What goes up must come down.

 

My dad was a coin telephone installer for Pacific Northwest Bell, and would bring home buzzers and switches and old phones for me to play with. Did not take long to figure out I wanted to tinker with electrical/electronic hardware. He taught me how to maintain small engines, dirt bikes, and vehicles as well.

Met my beautiful wife (30 years together now!), married, and finished the last year of a BSEE from Gonzaga in Spokane, WA, while busting tires at Sears auto center. My first engineering job was a small contract printed circuit assembly manufacturer. Learned a ton, and followed my boss 3 years later to Telect, designing 24 and 48VDC power distribution panels and alarm systems for central offices.

Telect had several layoffs in 2001. I was let go, and after some temp work doing PCB design, we decided to move to Seattle (Lake Stevens). I worked for Leviton Network Solutions as an Electrical Engineer designing Category 6 and 6A network jacks and patch panels, and eventually starting managing the lab, and then the EE department. Pretty good work for 13 years, and it was during this time that I purchased my 1st 7.3. Leviton reorganized engineering, and I was let go. I was going through a tough time personally, though, so the departure was partly my fault.

Remained unemployed for 9 months and sold the house, truck, all the toys. Began working on a masters in engineering management, then landed work as a Supplier Quality Engineer for Automated External Defibrillators at Philips. It was my way to break into the regulated medical industry, after working in datacom for so long. It was a bit of an adjustment, but was very thankful to be working again. We bought a small rancher with a shop on 5 acres and settled into what we hoped was a simpler life.

Did that job for a year and a half, and traveled to Asia several times to audit factories. It was a lot of fun, but was a strain on the family. Went on to manage the AED failure analysis lab, and spent time expanding our capabilities and growing engineers and techs. No travel with that job, which helped alot with the home life.

Three years ago, the Ultrasound division was hiring a Sr Mgr position in R&D, with a versatile team that developed hardware tests on the ultrasound systems, and on test stations for production and suppliers. Some sustaining work as well, working on any trending supplier, production and field failures caused by the hardware. I was a Sr Manager at Leviton, and it has been nice to get back to that career level. I do not want to go further. I don't like the politics and lack of work/life balance above that point.

About 2 years ago, I re-engaged with this forum, and started searching for a truck. I should have never left FTE when I sold the BWST in 2014. As with all of these life stories, there is much that has been left unsaid, due to its personal nature. You all have been there for many of us and I appreciate it.

 

I figured there'd be at least one other driver hanging around here. I know what you mean about the job hopping and I'm a little sorry to say I went through my period of that. I did a little time as a freight guy earlier in my driving career, mostly bumping docks for a couple different LTL outfits including one of the large non-union ones. Mostly it was cake work for decent money once you got to know all the regular stops. But I've also done regional and OTR work pulling a dry van with a sleeper cab. (Never pulled a flatbed or a chicken box so far.) Did two years hauling cans off the piers in Jersey with a day cab...that was a bit of a grind and some long days with plenty of fun Union guys to deal with lol. Don't miss those days although the guy worked for was a pretty nice guy and treated his drivers well.

After 5 years running your own truck I bet it was a little hard to go back to a "normal" job where, well...we all know what the trade off is there. One of the local LTL's in town here is starting guys at damn near $30/hr which is pretty good money to drive around and deliver pallets all day, but honestly, not even sure I'd do it for $50/hr. Them top scale UPS guys can make damn near that nowadays but I'm just not a company guy I guess. I hang out and post on a trucker forum and a few of them I recall have told their story about how they saved a bunch of money at the high paying line-haul gig at UPS or Old Dominion traded that in for the shiny Peterbilt with the 7" pipes and their name on the door (and the title) to go live the dream. There may or may never be a Peterbilt in it for me someday but I get it. Running my own truck pulling campers has kind of ruined me already and you get used to being on your own time and running your own show.

 

Whew. How long you got lol. I apologize at start I am doing this on my phone and NOTORIOUS about missing autocorrect and not gonna check tons of commas for run ons... anyway..

I grew up with parents that were both educators. My dad was a teacher at first mostly because he could coach and my mom was a elementary teacher. He worked ridiculously long hours and got out of teaching chasing odd jobs. Not sure if he was let go or what. Never asked, just know it was TIGHT growing up and thank God for my grandparents and family. Looking back and having a family myself I can now see just how it was. We moved from a house into my grandparents 1 bedroom rental... Found out later cause they lost the house. They gave us the bedroom and they slept in the living room. Or we slept at my grandparent’s.
One thing that got instilled was HARD work and education. I did VERY well in school somewhat naturally but also I work my butt off. I worked in cotton fields and on old leaky blueprint presses or at the maintenance shop of the police department during my youth. All dang hard labor.

