Confessions of a CAD Monkey.
Yup, I have to confess, I am an unDegreed CAD Monkey.
If you don't know what CAD is, keep reading.
You do realize that if you don't have a college degree you're really just a monkey that mashes the keyboard with your paws don't you?
No knowledge or skill, the computer does all of the thinking for you.
You're really just a warm body.
I dropped out of college in the early 1980's (dropped out, asked to leave, pretty much the same thing right?)
After drifting around for a couple of years, I ended up finding a job at a contract mechanical engineering company in Saginaw, Michigan. I had enjoyed drafting in school and remembered enough of it to pass their hiring test. My first few months were spent inhaling ammonia fumes while running a blueprint machine and folding blueprints.
Eventually I ended up doing mechanical design on steering columns for GM, on a drafting board with pencils and triangles.
To make a long story short, fast forward 20 years and I had gotten really F!%king good at Computer Aided Design, I even taught it inside of General Motors.
I've got shiny certificates to prove it.
That all came to an end in 2008.
GM was bankrupt and the US auto industry kicked me to the curb like last night's hooker.
No degree, not interested.
Adjustable Accelerator Pedal, half of my crowning achievement, the other half was the Adjustable Brake Pedal in the 2005-2012 Nissan Pathfinder (that and about 12 other brake and clutch assemblies for the Frontier Pickup and Xterra SUV).
We lost our house and ended up moving 9 times in 16 months, including a few weekend stays in a friends RV.
People even stopped replying to my applications on Monster (F%!king Monster!)
I turned my back on that kind of work.
Out of the blue, a week ago, a headhunter whom I've worked with on and off for 17 years called and I started work again today in a non-automotive industry doing what I loved for almost 20 years.
This could very well be a dream job.
The only downside is that it cuts into the 6-12 hours a day I've been spending on Steemit.
If there's a moral to the story, I guess it would be, Give Up.
All pictures from @theblindsquirl
I used to do IC CAD for Intel. They paid me diddly compared to full EE types.
I got tired of the class structure. Went into software and the web.. just morphed it decade by decade.
Put those nuts into crypto tokens.
I'd recommend SP, EOS to start, ETH, BTC to round out. LTC, NEO, etc looking good too. These I look at as conservative investments; most all will do great over time, set U UP!
Already have some BTC & ETH and a little silver stashed.
There's now security like there was in days gone by.
Congrats mate, couldn't happen to a nicer fella (the good things, not the bad!)
If you're into CAD it sounds like you, me and @gmuxx get on for a reason :)
Thanks, it's only taken me 2 days to realize how much I missed it.
Great minds think alike?
Inspiration baby !
Ahh-huh.. ahh-huh.. dats da way
Peace, Love, Disco :)
Congratulations! I'm guessing this was jelly donut day job offer? That's really awesome. I hope you enjoy the dream job. I remember CAD being taught as part of wood shop class when I was in high school. I was good with power tools but not with CAD. It's a shame with all that experience you couldn't get hired. Having a degree doesn't mean you know more than people without.
Thanks, I was right around that time.
Instead of Jelly donuts we had fresh blueberry pie last night.
This work stuff is tiring though.
And this is probably the most awesome thing I've heard all day! Congrats friend! In Jr. High I learned CAD, I spent a summer doing a pseudo internship at General Dynamics. I loved it! I planned on going to college and doing this or a medical degree. My hormones had other plans and I got pregnant. I've been a business owner for almost 10 years so I guess in the end it all worked out for me. Life is funny like that :)
Cheers friend!
I think we're better off having you here. ;-)
General Dynamics would probably be having you design bombers or something anyway.
And then I'd get distracted, because I'm blonde you know, and design some kind of weird contraption and lose my job.
Haha I like being here better anyways :)
Gratz! I hope the new gig is everything you dream it can be, and more good stuff too!
Thanks, so far so good.
2 full days in and I guess it really is like riding a bike.
Congrats man, for your new job. Don't worry about giving less time to steemit. Nothing beats a regular job, with the certainity of an income at the end of the month. All other things should be extra only.
Time to sock money away.
And maybe buy some SP>
Haha, ya buy a ton SP, and instantly gain a following!!
There's an idea for a post, how to instantly "improve" your posts, Buy more SP.
This post was resteemed by @resteembot!
Good Luck!
Learn more about the @resteembot project in the introduction post.
This is great news. I didn't realize what a roller-coaster you've been through but I hope this really is a dream job and a happy ending.
Thank you.
Our experience has helped re-arrange our priorities. Your post about being competitive hit home. So far, it's a pretty good job, it's given me back some sense of worth, outside of being a husband and father.
I'd like to think it's a happy beginning, if not, even a temporary respite from struggling is OK.
@theblindsquirl got you a $1.59 @minnowbooster upgoat, nice! (Image: pixabay.com)
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