I saw this at the top of the requirements section on a job description:
"...willing to design stuff that blows up other stuff and people"
Thank you for the candor, but no.
Showing posts with label career. Show all posts
Showing posts with label career. Show all posts
Thursday, June 11, 2026
Monday, April 20, 2026
Small Wins -- What Can You Do In Five Minutes?
During a networking presentation, the speaker spoke about Small Wins. I liked the idea of filling in spare time by engaging in partial tasks that can lead to a big goal. The idea is to make a list of tasks you can do in five minutes. That way you can be ready for those spare moments that popup.
While the tasks are “supposed to be” in support of a goal, I prefer to figure out what I can do in five or fifteen minutes. For real. I might think I can shave my face in fifteen minutes. But in reality I can achieve that only if I don’t bother to:
- wait for the water to heat up
- foam up the shaving soap with the brush
- thoroughly clean up after myself
I need 20 minutes for my complete shaving process.
I‘ve included below my list of five-minute “wins.” In some cases I’ll need to have materials or supplies nearby to achieve them. For example, in order to water plants, I keep bottles of water near a few of my thirstier plants.
Items at the bottom of the list in square brackets are for 15 minute gaps.
- Water a plant
- Drink a glass of water
- Splash cold water on my face
- Make tea
- Do a breathing exercise
- Do pushups
- Chill out
- Compare my online calendar with my weekly planner
- Play Wordle or Connections [occasionally I’ll need 15 minutes for this]
- Wipe down a counter top or table top
- [Load / unload dishwasher]
- [Make coffee]
- [Brush the cat]
- [Do crunches]
- [Take a quick walk around the yard]
- [Weed the garden]
Here are some links to review:
- https://aldohappy.com/small-wins
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/possibilitizing/202410/why-we-should-cheer-for-lifes-wobbles
- https://realitypathing.com/best-ways-to-recognize-and-celebrate-small-wins-with-appreciation/
- https://www.lifehack.org/396379/how-celebrate-small-wins-achieve-big-goals
Friday, April 10, 2026
It Starts With a Small Favor
One time the boss asked me to sketch a new product concept in our CAD program. After an hour or so, I'd print out a paper drawing and hand it to him.
After a few weeks he stops by and asks, "How's the project going?" "What project?" Apparently the little favor I did, the sketch I provided, was supposed to be /my/ new project. I was supposed to test it and get it working and make imporvements on it (in between all the other products that customers were paying for). This wasn't the first time I was expected to be a mind reader, but it was the most egregious example.
My job, as it was explained to me when I started, was to design and order photomasks for a new IC. I'd also provide notes on the fabrication requirements, both backend and frontend. After that, it was somebody else's problem. This was easy work, and I was able to fit in with only a little training. I had time to devote to professional development, which was lacking.
At one weekly status meeting someone reported a problem with one of the chips I designed. Suddenly everyone was looking at me. They expected me to know what was going on and hoped I had devised a solution, Apparently, again, I was supposed to be responsible for all aspects of its manufacturing and testing. But I wasn't even aware that it started production. My only response was "I don't know" sung to the tune of "How the hell should I know?" Again I was faulted for my lack of mind reading skills.
This is how things go in a small company that lacks a mentorship program. If someone had provided a little guidance and explicit expectations, on day one, I might've developed into the ideal engineer.
Unfortunately, this happens at home, too. "I want to paint the window sill on the porch. Can you buy paint for me?" my wife asked last week. Now she's saying that it's a big job and that she might have to hire someone to help. So the todo list that she wrote today included, "Help me paint the window sill." I'm assuming I'll have to do it myself. But this bothers me because you're always paint the trim last, and the entire porch needs painting. Not only is she manipulating me into doing the job, she's manipulating me into doing it wrong.
Does this happen to anyone else? What are your experiences?
Tuesday, May 06, 2025
No Letter of Resignation Required
In Longing For Layoffs, I lamented the fact that companies now fire employees for (made-up) cause when their businesses tank. But in the good old days, companies would lay off employees with the benefit of a severance package.
