"pyotr filipivich" wrote in message
...
"Jim Wilkins" on Mon, 22 Sep 2014 12:35:05
-0400 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

At my first job after the Army I told them I'd like to work my way
up
to engineer, so they ran me through all the departments to learn the
intricacies of custom machine design and fabrication. I'd learned
mechanical drawing in jr high and Statics and the properties of
metals
in college, which were big helps. I didn't actually operate a
Bridgeport, TIG welder or press brake but I learned what they can
and
can't do. I did drill and tap a lot of holes and learn to bend sheet
metal accurately on a manual brake.

Learned enough to know when they were attempting to blow smoke ..
--
pyotr filipivich

That wasn't one of the problems. The company was heavy on practice if
light on theory, like most of the auto execs we dealt with. By the
time I'd made Project Engineer and was writing responses to RFQs for
capital equipment I knew what we could and couldn't do.

Then the field service engineer decided he'd had enough, and being the
only single guy not let go in the last RIF I was the obvious choice to
replace him.

I soon found out why he had quit, on-scene middleman in a corporate
dispute is a task for a glib lawyer, not me. GM "was not amused" when
our testers revealed unexpected faults. At least when I did field
service repair in the Army I had the considerable protection of a
Sergeant's E-5 rank and we all worked for the same organization.

-jsw