Wrote custom test-set software in a clean-room. Bunny suit, mask and rubber gloves for 8 hours a day. It was a windows box connected to a x-ray diffraction machine so I had to be in the room.
I was a grad student who worked in a fab. I found that after a couple of years wearing that bunny suit, mask, and rubber gloves for 6-8 hours per day (or, more likely, per night) I was completely used to it.
I used to catch myself surfing the web in the clean room after hours. "Wait!" I would say to myself, "I could be doing this outside the clean room, where I could take off this silly suit!"
But they are stressful places to work. The noise is quite troublesome and the ergonomics are generally awful.
yeah, no tunes, and i just couldn't get used to the sweaty hands from the gloves. i forgot about the mask. those dark red lines in your face, i much prefer my aeron chair and office now :)
Well, in the academic fab... you can't be too sure.
There was a day when I was sitting there in an academic fab, in my bunny suit, and a fly flew by. At first I didn't notice. Then I did a hilarious double-take.
I believe the airlock design has been improved since then.