I like your support Kirk.

Good on you!

Stan-

"Kirk Gordon" wrote in message
...
Just in case it helps any, you seem to communicate pretty well. And
you've obviously figured out that being a machinist means working with
people, and not just machines. That's excellent.

Don't sweat the oral presentation. In fact, don't bother DOING a
"presentation" at all. Just talk. Just say what you want to say, as if
you were saying it to friend. Enjoy the chance to share what you've
been studying or preparing, and invite everybody else to enjoy it with
you. They will, if you give them a chance.

And stop back here as often as you can. Communication takes
practice too, just like sharpening a drill or running a CAD system.
And, if you don't mind the fact that some of us get crazy and cranky
once in a while, you might just find the group to be a fun place to hang
out.

KG
--
I'm sick of spam.
The 2 in my address doesn't belong there.

chem wrote:
I missed the OP about learning other things instead of just the
practical side of machining... I have to throw in my two cents, FWIW.
I'm taking an 8-9 month machining course. In addition to the practical,
hands-on stuff we also have:
-8 full days of CAD - spread out over a month
-half a day of math per week - our book is Mathematics for Machine
Technology, so we're actually learning things we'll be applying in
the shop
-half a day of communications class per week. This is the one that
a lot of the people in our class have trouble realizing the value of.
We've been covering positive attitudes, teamwork, time management,
presentations, and computer skills (email, word processing, etc. CAD
and CNC programming aren't covered in communications). Not really
anything you need to be a good (or even excellent) machinist, but I've
met a few machinists before I started school who would have been easier
to work with if they'd learned a few of those things and followed them.
(I hope it goes without saying - that's not just limited to
machinists... there are difficult people everywhere)
-We also have a machining textbook that we're supposed to work
through and videos to watch. We spend a couple of hours a week of
classroom time on this, working at our own pace.

CAD, math, and the textbook I've been having no troubles with.
Communications class is driving me nuts. I understand the usefulness of
it all, and I appreciate having the chance to learn the things we're
covering. I'm just feeling a bit down on it because I've got an oral
presentation coming up tomorrow.

Yeah, and I wish we'd had a shop program in high school too. Guess it
wouldn't have mattered much for me anyway because I had no idea what a
machine shop even was until i'd been out of high school for a few years.