Middle class downsizes as good jobs vanish

The Miami Herald ^ | November 11, 2010 | Kevin G. Hall

[mylife]

It amazes me that in this information age, we have 4 times the paper work that we used to have before "the revolution" LoL!

Have you got a 27B-6?

[Logic n' Reason]

". . . I was referring to non degreed people that can run rings around the college degreed guy, but who are pushed out or denied advancement because they dont have that piece of paper.
Idiots in HR look at resumes for a cheese factory and they give the guy with a degree who mentions that he likes CHEESE consideration over the non degreed master cheese maker who lists Camembert/Brie and Blue as well as Chèvre, Feta and Ricotta on his resume. (they didnt see the word CHEESE)
They will dump a self made process engineer with 30 years experience for a greenhorn QA guy with a degree.
And when I told them that they were wasting 10 man hours per person weekly on their fruitless meetings taking them away from actually working on the backlog, they would just look down their noses at me with disdain because I am non degreed.

Then....try coupling this fact with aging (the one sin of even greater weight in the workplace than felonious behavior) and you begin to smell the real problem.

I love all these fine folk who are always saying that we should all work longer. Try telling that to a non-degreed, 60+ year old who is unemployed. They would kill to find work...but where???

[mylife]

Yes, and then they tell us that there are not enough young staff to replace all of us, but they try to do it just the same.

It is insanity.

[mylife]

I know plenty of bright folks with a sheepskin, but some of the smartest people I have ever known in mylife are self made men.

[mylife]

True Story:
I am one of the guys who take the fouled up designs that College guys, come up with and actually make them work.

I had a young EE who graduated a good school with a 4.0, who was watching me adjust a circuit putting in new resistor values, ask me “what is that wire for?”

I was stunned for a moment, then replied....”this is called solder”

[Logic n' Reason]

True Story:
I am one of the guys who take the fouled up designs that College guys, come up with and actually make them work.
I had a young EE who graduated a good school with a 4.0, who was watching me adjust a circuit putting in new resistor values, ask me “what is that wire for?”
I was stunned for a moment, then replied....”this is called solder”

I have no doubt of this at all. None. And more's the pity that 1) this young idiot is now in debt for his/her student loan, 2) they had bucketfuls of liberal teaching/philosophy shoved down their throats while in school, and 3) the only useful thing they learned in college was how to drink and take drugs.

Ah well....we all have to learn sometime!

[Logic n' Reason]

True Story:
I am one of the guys who take the fouled up designs that College guys, come up with and actually make them work.
I had a young EE who graduated a good school with a 4.0, who was watching me adjust a circuit putting in new resistor values, ask me “what is that wire for?”
I was stunned for a moment, then replied....”this is called solder”

I have no doubt of this at all. None. And more's the pity that 1) this young idiot is now in debt for his/her student loan, 2) they had bucketfuls of liberal teaching/philosophy shoved down their throats while in school, and 3) the only useful thing they learned in college was how to drink and take drugs.

Ah well....we all have to learn sometime!

[mylife]

Sigh... I was pretty stupid back then to, But I wasnt in debt up to my eyes.

[mylife]

I had a college edumacated gal tell me that the more education you have the more liberal your views tend to be.

I said that is because you have paid for MORE indoctrination.

[mylife]

Out of 50 young engineers I see one or two that dont go out and buy Beemers and fancy houses. There are one or two that buy a farm and actively work it at the same time as they hold down their degreed profession. They drive work trucks and are sharp as a tack.

This guy isnt stupid he runs a class farm bucking the trends

[Lazamataz]

I’m a computer developer. In my experience, it generally takes a college grad about 5 years to be even slightly useful.

[mylife]

I saw one engineer right out of school driving one of these.

I don't see him or that car anymore.

[mylife]

Heyup.

[mylife]

Heyup.

4 years to educate him and 5 do re educate him.

[mylife]

The best software guys I know have hardware experience and were test engineers at sometime.

They all enjoy working hands on.

[Lazamataz]

Depends on the software. I’m one of the best but I stay conceptual, object-oriented. I never logged more than an hour, lifetime total, with a soldering gun or iron.

[mylife]

Its just my experience that for systems that are sustainable, people understand all aspects of maintaining a system.

The very reason I had that young EE who didnt know what solder is, was that I was trying to make him think about maintainability in design.

I can tweek all kinds of stuff via software in an FPGA, but if that part conks out, there is a good chance that we will destroy the board with heat trying to replace it.

Software guys dont even think of these matters.
Most hardware guys dont either.

They dont even think about how difficult it is to squirt new code in the field or on the bench.

Gimme an accessible port. Why should I have to tear something apart to upgrade firmware?

[Lazamataz]

Like I say, depends on the software. Hardware controlling software, it’s obvious you are correct. In my arena, though, conceptual event- and financial-centric software, hardware time doesn’t assist.

[Gabrial]

Thanks!

I did get a warning that there are crooks are there that are taking advantage of the ban. They evidently take your money and you never get the stock.

I did find a specialty hardware store that carries 100W BR40 Halogen spots that put out 1450 Lumens. But they are only rated for 2000 hours. The problem is the halogen lights hum when dimmed. The big stores around me (Lowes, Hone Depot) don't even carry these.

I guess the new ban is only for incandescent, not halogen.

I am checking out the links you sent - Thanks again!

[mylife]

The important this is the girl over in the projects office.

I'd hit it. ☺