I'm guessing that many people here are technical types with a practical bent, but also with some serious brainpower. Your practical abilities probably started early: when you were a child or teenager you were already handy with a hacksaw, electric drill and soldering iron. My question is, has it ultimately limited your career, and subtly changed your personality?
Putting ideas into practice gives a great creative buzz, and stimulates new ideas but... while you're spending time browsing catalogues to find the best connector, you're not doing those things that high flying management types are doing. Worse, you're seen as a person who is 'good with their hands', a naturally subordinate person. You may be the most innovative person in your company, but the very fact that people walk past you every day and see you absorbed in PCB design or other 'practical' activities allows them to label you as only one step up from a worker drone. The better your practical skills, the more valuable you become out of your central role, being asked to spend time away from R&D (say) and simply getting stuff produced which you can't help but be good at, though it isn't what you really want to do. Even if you start off known as a respected, creative person within the company, managers new to the company only know what they see: a 'practical' person.
Perversely, your creative flair can end up locking you into the least creative jobs imaginable, without any influence on how you spend your time. Maybe quite early on, your personality changes to match the way others see you, and your early talent dissipates to nothing. Or maybe, if you're lucky, you become the servant of high flying 'innovators' within the company management who have no practical abilities themselves, but feed off your skills.
...Or that's how I could imagine it could be! (I'm quite lucky where I work at the moment.) However, looking back, if I had my time again, I might not have promoted my practical skills quite as much as I did, and saved it for my spare time at home...
Putting ideas into practice gives a great creative buzz, and stimulates new ideas but... while you're spending time browsing catalogues to find the best connector, you're not doing those things that high flying management types are doing. Worse, you're seen as a person who is 'good with their hands', a naturally subordinate person. You may be the most innovative person in your company, but the very fact that people walk past you every day and see you absorbed in PCB design or other 'practical' activities allows them to label you as only one step up from a worker drone. The better your practical skills, the more valuable you become out of your central role, being asked to spend time away from R&D (say) and simply getting stuff produced which you can't help but be good at, though it isn't what you really want to do. Even if you start off known as a respected, creative person within the company, managers new to the company only know what they see: a 'practical' person.
Perversely, your creative flair can end up locking you into the least creative jobs imaginable, without any influence on how you spend your time. Maybe quite early on, your personality changes to match the way others see you, and your early talent dissipates to nothing. Or maybe, if you're lucky, you become the servant of high flying 'innovators' within the company management who have no practical abilities themselves, but feed off your skills.
...Or that's how I could imagine it could be! (I'm quite lucky where I work at the moment.) However, looking back, if I had my time again, I might not have promoted my practical skills quite as much as I did, and saved it for my spare time at home...
I'm not certain that it is practical skils as such, unless you extend 'practical' to mean 'getting the actual job done'. My experience in IT was that promotion, beyond a certain point, went to people who were good in meetings and 'positive' (i.e. they either never noticed, or kept quiet about, snags in the project which the rest of us could see coming). I was once told I was 'negative' - I spotted problems and alerted management to them.
In a software development team, advancement did not seem to depend on ability or success in developing software. Latterly, even recruitment of 'experienced' people did not seem to be strongly influenced by competence at the actual job.
At first our managers were ex-programmers so they understood what we did. Later, we had 'real managers' who thought that writing code was a mundane job for junior staff; they had no idea why we had previously employed some of the brightest science and engineering graduates in the UK and paid them accordingly.
In a software development team, advancement did not seem to depend on ability or success in developing software. Latterly, even recruitment of 'experienced' people did not seem to be strongly influenced by competence at the actual job.
At first our managers were ex-programmers so they understood what we did. Later, we had 'real managers' who thought that writing code was a mundane job for junior staff; they had no idea why we had previously employed some of the brightest science and engineering graduates in the UK and paid them accordingly.
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Steve Jobs and his buddy started in a garage and used their practical skills to build things. Didn't seem to hold them back. And what about Dyson, Sinclair etc.
