Good lord what have I done

[Fanta]

So, Fanta, in his wonderful and illustrious ways he tends to approach life, has decided to turn it upside down.

 

Recently I recieved a raise for being at the MSP (managed services provider) I work at. Cool, but, it made me think a lot. Some of you ( Minagera and UlrichWolf specifically ) know that as of the past few months I had been at odds with myself in where I wanted to go career wise - stick with IT or change of career ( both would have been back to college, IT being for Information Security and Assurance ). Decided that I didn't really want a life where I sat all day in front of a computer ( who knew? some of the older folks will remember how people thought I never slept since I was always on SQC ), so as of now I have applied back to college, full time, for Mechatronic (Robotics) Engineering, in addition to having signed up to take welding classes - I figured it was time I learned a trade, and a good one at that ( and its applicable to the major ).

 

Man this is going to be one d*** of a change.

Edited August 17, 2012 by Fanta

[mstieg]

Best of luck, however luck won't have much to do with it.

 

I give you much credit in having the guts to take yourself to another level. I too have been contemplating career change to apply myself to another challenge and different fullfillment. The unknown can be a very scary place.

[Guest]

Hey it happens man. When I was a kid I wanted to wrench my old man. But both my parents figured since we're in America, best give me the chance of higher education. I studied Sociology, went into community organizing and public relations and eventually politics. I decided I no longer wanted to be in a profession that required me to lie every day of my life.

 

That's howI made the choice to go into some sort of car business, wrecking yard/ repair and towing. I love what I do. Yeah I gave up the suit for Dickies uniforms now and get dirty. But I aint gotta lie all day, the greases washes off, guilt doesnt!

 

So go for it yo.

[R/Tquest]

Life beginz at the end of your comfort zone...

[Komeuppance]

So, Fanta, in his wonderful and illustrious ways he tends to approach life, has decided to turn it upside down.

 

Lawlzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz for dayzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

 

Good to see you've made a decision, that field should get you more positions.

 

BTW, make sure you take those ESL classes, since you're Canadian don't ya know eh??

 

-Robert

[Fanta]

You know, I'm going to come back here 10 years later and still be reminded about putting a Conquest on its roof.

[Fanta]

Best of luck, however luck won't have much to do with it.

 

I give you much credit in having the guts to take yourself to another level. I too have been contemplating career change to apply myself to another challenge and different fullfillment. The unknown can be a very scary place.

 

It's more of me taking the time to look around and just ultimately realize that I was... unhappy? with what I was doing. The scariest/hardest part is giving up a stable salary job probably for all of this.

 

Hey it happens man. When I was a kid I wanted to wrench my old man. But both my parents figured since we're in America, best give me the chance of higher education. I studied Sociology, went into community organizing and public relations and eventually politics. I decided I no longer wanted to be in a profession that required me to lie every day of my life.

 

That's howI made the choice to go into some sort of car business, wrecking yard/ repair and towing. I love what I do. Yeah I gave up the suit for Dickies uniforms now and get dirty. But I aint gotta lie all day, the greases washes off, guilt doesnt!

 

So go for it yo.

 

Ah yeah, still though, it's quite a change, especially financially.

 

Life beginz at the end of your comfort zone...

 

There's a saying out there somewhere, I know I've botched it, but basically it states that when your comfortable its when its most dangerous, and you should therefore challenge yourself to move ahead.

[IntercooledFlatty]

do it man !

[Shelby]

lots of thought should be put into this before jumping in,

welding may besome what rewarding for a while but how many OLD welders have you seen,, once the eye's go so does your job,

you health is also a concern many welding jobs require you to be in very good health ,, many jobs will be in some very odd places

[natallica]

Great to hear man, many people become complacent and/or comfortable with their station in life. Staying in one place and resenting that they've never made a positive or even a 'lateral' career move.

 

Nice to see someone with enough initiative to make a difference in their daily life!

 

Good Luck Dude!