Now
I am a boarded comparative medicine specialist... I know... what the h.... does that mean... well. It varies, not all have my background.
I have initial training as a veterinarian and then worked in research for a drug and nutritional company, but then did a residency in comparative medicine and research working with lots of researchers on a HUGE variety of animal models and techniques. I have to be an expert in infectious disease, epidemiology, all the nuances of all the species you can imagine and how they differ AND translate or not to humans and make myself at least competent on about any ans everything I am approached about. It can be daunting.
I was the primary hard and soft tissue surgeon for a company for 9 years on top of my “other” responsibilities that are too long to list. I then moved to the FDA and then to academia where I was faculty in surgery of a human academic medical center and also asst director of the animal resources unit while also being a clinical vet and a cage wash repair man lol 😂 ....as well as too many committees to count like animal use and institutional biosafety for whole institution —both research and hospital. Then, I just recently went back to the FDA as a contractor to be director of a technical resources division. I have been blessed to work with so many amazing people from across the globe on sooo many unique and demanding protects AND involved in patient care to boot it’s crazy to think about. Kinda makes me tired thinking about it 😅. I even helped troubleshoot a prototype and “fix” the design issues and make work an emergency respiratory assist device at the beginning of the pandemic before we knew more about it. I’m there to “bridge the gap”.
Working on stuff mechanical was not my original training by any means but it started out of necessity in fixing prototype devices, anesthesia machines, instruments, farm life, and being a looong term poor student and broken down stuff. Plus, just the fact that I just HAVE to know... Soo grateful for this site.

 

@Brian Hanks Wait, where’s the part about raising beef?

 

that is a side project 😂.
I credit my wife with that one... I also have a hobby farm ( “farm life”) with horses, dexter cattle, rabbits, chickens, and guineas. If I let them have more there would be 😅. Unfortunately guess who gets to doctor them if sick.... 😣. They have to mostly be USEFUL or I tend to object. I also forgot I grew up as a bonefide country boy hunting and fishing every possible chance I can get and any way I could. Even hand grabbing (noodling). Quintessential high tech Redneck would possibly also be an appropriate descriptor.

 

I could probably survive the zombie apocalypse if I had enough chickens and a garden. Fish would be nice too. I'd miss milk but cows make that right? Horses I keep a safe distance from at all times. They are mostly play toys for people with more money than common sense out where Mom and step-dad live in WA. The Amish around here drive me nuts with them too. Rarely do you ever see anybody on the back of one in Elkhart County, Indiana but those steel horse shoes sure do a good job of tearing up the road and holding up traffic with the buggies.

 

don’t disagree on the horses... my wife is a prepper for sure. Milk cow, ARs, and all. I knew it was love when SHE got a glock and a miter saw from her parents for Christmas the first year I knew her. 😉

 

Congrats on 30 years!

I may have worked on/around some of the equipment you were involved in due to my telephony experience roughly around the same time. Small world...

You forgot part time gourmet chef!

 

[QUOTE=sjbj;20220458]Equipment technician for the semiconductor (microchip) industry for 23 years. Basically I work on some of the multi-million dollar machines that make the microchips that go into your phone, computer, cars, etc. Used to like my job, but not so much anymore. Tired of the corporate BS that has changed the role into something else.

I know what you mean, I have been working there for 30 years. The management has really distanced it self from the people. We are just numbers on a spread sheet.

 

Corporate politics is what drove me to start my own business.

 

My Jobs:

Bicycle Mechanic. My Dad escaped corporate Peterbilt and bought a bike shop. I was 14 and gravitated from the front counter selling bikes to the back room fixing them. I made $1.47 an hour and with few actual expenses saved up for a ’71 Opel GT when I was a senior in HS. Bike mechanic skills translated to the auto realm just fine.

Hot dog cart. Student job at UCSB food services, rolling around a cart in the sunshine hawking chili dogs to hungry rich kids, too easy! Acquired hottest chick in the dorm, eventual wife 7 years later. Later this year is 33 years of marriage.

Shipping/receiving. Modest size manufacturer of PCB solder coating machines. Great fun to see 800 pounds of solder and flux burst into flame. Kinda stays that way.

Customer Service. Manned the phones at a major manufacturer of silicone breast implants. Most calls were doctors or hospitals but the occasional Brandi wanting a discount on a pair… ugh. Everyone was banging everyone in this place.

More Customer Service. Book publishing house in Berkeley. Career job wife xferred from UCSB to UCB and it was great to be back in the Bay. Book shops existed then, and we sold them books. Proud of the CS team in there, high quality folks up against high expectations with a seriously underperforming warehouse. Found author of beloved children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are” to be a stone cold anus.

Purchasing Manager. International House at Berkeley, an off campus dorm. This is the job where you need to fight off scum and villains conspiring to rip off a business. Happy brilliant kids from all over the world were constant inspiration tho.

Lab Tech then Lab Manager then Many Hats. Steel casting foundry, OEM supplier to Peterbilt making a cameo. Test steel chemistry during production and physical properties after heat treat. Most dangerous job I ever had. 84 yo company eventually failed and it shrank from 650 workers to just me and the CFO and CEO. Wore a bunch of hats last few years, most interesting was environmental remediation and haz mat disposal.

Attempting retirement since they closed in 2018, so far so good.

 

I am a Professional Dog Trainer. Family business, we train all breeds of upland bird dogs for hunting and competition. 26 years in business, Ive been full time for 10 years but was born into it as well. We also run a guide service in the fall during hunting season on Ruffed Grouse and American Woodcock.

 

It's amazing to see how different of backgrounds everyone has. It is also great to know that others have had major career changes and succeeded.

 

I need a major career change....wait maybe its not me....maybe its everyone else!