Yet another benefit of getting laid off is that it’s unnecessary for an employee to spend hours coming up with a clever letter of resignation, one that would point out the employer's many shortcomings without actually burning bridges.
Thursday, April 03, 2025
The Shift to Employee-Sponsored Benefits
Back in February I wrote about the good old days when employers would lay off non-essential or excess workers in order to remain viable.1 Another trend I see is that employers are off-loading benefits onto their employees.
For example, fifty years ago workers could retire on the company’s pension after working there for 20 or 30 years. Now, workers are expected to set aside some earnings for retirement in a 401(k)2 or 403(b)3. The employer might contribute a matching benefit in which they contribute 4% of what each employer contributes.
What’s next? Health insurance. Employees now can contribute to a Health Savings Account (HSA)4 with pre-tax dollars. Plus, earnings (if any) also are tax free. Even withdrawals for qualified expenses is free of taxes. And if you live to be 65 years old, you can withdraw funds for any reason without penalty. Here’s the thing – the HSA is available only when choosing a (cheap) high deductible health plan (HDHP)5. Hence, it seems a most appropriate replacement for a retirement savings for young, healthy professionals.
What’s left? Perhaps we’ll see Tuition Saving Accounts. Although by then perhaps most of the workforce will be replaced by robots and AI.
- https://ludditegeek.blogspot.com/2025/02/longing-for-layoffs.html
- https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/401k-plans
- https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/irc-403b-tax-sheltered-annuity-plans
- https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/smart-money/are-hsa-contributions-tax-deductible
- https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/smart-money/what-is-a-high-deductible-health-plan
Saturday, March 08, 2025
The Importance of Payroll Documents
Direct Deposit eliminates the need to deposit a paycheck into a bank account. However, you don’t get the "pay stub" that the check would come with. The pay stub shows the gross pay and lists the deductions (and additions, if you’re lucky) that explain how the net pay was determined. Gross pay, net pay and deductions are shown on the pay stub for both the current pay period as well as year to date (YTD) totals.
Employees who participate in Direct Deposit can access a virtual pay stub on the payroll provider’s website. It’s a good idea to download each pay stub from that website as soon as it’s available. As well, any tax documents (such as the W2) and benefit summaries also should be downloaded. Why? Because if you're ever fired or laid off, you’ll have no time to get them before you exit – your employer will escort you directly to the exit. Your access to the payroll site is through your computer account, which would be disabled. The employer might set up special, limited-time access to the website, but there’s no guarantee they will do so.
Why do you need pay stubs? Loan officers might ask to see them to verify employment and salary. Your state’s department of labor might need them to determine eligibility for unemployment benefits. I like to use the last pay stub of the year to estimate my tax refund – if I think I’ll get a large refund, I might be motivated to file early.
The W2 probably will be mailed to you. But you might as well download the PDF so that you don’t have to scan in the paper copy for your records. Some tax preparation software might be able to read the PDF file and enter the values for you.
The payroll site might have other useful documents. One in particular is the Total Compensation Summary. It would list the value of insurance (health, dental, life, etc.), cash bonuses, stock awards1 and tuition reimbursement (etc.) and then sum them up for you. Unless you receive only a fixed salary and no other benefits, this can help you compare job offers against your current (or former) job.
It’s so easy to overlook or ignore pay stubs and other payroll documents. But I hope you don’t.
1 Including the value of stock awards on this document is misleading because:
- Companies usually award restricted stock, which cannot be sold immediately; it has to be vested first.
- The amount of the stock award is based on the share price at the time of the grant, and that price could be much lower by the time it’s vested. In fact it could be 0 if the company goes out of business.
Sunday, February 09, 2025
Longing for Layoffs
I long for the good old days when a company would lay off its workers. When revenue was down, a company would eliminate the excess workers. The employer would pay them a severance – perhaps one week’s pay for each year of service. It costs money initially, but the company would save money in the long term. As well, the workers would be entitled to unemployment benefits. Ahh, those were the good old days indeed.