 

-N8

[Fanta]

lots of thought should be put into this before jumping in,

welding may besome what rewarding for a while but how many OLD welders have you seen,, once the eye's go so does your job,

you health is also a concern many welding jobs require you to be in very good health ,, many jobs will be in some very odd places

 

Shelby - part of the reason why I am going to learn welding is for my own abilities to do things, plus with Mechatronics there is the career field of Robotic Welding - I figure it cannot hurt.

 

Also I think part of the eyes is the auto-dimming face shields being more of a recent thing, no?

[Starfighterpilot]

Justin, perhaps you should consider a career in animatics. I just watched the Special Features, Documentaries of Star Wars III and it is absolutely amazing at what those guys could do with FINALLY correcting ALL of the "glitches" out of R2D2 and adding facial expressions & lip movements to match the supposedly spoken words to all of the "aliens" in that movie. It was fascinating!!!

 

Just a thought.

 

For What It's Worth.

 

KEN

[Turborusty]

1. Acquire citizenship

2. Live legally(and responsibly) in the U.S.

3. Acquire Education

4. Acquire Employment

5. Acquire financial compensation from aforementioned employment

6. Acquire suitable mate for matrimonial bonding and production of offspring

7. Bond and procreate with aforementioned mate

8. Rear resulting offspring into responsible voters

9. Die

 

It's not rocket science. (if you do manage to screw them all up, at least get #8 correct!!))

 

 

Turborusty

[Burton]

Best of luck, however luck won't have much to do with it.

 

I give you much credit in having the guts to take yourself to another level. I too have been contemplating career change to apply myself to another challenge and different fullfillment. The unknown can be a very scary place.

 

 

It can, and I know I would have never left the tool and die trade or MI for that matter, if that industry hadn't collapsed where I lived. I was pretty much forced to not only find a new career, but also move out of a state I had lived in for 20 years and felt very comfortable in (except for the cold winters LOL).

 

Now I live someplace that is way better to live than where I was, I own my own business, and get to play with cars all day on my schedule, rather than work the 9-5 grind. Of course, I miss playing with CNC mills sometimes, but I have that education, and after I buy a small, cheap, used mill, I can play with CNC for myself, and build what I want rather than working for someone. I will always have that education, as well as my journeyman mold makers card. Nobody can take that away, and I could always use that and go work for someone else if I had to.

 

If I knew my life would have chaned for the better this much, I would have moved years earlier, rather than waiting until life made me do it.

 

Big changes like this are better done sooner than later. Wait too long and some of the good options might dry up. Plus, if you wait til later to try, but fail, it will be easier to recover from that failure if you're young.

[Fanta]

 

Plus, if you wait til later to try, but fail, it will be easier to recover from that failure if you're young.

 

Pretty much - do it while I have less responsibility.

[Burton]

Oh, and Shelby, you never see any old welders now, but you will be seeing old welders in the future. The same goes for car painters. They all used to die pretty young because of the fumes and lack of protection, but now with the good repirators, spray suits and fresh air systems, they are staying healthier longer.

 

With the better welding masks, and clothing to avoid burns, UV exposure, and any dangerous gases from welding, I bet you'll be seeing welders staying in the trade, as well as alive, longer.

 

Saftey first!

[Shelby]

Oh, and Shelby, you never see any old welders now, but you will be seeing old welders in the future. The same goes for car painters. They all used to die pretty young because of the fumes and lack of protection, but now with the good repirators, spray suits and fresh air systems, they are staying healthier longer. With the better welding masks, and clothing to avoid burns, UV exposure, and any dangerous gases from welding, I bet you'll be seeing welders staying in the trade, as well as alive, longer. Saftey first!

 

 

try selling that line to all the guys robot welders and robotic auto sprayers put out of work already

 

how many welders do you think Satern has working makeing all their cars

[Burton]

 

 

 

how many welders do you think Satern has working makeing all their cars

 

None, GM gave Saturn the axe a couple years ago.

