[sdbob]

I enjoyed working with my father all the years in construction. Something different,a challenge at times. He never 'once' said any kind of swear word never. He taught me to do what's right. It's important what I do to someone not what they do to me. 'I might be one person in the world,however I might be the world to one person in need'

[poncho-mike]

My early career was an example of how a company destroys innovation.

My first employer out of college was a very large company that had many divisions all over the US. I was hired into an advanced technology group that worked on technology for the banking industry in the early 1980s. I worked on retina scan and recognition equipment, dynamic signature capture, optical character recognition, and was one of the first engineers trained in 3D solid CAD. It was an awesome job, but my employer's research facility at a different location got wind that a product development group was working on bleeding edge tech, and successfully lobbied the top brass at corporate to shut us down. Eventually some of those products made it to commercial customers, but by that time our group was basically handling product release and design for manufacturing. It was my first exposure to the dirty world of corporate politics. I left that group and went on to design high speed commercial printers, which is where I got screwed out of a couple of patents.

After that, I spent five years designing outdoor digital wireless infrastructure. It was a good job, and I thought there was less politics. The work was interesting and challenging and there was very little politics at the local level. That job ended when the high level corporate management decided to close our design center and move the work back to Sweden. High level politics drove the move.

I did a short stent at a design consulting company, the work was varied and very interesting, but it was feast or famine. The company was acquired by another company and the new owners wanted all acquired employees to sign a very restrictive non-compete agreement. I refused, they laid me off. The agreement basically would have prevented me from going to work for any company that the original consulting company or the new companny had bid on any work in the last five years. The restriction was two years after the date of separation, and there was no severance money. My bosses at the original consulting company had contacted just about every company in the area trying to get more work before being acquired, so it would have been impossible to find a job if I was separated from the company. I'm glad I left.

I've been with my current employer for 16 years. I do some product design and sustaining engineering work, which includes seismic simulations using ANSYS. Work became more of a chore here, but it's hard to find exciting new work when you're in your 50s. This is when work became work. Office politics aren't that bad, and the people I work with are generally pretty good. The company is very cost focused, which can be a real drain at times.

Luckily, I'll probably retire after the first of the year. I'm already 65, so Medicare will take care of my insurance needs. If my wife would just find a job with insurance, I would have it made.

[242177P]

On a lighter note...

[Tom Vaught]

Cute comment. Pretty dog too.

Tom V.

[61-63]

I'm not sure it has anything to do with work, but;

1. Being loved and respected by your family.

2. Being respected and trusted by most of your colleagues, customers/clients, and supervisors/superiors in your chosen profession. The "most" is there for the obvious reason that some of your peers, customers, and supervisors/superiors could be real stinkers.

[Tom Vaught]

In my first job, we had our share of "the kid" getting paid better than most people on the street and all they did was sit on their butt and occasionally move a vehicle from a storage lot to a test cell parking area.

We did have one girl who spent the whole summer reading her books for the next semester so that she was ahead of the game on her note taking and potential tests and could typically party or visit family vs study in her apartment most weekends.

But the average summer help was "kick back and collect the money for college for the next year.

But the same was for the recent graduates who really only had "book learning" and no experience doing the tasks in real life,
so they also coasted the first couple of years on the job. Actually pretty much normal for most entry level hires.

The difference being the summer help were just that "summer help" where Daddy or Mom got them the job for the summer.

Some permanent new hires that were paid for 8 hrs a day and showed up at 10 am and left at 3 pm actually needed somebody to follow around and actually learn what was involved in doing the different jobs. Most were just bored or needed a mentor.
I mentored a lot of people in 39 years. Same deal in life.

Not going to change an anal S....... (who will never change) it is just their character. Most are the same way when not working.

Tom V.

[misterp266]

Success in life is being happy with your life.

Success is not the same as achievement.
To relate to our hobby, if you change your own oil and it makes you happy, you’re successful.
If you build a 5 second dragster, it’s an achievement. A series of successes that culminate in something that maybe no one else has accomplished.
Society puts a lot of pressure on people to “succeed”, to constantly do better.
That is a major cause of depression. Not being able to live up to society’s pressure.
Who is more successful, a janitor who is happy with his life or a CEO who is miserable?

So, to me, if you are happy with your life, you have succeeded.

[Tom Vaught]

I agree with Post #27 because the guy in Post #18 was never going to own the "Egg Company", (or had any desire to own it), But he wanted to see the world and he did each year that I knew him. HE WAS HAPPY!!!! (and he spoke 5 languages).

Tom V.