Now it seems that employers are too cheap to do that. They’ve found other ways to reduce the workforce without resorting to lay offs. Not only can they avoid paying severance, they keep the cost of unemployment insurance at a minimum. 1 2
My employer brags about how it doesn’t lay off its workers. Instead, it imposes a “salary sacrifice” during business down cycles. Then, when the up cycle arrives, it makes amends by giving everyone a salary reward greater than the sacrifice. The reward is paid with shares of stock.
But the company doesn’t brag about how it finds excuses to fire workers or put them on probation, which allows them to avoid paying rewards and bonuses. It starts by assigning an employee an impossibly large workload outside of the employee’s area of expertise. As the employee invariably fails to “meet expectations,” it gas-lights him or her into believing he or she is underperforming, unworthy and deserving of probation. The paper trail starts with a written warning and is followed by probation. 3
What can an employee do in this situation? According to Workplace Fairness, it’s important to build your case by gathering paperwork and witnesses. 4 Personally, I think it’s a good idea to look for a new job.
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment_insurance_in_the_United_States
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experience_modifier
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciplinary_probation
4 https://www.workplacefairness.org/building-your-case/
Sunday, July 02, 2017
The Dreaded Non-Disclosure / Non-Compete Agreement
If you work in the USA tech industry, you've probably been asked to sign a non-disclosure / non-compete agreement with a new employer. It may be that even your current employer asked you to sign a new one.
If you're not familiar with it, let me describe it for you in a nutshell: Anything you witness or produce on company time becomes the property of your employer. Even if you think of something, if you thought of it on company time, that idea is your employer's property. This explains a lot of what I've observed during my career -- many coworkers are so poignantly aware of this that the second they clock in, they empty their minds completely of thoughts and go about their duties thoughtlessly.
If asked to sign a non-disclosure / non-compete agreement, what should you do? This ebook from IEEE should help:
https://www.ieeeusa.org/members/IPandtheengineer.pdf
Good luck!
If you're not familiar with it, let me describe it for you in a nutshell: Anything you witness or produce on company time becomes the property of your employer. Even if you think of something, if you thought of it on company time, that idea is your employer's property. This explains a lot of what I've observed during my career -- many coworkers are so poignantly aware of this that the second they clock in, they empty their minds completely of thoughts and go about their duties thoughtlessly.
If asked to sign a non-disclosure / non-compete agreement, what should you do? This ebook from IEEE should help:
https://www.ieeeusa.org/members/IPandtheengineer.pdf
Good luck!
Friday, July 13, 2012
How I Became Paging System Monitor
One of my unofficial volunteer work responsibilities is that of Paging System Monitor. This is someone who listens to a page over the public address system and then verifies that the pager hung up properly. Because if the person does not hang up the phone, no one else can issue a page.
Generally this doesn't happen often. But when it does, it's inconvenient. It can be embarrassing, too, if the pager continues speaking, thinking that the conversation is not getting broadcast to all the bosses.
Usually it's an easy job to find the off-hook phone, if the person included the (correct) phone extension number in the page. When you hear, "Joe Smith please call 73," for example, you can assume that the pager used the phone at extension 73. Then if the phone was not hung up properly, you (or Joe) can just call it, and that phone should ring on the second line.
But if it's one of those generic announcements, such as, "It's starting to rain. If you left your car windows open, now's a good time to close them;" or "I'll be rebooting the file server in five minutes. Please close all open files;" or "Would the janitor please come to the men's room -- it's an emergency. Please bring a mop," then the process turns into a fun game of deduction.
Well, in the case of the call for the janitor, you can assume that the phone is near one of the men's rooms." So you can walk over to any nearby office and check the phones. But if a location isn't implied, then you have to revert to recognizing the sound of the voice and then figure out whom it belongs to. This is easier than you might think. In fact, I had a good lesson in grade school in how easy "voice recognition" really is.
We were reading a story out loud, and the plot hinged on a character figuring out who someone was just by the sound of his voice. I asked the teacher how that could happen, and I expressed doubt that you can know who was speaking to you without actually seeing the person. So the teacher decided to really convince me. She invited me to close my eyes. Then one by one, each of my classmates spoke, and I had to guess who it was. There were only two out of about 30 voices that I couldn't figure out (and one of them belonged to someone named Joe, in fact). Yes, the teacher was pretty cool. But it was Open House Day, and our parents were also in the room. So I suspect she might not have done this if she weren't showing off for them.