I think it's got more to do with your willingness to take risks, to be willing to give up something (such as a regular income, interesting project work, comfortable environment with little conflict, time for hobbies and family, etc.) in order to gain something else that you want more.
I think it's got more to do with your willingness to take risks, to be willing to give up something (such as a regular income, interesting project work, comfortable environment with little conflict, time for hobbies and family, etc.) in order to gain something else that you want more.
depends on setting, expectations - but employers just love salaried "hands on" engineers
there's the incident in Soul of a New Machine where managers are going around snatching the tech's pay stubs from the wastebaskets so the engineers wouldn't rebel at the techs out earning them with overtime
coworkers were shocked at one fairly large company when I successfully negotiated for even straight hourly pay/1:1 comp time as an engineer
there's the incident in Soul of a New Machine where managers are going around snatching the tech's pay stubs from the wastebaskets so the engineers wouldn't rebel at the techs out earning them with overtime
coworkers were shocked at one fairly large company when I successfully negotiated for even straight hourly pay/1:1 comp time as an engineer
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In certain cases when the deciding superiors think they know everything, your knowledge becomes useless for the surrounding as u do not have the authority to persue/prove what u r saying.
Such happening is very common in my case as I think out-of-the box.
As Prof. R. Finnman said in one of his quotes
'A scientist looking at non scientific problems is as dumb as the next guy'
Gajanan Phadte
Such happening is very common in my case as I think out-of-the box.
As Prof. R. Finnman said in one of his quotes
'A scientist looking at non scientific problems is as dumb as the next guy'
Gajanan Phadte
We have the modern syndrome: To know more and more about less and less until we are the only ones who know what we are talking about. ( credit due to the French philosopher for that) and we have those of us who are generalists. We know a little about a lot and have practical skills to apply. Both are useful. I make a living as a systems engineer in technologies that change quickly, so the generalist approach is invaluable. I work with folks who are so single topic focused the can't find the restroom. They solve very hard problems. I make it work. We need both. One is only held back if they do not recognize their skills and try to do something else.
I went a lecture by James Burke a little ago. One of his main points is that the real breakthroughs are made by the generalists who know the narrow focus people. You know, CONNECTIONS. That is his bag after all.
What I find most frustrating is when the narrow focus expert needs to make a decision that has factors outside their focus, they almost always seem unwilling to listen about those factors, so the make a decision on very incomplete information. The result is quite predictable.
I went a lecture by James Burke a little ago. One of his main points is that the real breakthroughs are made by the generalists who know the narrow focus people. You know, CONNECTIONS. That is his bag after all.
What I find most frustrating is when the narrow focus expert needs to make a decision that has factors outside their focus, they almost always seem unwilling to listen about those factors, so the make a decision on very incomplete information. The result is quite predictable.
CopperTop,
Looking back at my work experience I believe practical ability does limit your advancement IF you work for someone else. I spent about 17 years as an auto mechanic. I was very good at it. My jobs most often got done in much less then "book" time. Yes, there are set times that are charged for most jobs regardless of how long the work actually takes. There was no incentive to move me to management...I made too much money for the shop working on the floor. I now work for my self as a cabinet/furniture maker. I get the jobs done well and don't take too long. Now my practical ability Benefits me instead of someone else.
Evan
Looking back at my work experience I believe practical ability does limit your advancement IF you work for someone else. I spent about 17 years as an auto mechanic. I was very good at it. My jobs most often got done in much less then "book" time. Yes, there are set times that are charged for most jobs regardless of how long the work actually takes. There was no incentive to move me to management...I made too much money for the shop working on the floor. I now work for my self as a cabinet/furniture maker. I get the jobs done well and don't take too long. Now my practical ability Benefits me instead of someone else.
Evan
Does practical ability limit your career?
Yes...
It depends on what you think a career is..if its building something to sell then No its an asset..
