Sorry Phil :-(

[gas]

WOW! What a great thread.

I am in this business because I love to learn, even after 40 years.
30 years ago when I was hired as a new maintenance forman the general manager came down to my office to tell me this: "Your job is not to fix machines but to make sure your employees get the tools and time to do their job. BUT there is never enough time or money, if there was we could hire a girl (30 years ago remember) to do your job. Good luck"
That pressure does get tiresome and I think now and again about driving a truck. Then a fun job comes along and I get back into it.

 

[wtmainjeff]

In my life I have worked as a farmer, a gas station attendant, a welder, a millwright, a business owner, a carpenter, a machinist, an electrician, a controls engineer and now a controls/maintenance engineer. There MUST be personal satisfaction in a job or life gets boring fast. Automation and Control is anything but boring when you're in the heat of the battle. I've been a woodworker (at home)for over 25 years and I'm also an avid golfer (5 hdcap). I suggest you find some activity or hobby for your time away from work. Believe it or not, it's also good for your working mind. The strangest think about automation is you can't converse with family or friends about your work (it's just magic to them). But you can share about more common things ... if you're involved in any ... and that makes for a happier, well rounded mind. As for not knowing it all ... use your PC and all the electronic manuals you can find and catagorize them so you can get the data fast. Since it seems you are good at the basics, Organization may be everything! Don't get hung up on the details either. I know lots of things have changed but there's still a lot that hasn't.

 

[Clay B.]

Reality Check

Myself I started in this buiness when I was 11. Seems kinda early huh. Well this is my fathers trade and he brought home a TI5 that was being obsoleted at his plant. So for me this started as a game, what can I do here, what can I make this thing do. When I got done with my rebelious years I decided to go to school for electronics. Few years here and there at various plants and here I am. I have an office that is smaller than a prison cell. Still working with obsolete equipment and some pretty new stuff also. But you know what, I do not really care who I work for, I love this stuff. I gave up years ago trying to remeber all the details. Thats what manuals are for. What I remeber are the basics, ohms law, boolean algebra (the algebra is starting to get a little fuzzy though) and what the funny symbols on my meter mean. I do agree this stuff is getting alot more complicated now than ever before but heck if it stayed the same what would be the fun.

And when one of the "2 watts" (my name for the electrically challenged)get to you, remeber one thing. You know more ways to blow things up than they do. For them it is just dumb luck, you can do it on purpose.

 

[TimothyMoulder]

It's going to sound very corny, but whenever I get really frazzled, I think about Ricky Nelson's song "Garden Party". Smooth, mellow, funny, and relevant.

The only thing that backfires is the line "See, you can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself"... what if you're an ogre to work for?

TM

 

[geniusintraining]

It's going to sound very corny...

Tim...you got that part correct

 

[jtn]

I think anyone that stays in this line of work does so because they really like it. I don't know how someone could put in the hours that startups and deadlines sometimes require without really being into it. I used to stress more over not knowing how a piece of equipment worked, but as I got more experience I realized that no one knows everything. I have areas I am really good at, some areas where I am OK, and other areas where I can make it work but someone else should really being doing it if it needs doing quickly. I usually hand off the stuff I'm not that great at unless I am at a site where the travel hassles prevent someone else from coming out. If it wasn't difficult every now and then I wouldn't enjoy it though.

 

[Clay B.]

TO me it really gets fun when people say there is no way it is going to work. Thats when I just smile and really go after it. I recently built an indexing conveyor system that was mechanically designed by some one else. All three conveyors where off. One conveyor was off by over 1 foot. I redesigned the conveyors and built the controls. The whole time everybody around me was saying you just need to scrap it and find soemthing else to work on.


Today I got an email from another plant wanting this system. This conveyor system saves us over $70,000 ayear in production cost. The sytem has already paid for itself.

So when I walk by those yahoo's that said it could not be done (one of them is my boss) I think "see's what y'all know"

The real irony is the encoders I used. They were sitting on a shelf colleting dust because nobody knew anything about them. It took me all of about 5 minutes to get a manual and figure out how I could make them work on my project.

 

[geniusintraining]

...Today I got an email from another plant wanting this system. This conveyor system saves us over $70,000 ayear in production cost. The sytem has already paid for itself...

Nice job :nodi:

 

[monkeyhead]

Well, damn... You've all got me concerned now. I thought the point was not knowing but figuring it out. Hell... that's the part I love. Walking up to a system I know jack-diddly-**** about, programmed, designed, and wired by someone I don't know, and walking away with it working better than before, because I figured it out. Ego++ if you will.

I sadly kinda like the stress of having three managers breathing down my neck and reverse engineering on the fly... I don't know what I'd do If I stopped liking it. I'd probably move onto another field due to assault charges.

But then again I'm a young-ish feller with a lot to learn.

 

[darrenj]

Once you learn to cut a lawn what is there to learn? Once you learn to pave a road, what is there to learn? These jobs are paying the same amount and the technical aspects are non existant.

..

Have you ever seen a lawn cut by 2 different people?? They don't look a like..one looks better than the other...Have you ever driven 2 different roads and one is better than the other?? Yes once you learn to pave a road it could be all the same but there is some people out there who take pride in there work and strive to do it better..I can tell what crew was doing it for a paycheck and what crew was doing it for a job...