 

 

Robotic welders and painters may replace humans in factories, but you will always need humans to do body repair jobs as well as repair welding. Lots of the oil field industry needs human welders to be able to freely move from job to job, and each job is different than the last. Robots wouldn't work in those scenerios. Not to mention the "supply and demand" aspect about jobs... We may not need as many painters and welders, but the ones we do will be paid better and there will be other jobs created to build the robotics systems as well as the tech jobs to program them and ensure they are running.

 

But, if Fanta has robotics, AND welding, then he can build the robots as well as be prepared for any welding job that's not able to be done by robots. Diversity is where it's at. I can paint, build molds, install car stereo systems, tint windows and make vinyl decals. My business allows me to do them all rather than pick one. However, if my business ever fails, I have experience and training in many different fields which would mean more jobs for me to choose from

Edited August 18, 2012 by Burton

[Shelby]

i deff agree on geting as many diff job qualitys as posible, one of my bro in laws son does welding he makes almost $100 an hour ( many times a lot more then that ) and is paid to travel to travel all over to do specialty jobs , but most of the time these jobs require a young man in perfict shape

 

there will always be a demand for welders but not a huge demand for over 50 welders

also when you say welder that may describe several 100 diff jobs not just a steel worker or fab worker

[jahjah]

Good for you man. I know IT thing has been eating at your for awhile. i got lucky when i was younger and found what i was good at by accident and I'm still doing it and supporting my family and my habit because of it now. Good luck justin

[lmwii]

cool man. i'm going back to school next week

[Guest]

Skilled labor is disapearing in this country. Municipalities, city, county, state as well as utilities (water, power etc) can't seem to find skilled hands to replace those retiring.

 

In LA, Los Angeles Water And Power, has resorted to goong into the high schools to recruit as young as juniors and seniors for apprenticeship programs that provide them high school credit and also trains them for skilled labor and engineering jobs. They have a huge number of skilled hands that are retiring and they just can't find the people to replace them and these are union jobs yo!

 

So I think the whole trend in this country to push all high school kids into college for desk jobs or computer jobs is creating a new generation of too many chief's and not enough indians. If you get my point.

 

 

[Skullzaflare]

Skilled labor is disapearing in this country. Municipalities, city, county, state as well as utilities (water, power etc) can't seem to find skilled hands to replace those retiring.

 

In LA, Los Angeles Water And Power, has resorted to goong into the high schools to recruit as young as juniors and seniors for apprenticeship programs that provide them high school credit and also trains them for skilled labor and engineering jobs. They have a huge number of skilled hands that are retiring and they just can't find the people to replace them and these are union jobs yo!

 

So I think the whole trend in this country to push all high school kids into college for desk jobs or computer jobs is creating a new generation of too many chief's and not enough indians. If you get my point.

well you dont have to worry about that, theres far more stupid people than trainable people lol

[Shelby]

so non computer jobs are so easy a cave man can do them ,,,, if only that were true

 

fact is thats back wards ,, most people that use a pc have no idea how it works or why and the truth is they have no need to know most only enter info where it says to and little real knowleage is require'd of the machines working

 

so 10 guys are gona jump in and yell i'm all screw'd up ,,,, stop and think about it .

 

to think your job is so much harder or requires more knowelage then another job just shows how little you know about work out side your field

[Fanta]

so non computer jobs are so easy a cave man can do them ,,,, if only that were true

 

fact is thats back wards ,, most people that use a pc have no idea how it works or why and the truth is they have no need to know most only enter info where it says to and little real knowleage is require'd of the machines working

 

so 10 guys are gona jump in and yell i'm all screw'd up ,,,, stop and think about it .

 

to think your job is so much harder or requires more knowelage then another job just shows how little you know about work out side your field

 

Being that I currently work in IT, this statement holds a lot of truth. Half of my job involves preventing the customer/client from having a complete meltdown because their email isn't working.

 

Rebooting their computer typically fixes it.