If its in a company and you can get things working that others struggle with then yes you will be stuck for ever mending the machine. If you can do something that keeps the boss in less stress because you keep production on the move yes your stuck again. And you will be activley blocked from moving on.
If you want to be a manager then you need to go into training to be one and apply for a job(ie be a member of the cult)when you have done it you see things in a different light and its not as much fun as you might think!..or you network then its not what you know its who you know.
I have even seen managers take the hands on guy with them when they move because they think they will be better off with the guy mending the machines.
And I have seen people promised all sorts of things to keep them thinking they have a chance to move on..Here was one simple thing I saw...give a janitor a walkie talkie and suddenly he feels important.. Its all bull to keep you where they want you! If you want to climb the ladder then you have to go and get it..not wait for some guy in the company to take pity..he will laugh and go home on days while he gives you even more of the same stuff to do after hours.
We have a major problem I need you to go and fix it there is no one else I can think of that can do it....Blah blah....then as you go and think OK I'm going to get this working..as the boss turns away and his mind trips to wonder whats for dinner at home..because his stress is now your stress...Oh see you in the morning..its got to be running at 4.00 night shift or we are in real trouble...Been there done that! To many times. And seen the other side of the fence...that isn't pretty either.
Regards
M. Gregg
Yes...
It depends on what you think a career is..if its building something to sell then No its an asset..
If its in a company and you can get things working that others struggle with then yes you will be stuck for ever mending the machine. If you can do something that keeps the boss in less stress because you keep production on the move yes your stuck again. And you will be activley blocked from moving on.
If you want to be a manager then you need to go into training to be one and apply for a job(ie be a member of the cult)when you have done it you see things in a different light and its not as much fun as you might think!..or you network then its not what you know its who you know.
I have even seen managers take the hands on guy with them when they move because they think they will be better off with the guy mending the machines.
And I have seen people promised all sorts of things to keep them thinking they have a chance to move on..Here was one simple thing I saw...give a janitor a walkie talkie and suddenly he feels important.. Its all bull to keep you where they want you! If you want to climb the ladder then you have to go and get it..not wait for some guy in the company to take pity..he will laugh and go home on days while he gives you even more of the same stuff to do after hours.
We have a major problem I need you to go and fix it there is no one else I can think of that can do it....Blah blah....then as you go and think OK I'm going to get this working..as the boss turns away and his mind trips to wonder whats for dinner at home..because his stress is now your stress...Oh see you in the morning..its got to be running at 4.00 night shift or we are in real trouble...Been there done that! To many times. And seen the other side of the fence...that isn't pretty either.
Regards
M. Gregg
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On reflection,
When I moved "Up the ladder"<<wrong terminology..Its not always better (Stress is a major factor)
My first day on a management Degree (Tutor ..my name is Mr blah blah I don't expect to see it incorrectly spelt do I?)..Tutor what do you know about this then..as he put a phrase in Latin on the board (You have all seen it before)..I hadn't got a clue what it was so I wrote down as much as I could from the lesson (struggling to keep up)and looked to my side with everyone else writing in short hand all relaxed(I don't know short hand)..Then went to get the first 6 of 10 books required for the assignment..oh well I thought ..then the guy next to me said," great this isn't it we will have the same amount of work for the next three tutorials"..my heart sank..then exchange Emails with your group and I want each person to be responsible for their part of the assignment..so I got up off nights to find 10 Emails with 4 pages of assignments from different people in my group all asking for my part of the assignment.
I was not well prepared and got though with difficulty..the next time it was different after getting things like ECDL clait IBT etc etc Lean manufacturing SCP..all the things a practical guy tries to avoid, the culture was very different it looks great from the outside..I want a presentation for tomorrows meeting with all the Ideas for the improvements and costing shown in interactive charts in excel linked to powerpoint..The "who you know" won't cut it either if you don't have the tools to live in the (New world of up the ladder)all many years ago...Its not what you do on the shop floor with more money It can be a PITA..Just a reflection..