Now as for what you were saying about stress..you are right people demand more than they used to..get used to it! it isn't going to change..My stress relief is sitting in the hot tub looking at the stars..(on a good night..tonight wasn't a bad night..3 hrs in and i looked like a prune when i got out!!)..I look at it this way...."If it was easy every one would do it.."

My mind never shuts off..its 2.00am EST and i am here..but i am also re playing everything i did today..did i miss something.did i forget to tighten something..how the hell am i going to get up in 3 hours..did one of my guys forget something....

Ron had the idea..If you don't know say so..if you don't think it can be done say so..********

Story time!!!

I priced a job in January of this year..was told i had the job in march..The tenant got the space in may and sat on it..We got the go ahead around June 10-15th..we started and then were told it had to be completed but July 1..We were told it was a drop dead date..it had to be done or else..I submitted a projected cost of about 15-20,000 to complete the job on there deadline..Suddenly it wasn't so much of a big deal if it was done by the ST July as long as it was done by around July/august..

Moral of the story is no matter what you give they will want more..sometimes you have to call the bluff to win..

 

[Rod]

Oh you young guys. I'm 58 and can't start over. (lets see, CNTRL+ALT+DEVIATE?)

If I had it to do over again I'd still design, program, fabricate, install and walk away with a 'smirk'.
You dang right I can do it!

Sorry about the 'smirk', I just love waving it in front of the 'jerk'.

I was fortunate to have a EE tell me 'knowledge is gained by the inverse of the number of components fried' (Thank you BOB - may you RIP)

I too have designed stuff that others said 'you can't do that'.

The main reason my company's name is Peregrine Productions is:
To peregrinate; to come from afar, to deviate, to swoop down, ETC.

The sad thing about people like us is that we don't usually take time out to enjoy the things that are 'outside' or realm.

IE; when was the last time you closed your scribble pad (like the one full of notes next to my bed), shut off the damm computer and went to the botanic gardens for 4 hours? Visited the art museum, and took some real time doing so? Hmm?

PLCs, computers and electronics are really cool. But, they are not LIFE!

Rod

 

[testsubject]

Oh you young guys. I'm 58 and can't start over. (lets see, CNTRL+ALT+DEVIATE?)

I think that you are never too old to start over. There is always something new to learn or do. I'm 45 and going back to school to get my BS EE. Some would think I am too old to be going back to school. I say to he|| with them. I'll have plenty of time to relax when I am dead.

This has been a very interesting thread. To the original poster, it sounds like you may be suffering from burnout. It happens. It is up to you to decide what to do next. You may need to take a break so as to recharge your "internal" battery. I know that can be tough. I took a pay hit when I went back to school but I realize the benefits I would get from the short term hardships. Humans are absolutely amazing in their ability to adapt to their surroundings. I do not think there is any species that comes close.

Bob

 

[tom_stalcup]

Really an excellent thread here... Keep it coming...


I think one of the key things is keeping up on the whole "work-life" balance thing... If you are the "goto" person who can get anything working, everyone else will automatically throw you at everything. At some point, you need to draw a line and say enough is enough.


I've HAD to come up with hobbies that don't have anything to do with my job, just to keep me from obsessing about work stuff all of the time. I go play billiards, I do some outdoor type hobbies(rafting, snowboarding, etc), I play online games like Everquest II or Dungeons and Dragons Online, I'm still single so chasing(and sometimes catching) girls pops up fairly often....

These types of jobs can REALLY suck you into them, until they consume your whole life if you aren't careful. I love what I do at work, and I like the fact that I'm better at it than anyone else here(at my place of work), but I've had to take a step back to distance myself from it as well, for my own personal well-being.

Job satisfaction is also KEY. If I don't do something that makes this place run better EVERY SINGLE DAY I'm here, I don't feel like I've accomplished something. I don't mean just fixing broken stuff... To me, that's just like treading water. You can do it to stop from drowning, but it's so much better if you actually SWIM to someplace better. If something breaks, I need to do something to stop it from breaking the next time... "Improvements, not replacements" is my motto(or would be, if I had a motto)

 

[testsubject]

I like "Be Proactive, not Reactive."

 

[Outrage]

Good thread!

I miss the challenge of not writing code and commissioning projects, I now do a maintenace job and don't find it anywhere near as satisfying.

Those long hours of stress on site with three tiers of the customers production managers on your back whilst your own company project managers are nowhere to be found! At the time I hated those jobs but now I look back on them they were the best ones I had.

Unfortunately these jobs were also the ones where you loose all faith in your managers descisions and eventually leap into another job that pays better, has less stress but is ultimately not as interesting.

Im my current job I've always felt like the outsider because i'm always the one saying "why can't we do this" or "Why are we putting this out to contract when we have the ability to do things in house?" and my opinions do tend to go against the grain and rub people up the wrong way. It's not intentional it's just my nature to want to solve the problems rather than seeing someone else be braught in to do the job. I sometimes think that we put everything out to contract that my managers don't understand - and therefore assume that we won't understand it either!

However, all being said and done, I sleep much better now that I don't go to sleep dreaming of pages and pages of ladder code whizzing about in my mind!