Thank you Sir. I guess the thread hit a nerve with me.
Whenever we curmudgeons start bemoaning the younger generation or current
state of affairs, two thoughts come to mind:
1. When we were young, the curmudgeons said the same thing about us as
they trod uphill through 10 foot snowdrifts to school ,each way......
2. The advice my first boss, Fred, gave me. He told me that I could come
into his office and complain about anything, anything I wanted. BUT, only
if I had at least two viable solutions to the problem at hand. Because if
you don't have a workable plan to address the problem, it is just
pointless bitching and that steals away time and energy. Fred also told
me that after a major setback, you are allowed ONE day and one day only to
do pointless bitching and screaming, then you got back on the horse. A
very wise man was Fred.
I just thought I would point out a few things that each of us might do to
address the problem. Doing the Road Shows with Dave is one of the
highlights of my week. You have not lived until you have explained
physics to a kindergartener.
Doug Pauls
From: "Stadem, Richard D." <[log in to unmask]>
To: TechNet E-Mail Forum <[log in to unmask]>,
"[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 08/13/2013 04:57 PM
Subject: RE: [TN] Refreshment
Amen! Excellent post, Doug!
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Douglas Pauls
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 3:24 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Refreshment
Ed,
Ain't got a Harley (wish I did).
Don't do a lot of internet surfing (cause I end up on YouTube and days
pass before I extract myself) Beer drinkin' ain't nothing like college. A
12 pack is a year supply for me. Six months if Hillman comes over.
I think a lot of it depends on how your employer views STEM initiatives.
One of the things I really like about Rockwell Collins is that they
encourage (to varying extents) our engineers to work with local schools to
get the young enthusiastic about science and engineering. Might be FIRST
Lego League, or FIRST Robotics Challenge. Might be the international
rocket competition. Dave and I do something we call The Rockwell Road
Show, which we do for anything from pre-school to college. We do 35-45
shows a year and the teachers tell us that it shows the kids that the
stuff they see in their books is actually used in the real world. Dave
and I are also fortunate to have a boss that lets us do that without
worrying what time to charge it too. I think she knows that if Dave and I
don't get out every once in a while to have fun like this, we would
explode. Not a pretty sight. I understand 3M has a similar program
called The Traveling Wizards. NASA has a treasure trove of neat
information. We have to capture the imagination of the youth to combat
the shortage of skilled labor.
What other things could we be doing to pass along to the next generation?
If you have chemical knowledge, volunteer to be a guest speaker at your
high school chemistry class. Bet the teacher won't turn you down. There
are series of fantastic chemical demonstration from Dr. Bassam
Shakhashiri, professor emeritus of UW Madison. Be a guest lecturer at the
local university or tech college? Many of you may remember Dr. John Sohn,
of Bell Labs. When Lucent tanked, he took the early buy out, went to
college for a year, and has been teaching high school science classes and
loving every minute of it. Thinking of doing the same myself, provided
Hillman does not talk me into something stupid and I die.
Second, those who have been at IPC meetings know that Dave and I don't do
any work, but we are smart enough to hire exceptionally smart college
students as engineering co-ops. These young men and women are smarter
than I ever remember being at that age. Such a program allows us to
mentor the next generation and they often bring to us new knowledge from
their courses. If your company does not have an active engineering co-op
program, it should have. We would not accomplish a tenth of what we do
without them. There was one semester where the budget would not support
having co-ops, no matter how much we argued. Six months later, our
director wondered why we had not accomplished much. Cuz you took away our
co-ops! Are they that important? Yes, they are THAT important!!
Does your company allow or encourage Job Shadows? We do. Let the
guidance counselors at your local high school know you are interested and
I bet you see a number of high school kids interested in STEM jobs.
I guess my point is that there are LOTS of thing we can all be doing to
help pass along the things we have learned to the next generation. But
are we?
Doug Pauls
From: Ed Popielarski <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 08/13/2013 02:49 PM
Subject: Re: [TN] Refreshment
Sent by: TechNet <[log in to unmask]>
Hey, now! I'm a bona fide Harley ridin', interweb surfin', beer drinkin'
rabble rouser, even at my advanced age (<60 mind you).
I've taken a few under my wing and watched them leave the nest and soar.
Unfortunately, that seems to be happening less and less as time goes on.
Ed Popielarski
Engineering Manager
970 NE 21st Ct.
Oak Harbor, Wa. 98277
Ph: 360-675-1322
Fx: 206-624-0965
Cl: 949-581-6601
https://maps.google.com/maps/myplaces?hl=en&ll=48.315753,-122.643578&spn=0.011188,0.033023&ctz=420&t=m&z=16&iwloc=A
-----Original Message-----
From: Stadem, Richard D. [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 11:18 AM
To: TechNet E-Mail Forum; Ed Popielarski
Subject: RE: [TN] Refreshment
Speak for yourself, Ed. Sounds like you have one foot in the grave
already.
I know many "senior" engineers who have a very high level of energy, have
kept up with technology and science, including the 'net, and you could not
take their laptops away from them unless you pried their cold dead fingers
from it. They are enthusiastic, work well with folks from all age groups,
and are eager to share their experience and knowledge as well as learn
from the freshly recruited grads. While it is true that the new grads are
coming online with certain skills and tools not known or understood by
some of the older folks, they are no less enthusiastic and eager to solve
today's problems, and they do their pioneering and thinking outside the
box just as well as anybody, in fact, perhaps even more so.
They just need the proper coaching and encouragement, and 99% of them are
ready and willing to step up and start hitting homeruns right where you
left off. It is up to us to help them, learn from them, teach them what
they are willing to learn from us, and then we all benefit.
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ed Popielarski
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 10:33 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Refreshment
Inge,
I, too, have noticed the gradual fade, and it's my opinion we, ourselves,
are to blame. Similar to what has happened inside NASA, the "pioneers"
that sculpted the industry are dead, dying, retired and tired. We as a
society failed to properly backfill with fresh talent and the methodology
of upstarting engineering grads is much different than "in our day". Seems
to me the new generation engineers have developed a love affair with their
desktop computers and the internet (something that didn't even exist when
we were sprouting wings) and "we" collectively, are transforming to a more
digital existence, as opposed to the hard, wet, hot physical realm. As
this evolution proceeds, much of the pioneering spirit is lost, as well as
the good-old-fashioned "chutzpah" to "break outside the box, damn the
torpedoes, full speed ahead." Job preservation has become a primary focus
and this has really retarded the craft.
Just my $0.0199999 and ventilation of an issue that I've been containing
for some time now.
Ed Popielarski
Engineering Manager
970 NE 21st Ct.
Oak Harbor, Wa. 98277
Ph: 360-675-1322
Fx: 206-624-0965
Cl: 949-581-6601
https://maps.google.com/maps/myplaces?hl=en&ll=48.315753,-122.643578&spn=0.011188,0.033023&ctz=420&t=m&z=16&iwloc=A
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Inge Hernefjord
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 3:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Refreshment
Technet, once a supernova...now just a fading sparkle. Time for
renaissence (french)? Blood transfusion? Vitamin therapy? Dopamin cure?
.......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, ...sorry....YYYAAAWN...
Inge
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