..The next day the prime mover has broken down get a team sorted I want it running in less than 3 hours..but the main gear box has split (have we got any spares?)..I don't care you get it sorted..(We have three engineers off sick!)
Regards
M. Gregg
When I moved "Up the ladder"<<wrong terminology..Its not always better (Stress is a major factor)
My first day on a management Degree (Tutor ..my name is Mr blah blah I don't expect to see it incorrectly spelt do I?)..Tutor what do you know about this then..as he put a phrase in Latin on the board (You have all seen it before)..I hadn't got a clue what it was so I wrote down as much as I could from the lesson (struggling to keep up)and looked to my side with everyone else writing in short hand all relaxed(I don't know short hand)..Then went to get the first 6 of 10 books required for the assignment..oh well I thought ..then the guy next to me said," great this isn't it we will have the same amount of work for the next three tutorials"..my heart sank..then exchange Emails with your group and I want each person to be responsible for their part of the assignment..so I got up off nights to find 10 Emails with 4 pages of assignments from different people in my group all asking for my part of the assignment.
I was not well prepared and got though with difficulty..the next time it was different after getting things like ECDL clait IBT etc etc Lean manufacturing SCP..all the things a practical guy tries to avoid, the culture was very different it looks great from the outside..I want a presentation for tomorrows meeting with all the Ideas for the improvements and costing shown in interactive charts in excel linked to powerpoint..The "who you know" won't cut it either if you don't have the tools to live in the (New world of up the ladder)all many years ago...Its not what you do on the shop floor with more money It can be a PITA..Just a reflection..
..The next day the prime mover has broken down get a team sorted I want it running in less than 3 hours..but the main gear box has split (have we got any spares?)..I don't care you get it sorted..(We have three engineers off sick!)Regards
M. Gregg
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So here is another take on it,
Does practical ability limit your career..No we do it to ourselves.. its because you feel safe working practicaly and its hard to go and do the training on subjects you hate like paperwork and learning how to do a spread sheet and presentations stood up in front of a group of people..Costing and taking responsibility for others...
People that perhaps are not good practicaly may have to do this route because they can't follow the other practical one...It also might mean that you can't do things you might like at work testing and fault finding..limited now to a hobby.
I asked a manager about this issue he said you have the same chance to follow whatever route you see fit..so don't mone to me about shifts and hard work!
The problem with you is you think to much..make a decision and do it! We don't owe you anything. you work we pay you..thats it!
Doing hours of paperwork for exams...assignments...etc if you had this ability as well you could move on easily. If you think its a rat race in a practical job, then you need to go back to school and do what you hate then remember its preparing you to do what you hate in a job you might not like..
Management make stupid decisions..well only if you don't know the whole story..Here is an example..while on the shop floor the company was looking at closing..so the management replaced a door and put in an expensive roller shutter door, it cost thousands to change all the brickwork..how stupid I said..
I moved up the ladder a few days later..I asked about the door..here was the answer..we have a budget for the door..if the company changes its mind and stays open they are talking about running another product and it won't fit through the old door..so if they stay open and I don't change the door they might not be able to run the product. The money won't be there at that point to change the door so I might have caused the company to shut because it can run the product at another factory site not at this one!
Yes you go home at night but you can't sleep (stress)... unless you are lucky and have a great job..(perhaps lower down the ladder).
Regards
M. Gregg
Does practical ability limit your career..No we do it to ourselves.. its because you feel safe working practicaly and its hard to go and do the training on subjects you hate like paperwork and learning how to do a spread sheet and presentations stood up in front of a group of people..Costing and taking responsibility for others...
People that perhaps are not good practicaly may have to do this route because they can't follow the other practical one...It also might mean that you can't do things you might like at work testing and fault finding..limited now to a hobby.
I asked a manager about this issue he said you have the same chance to follow whatever route you see fit..so don't mone to me about shifts and hard work!
The problem with you is you think to much..make a decision and do it! We don't owe you anything. you work we pay you..thats it!