Anyway, once you know who the person is, you can usually resolve the problem by calling his or her extension. Or you might have to walk around and find the person and then ask which phone was used. I had to do this recently for an announcement the janitor made about locking up the building. Usually he locks the building because he's the last to leave. But since he was leaving earlier than usual, he wanted to let us know that one of us had to lock up. It's a good thing I found him because he used a phone deep in purchasing that I wouldn't have guessed right away.
All this rigamarole wouldn't be necessary if the phone system's PA mode were designed to "time-out" after 30 seconds. But again, technology fails us yet again, and we resort to wasteful effort to compensate.
Generally this doesn't happen often. But when it does, it's inconvenient. It can be embarrassing, too, if the pager continues speaking, thinking that the conversation is not getting broadcast to all the bosses.
Usually it's an easy job to find the off-hook phone, if the person included the (correct) phone extension number in the page. When you hear, "Joe Smith please call 73," for example, you can assume that the pager used the phone at extension 73. Then if the phone was not hung up properly, you (or Joe) can just call it, and that phone should ring on the second line.
But if it's one of those generic announcements, such as, "It's starting to rain. If you left your car windows open, now's a good time to close them;" or "I'll be rebooting the file server in five minutes. Please close all open files;" or "Would the janitor please come to the men's room -- it's an emergency. Please bring a mop," then the process turns into a fun game of deduction.
Well, in the case of the call for the janitor, you can assume that the phone is near one of the men's rooms." So you can walk over to any nearby office and check the phones. But if a location isn't implied, then you have to revert to recognizing the sound of the voice and then figure out whom it belongs to. This is easier than you might think. In fact, I had a good lesson in grade school in how easy "voice recognition" really is.
We were reading a story out loud, and the plot hinged on a character figuring out who someone was just by the sound of his voice. I asked the teacher how that could happen, and I expressed doubt that you can know who was speaking to you without actually seeing the person. So the teacher decided to really convince me. She invited me to close my eyes. Then one by one, each of my classmates spoke, and I had to guess who it was. There were only two out of about 30 voices that I couldn't figure out (and one of them belonged to someone named Joe, in fact). Yes, the teacher was pretty cool. But it was Open House Day, and our parents were also in the room. So I suspect she might not have done this if she weren't showing off for them.
Anyway, once you know who the person is, you can usually resolve the problem by calling his or her extension. Or you might have to walk around and find the person and then ask which phone was used. I had to do this recently for an announcement the janitor made about locking up the building. Usually he locks the building because he's the last to leave. But since he was leaving earlier than usual, he wanted to let us know that one of us had to lock up. It's a good thing I found him because he used a phone deep in purchasing that I wouldn't have guessed right away.
All this rigamarole wouldn't be necessary if the phone system's PA mode were designed to "time-out" after 30 seconds. But again, technology fails us yet again, and we resort to wasteful effort to compensate.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Follow Up to "Career Doldrums"
Just a quick follow up to my previous post.
I was a bit unfair in saying that the book advises you to deal with doldrums by changing careers. That's not all it does. It's also great confidence booster, especially for baby boomers who are worried that they're too old to find a new job.
It explains the differences among the Baby Boom, Gen X and the latest generation (Gen Y. See Wikipedia's List of Generations for generation definitions.) This comparison serves as a foundation to convince the baby boomer that his/her contribution at a new company will be valued. Gen Y wants immediate gratification and frequent rewards, but Baby Boomers don't need that. Gen Y doesn't want to waste time giving their boss progress reports -- they just want to dive in to the work and finish it as quickly as possible.
The generational comparisons also help older workers understand their younger bosses, who come in to the workplace and turn it up-side-down.
So I found it interesting. And it ultimately helped me understand that I might be better off staying where I am.
