get to know interns, in my opinion, is to do something outside of work. Go shopping, do some fun icebreaking event based on mutual interests.</p>
<p>I didn't have that problem at all at my last internship. I actually had the exact opposite problem of trying to get the other interns to shut up so I could actually run my simulations. I guess with the type and political implications of the work we were doing, it naturally bonded the students together.</p>