Doing hours of paperwork for exams...assignments...etc if you had this ability as well you could move on easily. If you think its a rat race in a practical job, then you need to go back to school and do what you hate then remember its preparing you to do what you hate in a job you might not like..
Management make stupid decisions..well only if you don't know the whole story..Here is an example..while on the shop floor the company was looking at closing..so the management replaced a door and put in an expensive roller shutter door, it cost thousands to change all the brickwork..how stupid I said..
I moved up the ladder a few days later..I asked about the door..here was the answer..we have a budget for the door..if the company changes its mind and stays open they are talking about running another product and it won't fit through the old door..so if they stay open and I don't change the door they might not be able to run the product. The money won't be there at that point to change the door so I might have caused the company to shut because it can run the product at another factory site not at this one!
Yes you go home at night but you can't sleep (stress)...
unless you are lucky and have a great job..(perhaps lower down the ladder).Regards
M. Gregg
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Eh, it's not so bad. On the negative side, I've spent the past couple of days preparing Employee Development Plan forms. But on the positive side, when everyone is gone, I have a Rohde & Schwarz 20GHz network analyzer, a Hitachi SEM, an R&S spectrum analyzer, several Tek DOs, and a CNC mill to play with, and I don't have to ask permission.
I have spent the last 40 years working for Motorola. I started as a technician on the end of the assembly line tuning up and assembling HT220's. Practical ability was not an asset. You were supposed to act and work like a machine....for $3.57 an hour (1973). $3.57 /hr with overtime and 60 hour work weeks was a lot of money then, but the work sucked. The average length of employment was about 3 months. Those who couldn't "make rate" were terminated and those who could got tired of it. I lasted about a year and a half as a factory slave.
I heard about an opportunity in the test equipment lab, applied for, and got the job. It seemed that no one wanted it. You carried a walkie talkie (the HT220) and patrolled the factory. If anything related to test equipment broke, you fixed or replaced it. Practical ability, or often, just the ability to think, was a BIG asset here. The guy that had the job before me screwed things up more than he fixed them. It took me about a year, but I got the HT220 factore running smooth. By then they had launched new products, and new factories. The Handie Com, the MX300, the MT500, Expo and the hybrid modules and components that went inside them....all made in the same factory. I worked the 4PM to midnight shift, went sailing on my Hobie Cat off Ft. Lauderdale Beach in the morning, and showed up for work in shorts, a tank top and flip flops in the afternoon. Life was good.
I would walk through the factory when I got there, ask each one of the day shift bosses if there were any issues before they left, fixed everything by 6 or 7 PM and had the rest of the evening to play in the lab. At the height of manufacturing there were about 50 people in the test lab during the day shift, and 4 of us at night. We might have spent a bit of our spare time building things too, need parts for a home made computer (6800, 6809, 68000) or awesome solid state stereo, just ask the Semiconductor sales rep, we made that stuff too!
I had the reputation for being able to figure stuff out (you know that practical ability stuff again). We built all the microelectronic modules for out two way radios and these new things called cellular phones (1980's). Remember the big white brick phone? We also has a SEM. It took up a whole room.
Some guys had flown in from Arizona (processor chip manufacturing) to examine some components for contamination. The SEM didn't work, so they went to the test lab for help. The day shift lab guys said to call the manufacturer, but the night shift lad tech (me) might be able to fix it. The guys in suits were surprised to see that the second shift lab tech looked like a beach bum, but damn he fixed the SEM. I got all the 6809's and SRAM's that I could stuff into my computer for that one.
By this time I had advanced to the highest tech rank in the company, and the top of the pay grade, and there was nowhere to go......except management...yeah they wanted the beach bum to be the boss.....NFW. I needed to find a new job. I had worked in the lab for 10 years, but the gig was about up.
