OT Survey: Age & Years of Machining Experience

Steve:

Satisfaction in your chosen profession can far outweigh many negative factors, such as poor wages. BUT, if someone can derive the same degree of satisfaction from a different job that pays twice as much, wouldn't that be a better choice for them? I've always given this same advice (choose a different trade than machining), when asked. Years ago I suggested to Robin S. that he pursue a career in engineering rather than Tool & Die.

If someone has a PASSION for machining, then by all means, they should consider following it. These are personal choices. Some would rather make $40 per hour while being utterly miserable, others would rather make $18 per hour while being relatively happy. There are no right or wrong choices here, just personal preferences.

McQ:

Did you see my "Machinist's Creed" post? While I wrote that in '97 I still generally feel the same way. Maybe a little tempered with age.

Ahh yes. Nothing's perfect in this world. Choices often entail some sacrifices.

D Murphy wrote in news:Xns9800A9F9277E9BW12BU20MU38SY@130.133.1.4:

Agreed. The thing that has made this country what it is...innovation..is the key to combating the temporary effects of low wages in other countries. Everyone is whining about China, much like they used to whine about Japan. The only real advantages China has right now are low labor rates and a complete disregard for the environment. Both of which will be temporary in the big picture. They don't have reliable power and they have a very unskilled workforce. The skills of the workforce will increase, but as that happens, the pay demands will go up. The infrastructure is still decades away from being resolved to a level comparable to more industrialized countries. With this infrastructure will come the cost burden, which will increase tax rates on companies and individuals.

Now, in the US, to combat the temporary effects, people and companies need to get off thier collective ass, quit whining and get back to some serious innovation. We can make products competitive to China in cost, but it takes investment and real effort to do so. I see way to many companies that refuse to re-invest in the business, or they do so at such a paltry level that it doesn't do any good. Reducing costs in the product requires investment of capital, time, and effort. For every success in a process improvement resulting in a real cost reduction, there were probably 50 things that failed to produce any real results. R&D on a constent basis is the key.

Bob, I guess I ,was trying to make more of a social commentary. Sad that respect and high wages for manufacturing in general have sunk to this kind of a low. Manufacturing jobs were what let a lot of people buy a house and achieve a comfortable middle class life.

I guess that I am also lamenting the fact that young kids now days don't seem to be interested. I've found few of the kids that are in the 18-25 year old range have a strong enough backround in math, basic science, and "nut and bolt turning", etc. to get to the journeyman/programmer level where the wages can at least provide a reasonable shot a the middle class life style that many of us, were raised in or enjoy.

Best, Steve

Steve:

Blue collar workers seem to be viewed as a sub-species these days.

It's hard to reach the goal of middle class home ownership when you're making only $20-$25 per hour and the average house costs 600k. The mortgage payments alone would equal about $3,500 per month.

I used to long time ago and have forgot "The smell of singed hair or burning flesh from blue hot chips hitting your arms". .

Only run my engine lathes or manual mills for tooling or repair stuff. About once every 3 months... I'm to old for that & the boss won't fire me I see him in the mirror .

Had to give up a machine shop in 2001 after 25 years due to a Divorce.

Am now looking for a plant management job any where in the US.

Can sent a cover letter if anybody is interested

Bill Sherlock Sr. Dunedin,Fl

Cliff wrote in news:5sjbc2lifg8tile5aems3kntgk52cjimqs@

4ax.com:

You're delusional.

Cliff wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Let's take a Fanuc 31iT for example. That is where the book tells you to set the offset to. Then put the whole radius amount in the TNRC register. The control takes care of everything else.

You missed the part where I said different controls have different ways of dealing with these issues.

D Murphy wrote in news:Xns980BB7385AFB8BW12BU20MU38SY@130.133.1.4:

He didn't miss it...he ignored it.

Cliff wrote in news:6d24c2prusm5mu05u84flaqqcr4egq1r04@

4ax.com:

Still no joy, eh?

========================

Thank you for your kind words.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) had it right when observed in The Devil's Dictionary "History. An account, mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools."

The attitude toward history of every "suit" I have had contact with in industry, government or academia was the same as Henry Ford's (1863-1947) who stated "History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's damn is the history we make today." When pressed with the facts, their out was always "Yes -- yes, BUT THINGS ARE DIFFERENT THIS TIME...."

I have considered writing, but a review of the literature [always a good place to start] indicates there are many, many books already in print on the same topics I would cover at the highest levels. I suggest the following:

This is an older work, but has stood the test of time well. The End of the Nation-State by Jean-Marie Guehenno

a somewhat critical review of the above see Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (Hardcover) by Jared Diamond Among Empires: American Ascendancy and Its Predecessors by Charles S. Maier The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic [The American Empire Project] by Chalmers Johnson When executives and directors subscribe to the "buy, ruin, sell" theory of management pioneered by Gulf+Western, they can and will ruin any and everything faster than you and entire platoons of engineers and technicians can hope to repair it, even working

24/7.

My advise for to days' workers is trust no one, get the money up front, and be ready to get another job on an hour's notice. Agreements made with a company, even those in writing and signed by a corporate officer, mean nothing as these are routinely abrogated as the first order of business in the chapter 11/7 bankruptcy process.

Keep your retirement funds and savings in insured savings accounts. The stock market is a mob run casino with rigged wheels and marked cards. Even the underlying corporations cannot be trusted with your money. Try to have at least some of your funds in non-dollar accounts and gold.

When you must chose between doing something for your employer and doing something for your self or for/with your family, always chose your self or family.

Don't buy anything if you don't need it [as opposed to just wanting it.]

Unka George (George McDuffee)

...and at the end of the fight is a tombstone white with the name of the late deceased, and the epitaph drear: ?A Fool lies here, who tried to hustle the East.?

Rudyard Kipling The Naulahka, ch. 5, heading (1892).