I was a bit unfair in saying that the book advises you to deal with doldrums by changing careers. That's not all it does. It's also great confidence booster, especially for baby boomers who are worried that they're too old to find a new job.
It explains the differences among the Baby Boom, Gen X and the latest generation (Gen Y. See Wikipedia's List of Generations for generation definitions.) This comparison serves as a foundation to convince the baby boomer that his/her contribution at a new company will be valued. Gen Y wants immediate gratification and frequent rewards, but Baby Boomers don't need that. Gen Y doesn't want to waste time giving their boss progress reports -- they just want to dive in to the work and finish it as quickly as possible.
The generational comparisons also help older workers understand their younger bosses, who come in to the workplace and turn it up-side-down.
So I found it interesting. And it ultimately helped me understand that I might be better off staying where I am.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Resources from the "Career Doldrums" Book
I finally got around to reading "Escape the Mid-Career Doldrums: What to do Next When You're Bored, Burned Out, Retired or Fired", which I mentioned in my January 17 post, "Book Recommendations From CareerBuilder.com".
Basically, the Escape involves switching careers. This involves making extreme financial sacrifices and tapping into a vast store of retirement savings. The assumption is that you've already raised your child(ren) and he/she/they've somehow managed to become self-sufficient. For some reason, the book didn't mention playing the lottery.
This is not a book written for my generation.
Anyway, I wanted to record some of the online resources that the book offers:
www.engineeringjobs.com
Occupational Outlook Handbook -- www.bls.gov
www.hotjobs.com
www.jobbankusa.com
www.computerwork.com
www.computerjobs.com
www.dice.com
www.justtechjobs.com
Philanthropy News Digest -- news regarding fundraising and establishing a foundation.
www.foundationcenter.org/pnd
www.idealist.org
www.nonprofitoyster.com
Self Employment
www.betheboss.com
www.money.cnn.com
www.wibo.org "Boot camp" for entrepreneurs.
www.franchise1.com
www.smartbiz.com
www.sbaonline.sba.gov
Enjoy!
Basically, the Escape involves switching careers. This involves making extreme financial sacrifices and tapping into a vast store of retirement savings. The assumption is that you've already raised your child(ren) and he/she/they've somehow managed to become self-sufficient. For some reason, the book didn't mention playing the lottery.
This is not a book written for my generation.
Anyway, I wanted to record some of the online resources that the book offers:
www.engineeringjobs.com
Occupational Outlook Handbook -- www.bls.gov
www.hotjobs.com
www.jobbankusa.com
www.computerwork.com
www.computerjobs.com
www.dice.com
www.justtechjobs.com
Philanthropy News Digest -- news regarding fundraising and establishing a foundation.
www.foundationcenter.org/pnd
www.idealist.org
www.nonprofitoyster.com
Self Employment
www.betheboss.com
www.money.cnn.com
www.wibo.org "Boot camp" for entrepreneurs.
www.franchise1.com
www.smartbiz.com
www.sbaonline.sba.gov
Enjoy!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Book Recommendations From CareerBuilder.com
The CareerBuilder section in our December 16, 2007 newspaper featured 16 career guidance books in its list of "this year's most interesting career books." A few of them look as though they'd be really helpful for me. Unfortunately I couldn't find the article online. I'll list the book titles with links....
- "The IT Factor: Be the One People Like, Listen To, and Remember" Maybe?
- "Winning Nice: How to Succeed in Business and Life Without Waging War" Maybe?
- "Lessons on Leadership: The 7 Fundamental Management Skills for Leaders at All Levels"
- "Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: How to Use Your Own Stories to Communicate With Power and Impact"
- "Get Your M.B.A. Part-Time, Fourth Edition: For the Part-Time Student with a Full-Time Life"
- "Buzz: How to Create It and Win With It"
- "Work Like You're Showing Off: The Joy, Jazz, and Kick of Being Better Tomorrow Than You Were Today" Maybe?
- "Making a Living While Making a Difference: Conscious Careers for an Era of Interdependence"
This sounds like a good one! - "Get Ahead by Going Abroad: A Woman's Guide to Fast-track Career Success"
- "Saving the Earth as a Career: Advice on Becoming a Conservation Professional" This sounds like another good one!
