A question for papermaker

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

Yea I drive that stupid little truck. Most of the routes around here are park and loop so you just drive to a central point then walk loops carrying mail and packages and ****. Some days that **** bag is 45-50lbs that don’t sound like a lot but when you walk 8ish miles a day you feel like jelly at the end of the day lol

Not sure if you know this, but it's entirely different down in FL. It's ALL mail truck to mailbox in FL, only once I moved up north did I see the whole park the mail truck and drive around routine. I feel bad for some of them having to walk in 0 degree weather and deep snow

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

I could be wrong, but it depends on what components they're working with..I'll leave it there. If you get to talk to them ask for me what specifically they produce?
If they're pushing buttons on a CNC, I get it. Actually having working knowledge of lathes and mills is a whole different story

Never did have a conversation with them...didn't go into depth about it. Guess I should have. I did have a few job interviews with Boeing tho, that was in 2009, just before the financial meltdown. It's a behavioral interview I went thru...only a few questions were asked of me about the job. Mainly the behavioral ones is what got me. Found out later on what it actually is for after talking to a few people about it. There's no test to study about it. Just wanna know how people would react in diff situations and how would you handle it, etc. I went thru the same BS process when I worked for Genie. Passed with flying colors. Was quite surprised. It's a game that companies play. What they wanna hear, not what you think type scenario. As for the CNC button pushers, I have heard of 12 diff people doing the job of one person. What are you doing? Oh I just wanna wipe off this window so I can see what's going on, uh no we have someone to do that for you. Oookk. Hey, why you sweeping the floor? Well I was cleaning up my mess. No we have a person to do that....oh ok..Go figure...

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

Do yourself a huge favor and go for the Electrical Engineering degree.

Like I said at least get a PLC degree you don't need to be an electrical engineer to write a program they'll teach you the basics and all you do is sit down at a computer and write programs I don't never want to be an electrical engineer that job ***** all they do is due drawings all day..

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

Yea I drive that stupid little truck. Most of the routes around here are park and loop so you just drive to a central point then walk loops carrying mail and packages and ****. Some days that **** bag is 45-50lbs that don’t sound like a lot but when you walk 8ish miles a day you feel like jelly at the end of the day lol

I know you get tail on the route..

 

[DarkKnightSM]

Like I said at least get a PLC degree you don't need to be an electrical engineer to write a program they'll teach you the basics and all you do is sit down at a computer and write programs I don't never want to be an electrical engineer that job ***** all they do is due drawings all day..

PLC degree?

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

Do a search.. it's imo one of the coolest things you can do..

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Unions are a joke nowadays....all they want from ya is $$$$$.

Say what you will, in the Northeast they're the guys who get the big jobs because they have the muscle to do them. Government contracts, casinos, hotels, high-rises, sports complexes, etc. And as I said, the workers are pretty well taken care of.

Of course they come with piles of red tape limiting who can do what and when and why, but this is a huge game of cover your arse where everyone is terrified about lawsuits. The wrong guy does the wrong thing and someone gets hurt and lawyers see only the price tag of the job and deep pockets everywhere. As others have mentioned, navigating the bureaucratic minefield of taking on government contracts is another colossal cost and pain in the arse. The reason the military pays 500$ for a toilet seat is because after jumping through all the hoops of getting and fulfilling the contract that's what you have to charge to make any profit at all.

Anyway, yes, they're generally full of communists and have their own political agendas (largely consisting of padding the pockets of union high-ups) but overall they take good care of their members and it's a good ride for guys who want to be in the trades.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Unions around here are getting severely demolished. Kimberly-Clark shut down/closed their doors because they couldn't keep up with competition i.e. Costco, Kleenix, Charmin, etc. KC was union. Perhaps their workers shouldn't have been making 30/hr (yes I saw it on the news and read a few laid off workers crying over toilet paper jobs) causing the shutdown. Since they were on the waterfront, a huge hazard mess they left to clean up. Got ignored. There's a lumber company, Weyerhauser that shut down right around the corner from where I work. They were union. Company bldgs completely band-aided of fixing things, instead of the right/correct way. Now the land is sitting vacant.

Only way unions benefit people is if they're not getting a fair liveable wage from their employer. And I'll be dammed if I'm paying union dues....just to keep my job? BS...

 

[DarkKnightSM]

Do a search.. it's imo one of the coolest things you can do..

It does seem cool. I doubt its a career for me. Not even electrical engineering would be a job fot me. I need to be working with my hands, on my feet and working hard. So when i hear theres labor involved with an electrician that actually sounds appealing to me. But to even get in the apprentiship program i have to pass an altitude test requiring knowledge in algebra. Every time i take a class i forget what i dont use. So now im stuck relearning algreba, again. So im left wondering how often am i gonna even use this stuff on a daily basis as an electrician

 

[tymoto21 10+ year member]

The plc is quickly going the way of the dinosaur

Plc is a fine start but the new things coming out will be very different from a plc

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

You need to actually explore what you're interested in. There's a whole realm opening up working on unmanned aircraft, and even manned aircraft, that I think you would enjoy. The requirements for operating UA isn't nearly as burdensome as manned so that's also a possibility and it pays very well.

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

If you have to relearn algebra this close to graduating hs, you'll be in for a rude awakening when engineering calculus arrives.

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

If you have to relearn algebra this close to graduating hs, you'll be in for a rude awakening when engineering calculus arrives.

if only you knew how closely some of us slip by in those courses..i knew id never use it though in my field so i brain dumped it lol physics for engineers on the other hand..

 

[DarkKnightSM]

Im 26. I never use math. So of course id forget what i learned in high school. I took a pre alg class 5 years ago and forgot some of that too. Ill be finr if im using it everyday. But id hate to join a career, not use algebra and one day all of a sudden need the knowledge that i seldomly use