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Recent content by michfan

  1. michfan

    Poll about CAD knowledge

    StructuralEIT, My point was that young engineers nowadays usually have some CAD experience because hand drafting isn't widely used any longer. How much that experience helps them in their day-to-day engineering work would depend on how well they learned and understand the process of DESIGN, not...
  2. michfan

    New Daylight Savings Time

    I didn't bother with the patch on my computer at my store that we use as a cash register. I just set the clock ahead an hour and figured I'd get to the patch eventually. On Saturday we were really busy and I kept thinking how it felt like a really long day and how much my feet hurt - we had...
  3. michfan

    Poll about CAD knowledge

    I'll speak as someone who has been on both ends of a drawing. I've done my own cad work - I've taken the basic, intermediate, and advanced classes at the local CC. Nice classes, 2 nights a week for 10 or 12 weeks, etc. Also took Pro-E just to learn what it does. I think that has been very...
  4. michfan

    Worst Interview Experiences

    "I interviewed a company in Texas a while ago. " Interesting choice of words - maybe I should look at it as me interviewing them, not the other way around, next time... "Eveyone else ordered iced tea. I had a beer." Did you get that job? Because I'll try the beer thing, too, on my next...
  5. michfan

    UK Engineers Petition Downing Street

    I worked for a very well-known German company at one of their US acquisitions. We followed ISO procedures. Everyone in my department was some kind of engineer. Either your title was "Mechanical Engineer", "Engineer", "Senior Engineer", "Controls Engineer", "Applications Engineer" (never did...
  6. michfan

    New Daylight Savings Time

    Go to: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst and they have a wizard that walks you thru what system you have and what you need to update. If you don't do it, in about 2 weeks your system will be off again when the "old" dst kicks in. By the way, it's daylight saving time, not savings...
  7. michfan

    better the devil you know?

    I completely agree with Scott. When you work at a job that you can't stop thinking about in a negative way during your off-hours, it's time to think about what that job is doing to your sense of well-being, not to mention what it does to the people around you who have to listen to you complain...
  8. michfan

    Worst Interview Experiences

    I only WISH someone would have warned me away from my last job! My last job (I got fired from it after 89 days...) was partly owned by the first husband of the lady that owns the ladies' fitness place next to my store. He passed away and the business went 100% to the son of the other co-owner...
  9. michfan

    better the devil you know?

    Sounds like I'm in the same boat as you, Scott. When I start to hate getting up in the morning and I start getting to work just 5 minutes later than I should, and my family starts telling me that all I do is complain about work...that's when I know I need a change. I made it 5 years at my...
  10. michfan

    Worst Interview Experiences

    I always seem to have clothes trouble before interviews too. I'm not a "fashionista" by any sense of the imagination. I try for cold weather interviews because all my jackets are wool. Most of my interviews have come spur of the moment, so I'm usually out trying to find something at the mall...
  11. michfan

    better the devil you know?

    Do you have a family/children that depend on your income? I'd take that into heavy consideration if I did. I don't, so I tend to take the risk and make the jump. Life is short, I try to always work to make things better or brighter in my life. And I listen to what my gut feelings are. But...
  12. michfan

    Worst Interview Experiences

    I was off for the summer during one of my years of college and I went to a temp agency to see if I could get a 3rd part time job, just for the summer. I only wanted office work, no-brainer stuff on my days off from my other jobs. I went in with a terrible head cold and took their "placement"...
  13. michfan

    How long to Profitablity?

    There are a lot of interesting statistics on the Small Business Admin website. I think it's www.sba.gov. 90% of small businesses fail in the first year and 50% fail within 5 years, I think I read? I'm guessing that lumps service and product businesses (say, a plumber vs. a retail store) in...
  14. michfan

    How long to Profitablity?

    You should make a profit from the start if you work from your home and keep your office expenses to a minimum. The use of your home office (if used solely for the business), insurance premiums, office supplies, etc., and the business use of your car are business expenses that are taken off...
  15. michfan

    Salary raise survey

    Oh, that is depressing. If you look at my first job to my second job... .11 That was $13/hr as a truss designer right out of college, then jump to structural work for a big company for 4 years til the bottom fell out and then I made virtually -0- for a year or so. Now I've job-hopped 3 times...

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