- "Escape the Mid-Career Doldrums: What to do Next When You're Bored, Burned Out, Retired or Fired" Yes, this is what I need!
- "Time Power: A Proven System for Getting More Done in Less Time Than You Ever Thought Possible" Bingo! (But I suspect the authors don't advocate Spending an hour blogging about career books.)
- "Make Your Contacts Count: Networking Know-how for Business And Career Success"
- "College Majors Scorecard" The self-assessment tool sounds interesting.
- "The Girl's Guide to Building a Million-Dollar Business"
- "Career and Corporate Cool" Maybe?
Friday, September 08, 2006
Promoting the Field of Engineering
The website TryEngineering.org touts itself as a resource that should help pre-college students decide whether engineering is good career choice for them.
The link that immediately caught my eye was Engineering Life Profiles. The target page is titled "Life of an Engineer," and it sports a list of links to the job descriptions / professional biographies of seven practicing engineers.
As an eletrical engineer, I was curious to read the profile of Carl Allison (Electrical Engineer).
Mr. Allison is employed by Walt Disney Imagineering, which is hardly a typical destination for an average engineering graduate. I'm glad that he's happily employed producing things that entertain people. Unfortunately, many engineers wind up in a cubicle dungeon, spending days just poring over one parts list after another in order to identify and replace pure tin-leaded components with components that have leads plated with palladium silver. And this is for some space hardware hardly anyone will ever see. There are engineers that spend their entire careers studying the long-term reliablilty of resistors, or think of ways to reduce the cost of an assembly by a few cents.
If you're a pre-college student who thinks engineering might be a good career, make sure you talk to a few engineers first. Don't just read glitzy promotional websites and think that's how your life will be. Try to shadow a few real engineers during the summer before your final year of high school. Although the summer camps that TryEngineering has listed are probably too oriented to having fun, they're probably better than nothing. They at least help you determine whether you have the aptitude for cool design and problem-solving aspect of engineering.
The link that immediately caught my eye was Engineering Life Profiles. The target page is titled "Life of an Engineer," and it sports a list of links to the job descriptions / professional biographies of seven practicing engineers.
As an eletrical engineer, I was curious to read the profile of Carl Allison (Electrical Engineer).
Mr. Allison is employed by Walt Disney Imagineering, which is hardly a typical destination for an average engineering graduate. I'm glad that he's happily employed producing things that entertain people. Unfortunately, many engineers wind up in a cubicle dungeon, spending days just poring over one parts list after another in order to identify and replace pure tin-leaded components with components that have leads plated with palladium silver. And this is for some space hardware hardly anyone will ever see. There are engineers that spend their entire careers studying the long-term reliablilty of resistors, or think of ways to reduce the cost of an assembly by a few cents.
If you're a pre-college student who thinks engineering might be a good career, make sure you talk to a few engineers first. Don't just read glitzy promotional websites and think that's how your life will be. Try to shadow a few real engineers during the summer before your final year of high school. Although the summer camps that TryEngineering has listed are probably too oriented to having fun, they're probably better than nothing. They at least help you determine whether you have the aptitude for cool design and problem-solving aspect of engineering.
Monday, July 03, 2006
The Ideal Career Path
I just read Sacha Chua's "On programming as a career" post and had to stop what I was doing and write about it.
I understand the feelings that went into her post. I've been trying to strike a new career path for myself -- something with more of a human element. The thing that thrills me is computer automation, especially applied to design processes, data processing and administration. The thrill has two sources. The first is from overcoming the challenge of making the automation succeed. The second is from seeing smiles when my coworkers experience the relief that comes from knowing they don't have to repetitively point and click through several silly menus to accomplish something.
My ideal Masters Degree would be in "The Automation of Computers to Make Life Easier For the Poor People Who are Stuck Using Them."
It doesn't have to involve computers, actually. I plan to involve them in my career path only because I believe I can make more money in a field that incorporates them. I could be nearly as happy serving as an efficiency expert, helping people to live better.