There was an Internal Opportunity System where one could search out available job openings, and apply for them. Getting the job was a different story. Several of my friends had found out that it was nearly impossible to move from the night shift to the day shift since everyone knows that the night shift guys are all just a bunch of druggies and losers. It was also hard to move out of a factory or factory support group for the same reason. Engineering was for the elite. I started filling out applications, and either being rejected without an interview, or given a BS interview and then rejected....24 times. I Even wallpapered my desk and little corner of the lab with the rejection notices.
I go for interview #25 with a guy I had never met in engineering, It was an engineer job, and I had no formal education, so I had ZERO chance, but I needed some more rejection, so why not. Hey, this was engineering, so I derss up.... jeans, a T shirt, and real shoes. The interviewer spots my "Camaro" belt buckle, and starts talking cars. It seems we both had 1968 Camaro convertibles. I had ditched the worn out 327 for a 350 and installed a Muncie 4 speed. There was never a technical question, or any mention of electronics. Much to my, and my bosses surprise, my "practical ability" had gotten me a job offer.....Thats right, I became a real electrical engineer. Engineering degree...WHAZZAT. Within weeks, I was designing circuits that wound up in shipping products, and I was promoted within a year.
After about 9 years of designing radio circuits, I had hit the wall again. The economy had flip flopped a few times, hundreds of engineers had been laid off, and it seemed that the few non-degreed engineers remaining were on the hit list. A discussion with the bosses left two possibilities. Management...again, NFW, or education. Education????
You mean you want me to go to school....ME???? Yes, they wanted me go to to college...at 37 years old, college? Yes, College, not just me, but 6 of us. OK, let me get this straight....I get to leave work, and got to the local college campus, act like a college kid, and GET PAID for it....DEAL! Sign me up. 6 of us started 4 dropped out, and were eventually laid off. I managed to pull off a 4 year degree in 3 years. I did not go to every class, and I wound up teaching a few of them because the teachers had no "practical ability". Solder...WHAZZAT. Yeah, I tought the 22 year olds how to solder....and blow stuff up too! This college stuff was hard work, but a lot of fun too. Got my degree, and a promotion too.
I bounced around from engineering department to department, and in just about every division of the company that was ever based in Florida. Why? to keep on learning new stuff. I even let them buy me a Masters Degree too. I worked in the paging division and saw that one dying, so I jumped into the cell phone division.....Those guys were WAY too into Powerpoint and other management BS, so I left (just it time) and joined an advanced development group that invents the future. Been there about 12 years. Its cool stuff.
Every job is something different. Our department is made up of mostly high level speciallized engineers, mostly IC designers. They can simulate and calculate circiles around me. But just today I had to explain ground bounce to two of them. The world will always need a small group of people who can figure stuff out on their own. My boss does not tell me what to do, I figure out what isn't getting done in our group, and go do it. Usually that involves testing or demonstrating out chip sets.
Here I was given the specs for an LTE RF power amp. I designed it, build the prototypes, and am torturing it to near death!
I heard about an opportunity in the test equipment lab, applied for, and got the job. It seemed that no one wanted it. You carried a walkie talkie (the HT220) and patrolled the factory. If anything related to test equipment broke, you fixed or replaced it. Practical ability, or often, just the ability to think, was a BIG asset here. The guy that had the job before me screwed things up more than he fixed them. It took me about a year, but I got the HT220 factore running smooth. By then they had launched new products, and new factories. The Handie Com, the MX300, the MT500, Expo and the hybrid modules and components that went inside them....all made in the same factory. I worked the 4PM to midnight shift, went sailing on my Hobie Cat off Ft. Lauderdale Beach in the morning, and showed up for work in shorts, a tank top and flip flops in the afternoon. Life was good.
I would walk through the factory when I got there, ask each one of the day shift bosses if there were any issues before they left, fixed everything by 6 or 7 PM and had the rest of the evening to play in the lab. At the height of manufacturing there were about 50 people in the test lab during the day shift, and 4 of us at night. We might have spent a bit of our spare time building things too, need parts for a home made computer (6800, 6809, 68000) or awesome solid state stereo, just ask the Semiconductor sales rep, we made that stuff too!
