What was your first job out of college?

Sep 27, 2007 23 Replies

My english isn't perfect, but at least I try. I took Latin in high school, all those decades ago. :(

I have nerve damage in my left hand, and carpal tunnel in my right, so my fingers don't do what I tell them. i read what i've written, and correct it, then run the spell checker. that doesn't get everything, but it does get enough to make the messages readable.

I have taken test procedures back to the engineers who wrote them, and they couldn't figure out what they wrote. They also had a bad habit of specifying test equipment not available on the production floor. They expected the cal lab to find something suitable, but at one time several specified a network analyzer, and the only one in the company was locked in that engineer's office. This was before they went ISO 9001. One of the things we did during that time was to remove all references, except to test fixtures.

Eventually, I was allowed to rewrite these useless documents. Before I sent them to be signed off by the engineer in charge of that product, I would have a technician who had never worked with that item sit down and run through an actual test. The idea was to make each test procedure clear enough that any technician they hired who was worth keeping could do almost any job, without outside help.

A lot of original test procedures were so convoluted that it took you through the same steps, several times. One AGC board averaged 5.5 hours to test. A slight change to the test fixture, and streamlining the directions took the average test time to 18 minutes. (Some of the integration ranges had to be measured with a period counter, and calculate the actual frequencies.)

Constructive criticism is a useful tool, to those who aren't 100% ego. :) There is no hope for that small group. :(

Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to prove it. Member of DAV #85. Michael A. Terrell Central Florida

Can't disagree with that. I have been known to go so far as to tell newbie engineers that their top priority as an engineer is to communicate clearly, and their most important product is documentation.

Engineers do not make products as such; that is the job of the manufacturing line. It is the job of the engineer to clearly and unambiguously communicate HOW to make those products, and what to do about it when the production goes wrong. That's "documentation."

Some argue that the engineer's main job is the creation of new designs - but the design itself, the new idea that the engineer comes up with, is utterly useless until it is written down, drawn, made into a schematic, etc. - and note that those latter two also almost always have to have some accompanying verbage to explain them. That's "documentation."

Bottom line - I don't especially care how well you know your theory or how creative you can be when it comes to inventing something new, if you can't express those ideas clearly. If that's the case, then I don't want you.

Bob M.

I didn't finsh college until after I retired.

I've worked for 3 different companies since then and now do consulting/programming - mostly on PDA's used for interfacing and control.

I'm quite happy to be working at home and only when the project is interesting ;-)

John

first job after graduation? that was FINDING THE JOB! not just A job, THE job,

u know, the one that will actually pay bills, allow me to live happily and be a useful contributor to society.

so far, after 45 years THAT job has yet to be created.

:-))

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required