Suppose someone is intent on making a fried egg for breakfast before going to work. I might suggest that she take the eggs and butter out of the refrigerator first thing in the morning. Then after she has showered and is ready to cook, the eggs aren't as cold and will cook more quickly and will be less inclined to stick. And the butter will be soft enough to spread easily.
But I've learned that not everyone likes being told how to do something. If my wife has any say in the matter, I would be better off staying out of her kitchen and woking on a computer.
How would this play out on a computer? Well, if I knew someone who enjoyed instant messaging with friends on different servers and who liked to keep up with a few RSS feeds, I might suggest they use Miranda IM, the Swiss Army Knife of IM clients. It can work with ICQ, AIM, MSN, YIM, IRC, Jabber and GoogleTalk. Plus there are numerous add-ons, one of which can make it report feed updates. And it's Open Source. The only reasons it's not today's killler app are that it lacks marketing push and it doesn't require a hardware upgrade to run it.
Anyway, good luck to Sacha, and to myself. If you have any advice for either of us, let me know!
2025-03-05 LG Fixed two broken links. BTW, the Miranda IM project was abandoned in 2018. Folks are encouraged to use Miranda-NG instead.
I understand the feelings that went into her post. I've been trying to strike a new career path for myself -- something with more of a human element. The thing that thrills me is computer automation, especially applied to design processes, data processing and administration. The thrill has two sources. The first is from overcoming the challenge of making the automation succeed. The second is from seeing smiles when my coworkers experience the relief that comes from knowing they don't have to repetitively point and click through several silly menus to accomplish something.
My ideal Masters Degree would be in "The Automation of Computers to Make Life Easier For the Poor People Who are Stuck Using Them."
It doesn't have to involve computers, actually. I plan to involve them in my career path only because I believe I can make more money in a field that incorporates them. I could be nearly as happy serving as an efficiency expert, helping people to live better.
Suppose someone is intent on making a fried egg for breakfast before going to work. I might suggest that she take the eggs and butter out of the refrigerator first thing in the morning. Then after she has showered and is ready to cook, the eggs aren't as cold and will cook more quickly and will be less inclined to stick. And the butter will be soft enough to spread easily.
But I've learned that not everyone likes being told how to do something. If my wife has any say in the matter, I would be better off staying out of her kitchen and woking on a computer.
How would this play out on a computer? Well, if I knew someone who enjoyed instant messaging with friends on different servers and who liked to keep up with a few RSS feeds, I might suggest they use Miranda IM, the Swiss Army Knife of IM clients. It can work with ICQ, AIM, MSN, YIM, IRC, Jabber and GoogleTalk. Plus there are numerous add-ons, one of which can make it report feed updates. And it's Open Source. The only reasons it's not today's killler app are that it lacks marketing push and it doesn't require a hardware upgrade to run it.
Anyway, good luck to Sacha, and to myself. If you have any advice for either of us, let me know!
2025-03-05 LG Fixed two broken links. BTW, the Miranda IM project was abandoned in 2018. Folks are encouraged to use Miranda-NG instead.
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Is Engineering Boring?
Lately I've begun to think that maybe engineering is a bit boring. I know that sounds funny to most of you. It's like a member of the bomb squad pondering whether defusing bombs is dangerous.
I associate the words "boring" and "engineering" to an undergraduate class I had with Professor Dourman. (Do I need to mention that's not his real name?) His first lecture seemed very promising. He motivated the course pretty well. But thereafter, the professor would deliver the entire lecture seated next to his desk, quietly reading his handwritten course notes that we all had a copy of.
At least half his students were completely asleep -- the kind of rock-solid, drool-on-the-chin variety of sleep that indicated either serious sleep deprivation or severe boredom. Miraculously, no one snored.
I don't think I ever lost consciousness in that class. I would dutifully fill a cup with steaming hot black coffee* beforehand. And I'd buy myself a large cookie to save for the last twenty minutes, should I still find myself awake by then. I had to time the eating of the cookie just right. If I ate it too soon, I'd most certainly crash before the end of the class from a sugar letdown. If I ate it too late... well, that wasn't ever going to happen, was it? After a month, I started bringing three cookies to the class. So I managed to stave off anything more comatose than a semi-hypnagogic state.