I had the reputation for being able to figure stuff out (you know that practical ability stuff again). We built all the microelectronic modules for out two way radios and these new things called cellular phones (1980's). Remember the big white brick phone? We also has a SEM. It took up a whole room.
Some guys had flown in from Arizona (processor chip manufacturing) to examine some components for contamination. The SEM didn't work, so they went to the test lab for help. The day shift lab guys said to call the manufacturer, but the night shift lad tech (me) might be able to fix it. The guys in suits were surprised to see that the second shift lab tech looked like a beach bum, but damn he fixed the SEM. I got all the 6809's and SRAM's that I could stuff into my computer for that one.
By this time I had advanced to the highest tech rank in the company, and the top of the pay grade, and there was nowhere to go......except management...yeah they wanted the beach bum to be the boss.....NFW. I needed to find a new job. I had worked in the lab for 10 years, but the gig was about up.
There was an Internal Opportunity System where one could search out available job openings, and apply for them. Getting the job was a different story. Several of my friends had found out that it was nearly impossible to move from the night shift to the day shift since everyone knows that the night shift guys are all just a bunch of druggies and losers. It was also hard to move out of a factory or factory support group for the same reason. Engineering was for the elite. I started filling out applications, and either being rejected without an interview, or given a BS interview and then rejected....24 times. I Even wallpapered my desk and little corner of the lab with the rejection notices.
I go for interview #25 with a guy I had never met in engineering, It was an engineer job, and I had no formal education, so I had ZERO chance, but I needed some more rejection, so why not. Hey, this was engineering, so I derss up.... jeans, a T shirt, and real shoes. The interviewer spots my "Camaro" belt buckle, and starts talking cars. It seems we both had 1968 Camaro convertibles. I had ditched the worn out 327 for a 350 and installed a Muncie 4 speed. There was never a technical question, or any mention of electronics. Much to my, and my bosses surprise, my "practical ability" had gotten me a job offer.....Thats right, I became a real electrical engineer. Engineering degree...WHAZZAT. Within weeks, I was designing circuits that wound up in shipping products, and I was promoted within a year.
After about 9 years of designing radio circuits, I had hit the wall again. The economy had flip flopped a few times, hundreds of engineers had been laid off, and it seemed that the few non-degreed engineers remaining were on the hit list. A discussion with the bosses left two possibilities. Management...again, NFW, or education. Education????
You mean you want me to go to school....ME???? Yes, they wanted me go to to college...at 37 years old, college? Yes, College, not just me, but 6 of us. OK, let me get this straight....I get to leave work, and got to the local college campus, act like a college kid, and GET PAID for it....DEAL! Sign me up. 6 of us started 4 dropped out, and were eventually laid off. I managed to pull off a 4 year degree in 3 years. I did not go to every class, and I wound up teaching a few of them because the teachers had no "practical ability". Solder...WHAZZAT. Yeah, I tought the 22 year olds how to solder....and blow stuff up too! This college stuff was hard work, but a lot of fun too. Got my degree, and a promotion too.
I bounced around from engineering department to department, and in just about every division of the company that was ever based in Florida. Why? to keep on learning new stuff. I even let them buy me a Masters Degree too. I worked in the paging division and saw that one dying, so I jumped into the cell phone division.....Those guys were WAY too into Powerpoint and other management BS, so I left (just it time) and joined an advanced development group that invents the future. Been there about 12 years. Its cool stuff.
Every job is something different. Our department is made up of mostly high level speciallized engineers, mostly IC designers. They can simulate and calculate circiles around me. But just today I had to explain ground bounce to two of them. The world will always need a small group of people who can figure stuff out on their own. My boss does not tell me what to do, I figure out what isn't getting done in our group, and go do it. Usually that involves testing or demonstrating out chip sets.
Here I was given the specs for an LTE RF power amp. I designed it, build the prototypes, and am torturing it to near death!
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Great refletion George,
Yes I started as an apprentice back in the 70's electrical engineering..mainly contactor switch gear, and DC drives..with closed loop control..everything from fitting conduit to test and fault location for 5 years..then dumped on shift with 11kv and 6.6kv control systems +Xray..I got fed up with it and a few of the X apprentices were asked if they would like to work in the electronic dept the catch was on shift(read the electronic tech didn't want shifts)..I talked to the electronic guys and they said listen..if you do this we don't mind what you build for yourself or what you do just keep the plant running..so I accepted on the condition the company would fund courses I wanted to do so I could escape from the electrical Dept and into the electronics as an equal. They agreed! This lasted over 20 years until a chance came to move into management before the plant closed. So I retrained again with Assessing electrical engineering and H&S quals followed again by more training for Cert Ed and so it goes on..looking back over 36 years so far and still training..its a PITA
I guess the bottom line was that I was lucky that the electronics were going on shift or I might not have had the chance..+all the older guys in Electrical Dept had little experience with electronics which was also my childhood hobby.(So I was the target for new equipment installation)My thoughts are that you have to "go and get it" stay where you are and you will watch the years pass as I did for 15years before I had enough..
Regards
M. Gregg
Yes I started as an apprentice back in the 70's electrical engineering..mainly contactor switch gear, and DC drives..with closed loop control..everything from fitting conduit to test and fault location for 5 years..then dumped on shift with 11kv and 6.6kv control systems +Xray..I got fed up with it and a few of the X apprentices were asked if they would like to work in the electronic dept the catch was on shift(read the electronic tech didn't want shifts)..I talked to the electronic guys and they said listen..if you do this we don't mind what you build for yourself or what you do just keep the plant running..so I accepted on the condition the company would fund courses I wanted to do so I could escape from the electrical Dept and into the electronics as an equal. They agreed! This lasted over 20 years until a chance came to move into management before the plant closed. So I retrained again with Assessing electrical engineering and H&S quals followed again by more training for Cert Ed and so it goes on..looking back over 36 years so far and still training..its a PITA
I guess the bottom line was that I was lucky that the electronics were going on shift or I might not have had the chance..+all the older guys in Electrical Dept had little experience with electronics which was also my childhood hobby.(So I was the target for new equipment installation)My thoughts are that you have to "go and get it" stay where you are and you will watch the years pass as I did for 15years before I had enough..
Regards
M. Gregg
Management does have its perks. BTW, didn't know you had moved up......and I don't have to ask permission.
Sigh.... Sounds like my life on Maui. 4PM to midnight, shorts, Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops.
Well duh!
Great story, George, thanks for telling it.
If a beach bum can make it, why won't you?
Moved to tears but getting ready for my night shift.
All the best..hope its a steady one...
Yes the witching hour 4.30 to 5.30 in the morning..the whole world seems to change (easy things get hard)..The holidays are close
hang in there..Regards
M. Gregg
I cheated- I came in at the top. A story some of my friends here know, about how this happened:
I was living down in Austin, working at a research firm. I was contacted by a recruiter to take the top technical management spot at a large company in Chicago- she was very specific that they needed someone who wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty. OK, that doesn't sound too bad (I hate being chained to a desk). I was prepared to answer lots of questions about what I could actually do, besides just manage people and projects. After acing a phone interview with HR and the R&D manager, I flew up to be interviewed by the GM (same as a managing director, for you Euro types).
He had arranged to pick me up at the airport and then take me to lunch. After my lunch interview, I was to have a series of interviews with managers from the other departments. The GM picks me up, we load my suitcase and travel bag into the trunk of his impressive BMW, and I get in the car. As we're pulling out of the airport, he remarks, "You know, I googled you." I think, "Uh-oh." Then he grins broadly and says, "I'm totally into vinyl and tubes. Think you could help me put a nice amp together to replace my Cary?"
I got the offer halfway through lunch before doing any of the other interviews.
Just goes to show, you never know what odd hobby might open doors.
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