Now that I write about this class, I realize that it wasn't the most boring one. It turns out that the material the professor droned on about was novel and even a bit cool. The really boring classes were those in which I already knew the material.
I'd start the semester in one of these classes fully engaged, hoping to catch the professor's mistakes. But as the semester ground on, and as my workload from other courses increased, I would study other subjects or work on various term projects.
This problem, wherein lack of novelty leads to boredom, was actually a precursor to my current plight -- the ho-hum ordeal of supporting my employer's manufacturing department on the many dozens of products I designed over the last thirteen years.
I don't mind answering an occasional support question. But the product we make is highly specialized and difficult to manufacture. No two parts come out exactly the same. So each part needs to be honed (metaphorically speaking) by a skilled technician, who is supervised by a knowledgeable engineer. This is tedious.
I vacillate between INFP and INTP on the Myer-Briggs scale. I need to express myself creatively, and I need to do so in isolation from others. I do not care to make decisions or reach concrete conclusions. Deadlines don't concern me -- I sneer at them. I care much more about the process than about the outcome. And if I cannot learn while doing something, it's not worth doing.
So cut that manufacturing umbilical cord and let me loose on design work. I might just discover something great, like the meaning of Life, or better yet, how to make engineering exciting.
* The cafeteria sold a hot dark brown liquid that looked just like real coffee but tasted like you were sucking on the sharpened end of a pencil. If the caffeine failed to keep you awake, you could count on the taste to give you a jolt.
I associate the words "boring" and "engineering" to an undergraduate class I had with Professor Dourman. (Do I need to mention that's not his real name?) His first lecture seemed very promising. He motivated the course pretty well. But thereafter, the professor would deliver the entire lecture seated next to his desk, quietly reading his handwritten course notes that we all had a copy of.
At least half his students were completely asleep -- the kind of rock-solid, drool-on-the-chin variety of sleep that indicated either serious sleep deprivation or severe boredom. Miraculously, no one snored.
I don't think I ever lost consciousness in that class. I would dutifully fill a cup with steaming hot black coffee* beforehand. And I'd buy myself a large cookie to save for the last twenty minutes, should I still find myself awake by then. I had to time the eating of the cookie just right. If I ate it too soon, I'd most certainly crash before the end of the class from a sugar letdown. If I ate it too late... well, that wasn't ever going to happen, was it? After a month, I started bringing three cookies to the class. So I managed to stave off anything more comatose than a semi-hypnagogic state.
Now that I write about this class, I realize that it wasn't the most boring one. It turns out that the material the professor droned on about was novel and even a bit cool. The really boring classes were those in which I already knew the material.
I'd start the semester in one of these classes fully engaged, hoping to catch the professor's mistakes. But as the semester ground on, and as my workload from other courses increased, I would study other subjects or work on various term projects.
This problem, wherein lack of novelty leads to boredom, was actually a precursor to my current plight -- the ho-hum ordeal of supporting my employer's manufacturing department on the many dozens of products I designed over the last thirteen years.
I don't mind answering an occasional support question. But the product we make is highly specialized and difficult to manufacture. No two parts come out exactly the same. So each part needs to be honed (metaphorically speaking) by a skilled technician, who is supervised by a knowledgeable engineer. This is tedious.
I vacillate between INFP and INTP on the Myer-Briggs scale. I need to express myself creatively, and I need to do so in isolation from others. I do not care to make decisions or reach concrete conclusions. Deadlines don't concern me -- I sneer at them. I care much more about the process than about the outcome. And if I cannot learn while doing something, it's not worth doing.
So cut that manufacturing umbilical cord and let me loose on design work. I might just discover something great, like the meaning of Life, or better yet, how to make engineering exciting.
* The cafeteria sold a hot dark brown liquid that looked just like real coffee but tasted like you were sucking on the sharpened end of a pencil. If the caffeine failed to keep you awake, you could count on the taste to give you a jolt.
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