Jeff-20 wrote:I know it is a personal question, but what do you do for a living? I am just curious as to how this hobby relates/influences your chosen careers, jobs, professions. Anyone work in the tech industry?
Use to. After High School, went to Collage to be a cop. Right in the middle of things, Viet Nam "exploded" and I lost my
deferment. The 'on campus' V.A. recruiter said "calm down. You didn't do ANYthing wrong. 80% of the guys on this
campus received that same letter!" - OOPS!! - someone needs cannon fodder. The only way to legally beat the draft was
to enlist - which I did - with the intention of going into the Military Police to further my 'career'. Along the way, I -
unintentionally - scored high enough marks on my entrance exams to put me in the top 10% of the inductees. Which got the
attention of the recruiter for the Army Security Agency. I figured since I'm going to put 4 years in some where, let's see
what this yah-hoo has to offer. Electronic eaves-dropping. Interesting!! That was my introduction to electronics. Military/
industrial electronics. After my tour, I completed my police training (A.S. degree in Police Science), but then, had second
thoughts about that career. So I began to think about where would that electronics take me. WOW! What a change.
Picked up my electronic maintenance at a vocational/tech school - hired on with Ma Bell (when it WAS Ma Bell) for a while
(that got me out into the high desert of Calif.), then spent 14 years with Bendix Field Engineering Corp. as an Electronic
Tech in the Manned Space Flight Program - Ground Support Facility known as Goldstone Tracking Complex. Ever since
I was in the military, I worked on building a very large model boat. Now I had a chance to start working on it's brain. What I
came up with was a large number of cams and switches on a long shaft turned by a timing motor. This was getting a bit
unwieldy. Wouldn't you know it, at about that time one of the guys was selling his VIC-20 in order to upgrade!! After
looking at it for a little bit, I began to realize that instead of adding more cams and switches to the brain, I could do every-
thing with a program. This was looking great!! Everybody else was trying to make lots of nice things happen on the SCREEN.
I wanted to make nice things happen OUTSIDE of the computer - and that user's port looked like just what I needed. And it
was!! I just needed to learn how to program it. That didn't look hard at all. And it wasn't. I kept a notebook of my trials
- and errors (so that I wouldn't repeat them) - of what worked and didn't work - and why! Figuring out the 'why' is where I
gained the most knowledge. Anyway, relations between the Company and the Union (it was a union shop) were going
down hill and I didn't care for that. I learned a lot about taperecorders, telemetry, slow scan and standard scan t.v.
systems and even some antenna drive systems, along with level 3 proficiency in N.A.S.A. hand soldering, but, the work
environment was still not good, so, I got out. Went back to school for Remotely Operated Vehicles (underwater robots).
Joined up with Oceaneering Int. as an E.T. in their unmanned submersibles division. There's a lot that goes on in
2500 ft. of water out in the Gulf of Mexico on a drill ship. I inadvertently discovered the ship had a problem with one of their
computers. So, I told them about it. Since I was not part of the ships company but a service company assigned to the
ship, alot of people started jumping up and down and waving their arms a lot. O.K., so I'm not suppose to touch ANY of their
computers again! That's fine. During the next rotation out to the ship, I quietly checked out that computer - and yes, they
fixed it. Here's where my stupidity at times amazes even me. I opened my big mouth about it. It is also amazing how fast
one can lose a CAREER (let alone a job!) in such a situation. I believe the term used was "disobeying a direct order while off
shore". Worked the crew boats for a while because of that. Deckhand/assistant boat engineer - what ever was available.
On my way back to Calif. the next Christmas, my car quit in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fine!! (amongst other thoughts). Got
a job through a temporary agency stuffing boards with electronic parts at Digital Equipment Corp. Every day for two years I
had to show up at that place to see if I still had a job. They were instituting 'just in time' production techniques -
meaning - any hiccup any where in the system sent people home for the day - or three - or what ever. Which included - say
- the delivery truck was late due to traffic - the whole line was sent home. A few times of this and I went looking in other areas
to see if they needed help. And sure enough, there were some areas that needed people. I proved I could do the job so they
moved me from stuffing boards to assembling hard drive memory boxes - and - in the process acquired certification as a level
3 manufacturing tech. Oh, well - after two years, all of the temps - including me - were unceremoniously dumped onto the
street. That was more than 100 people in less than an hour. No explanations. They went back and hired other temps.
I thought that was a little strange. Anyway, drove a bus for a while. Got enough money together to finish coming out to
Calif. Visited Albuquerque a couple of years later when my younger brother past away - he lived in near by Rio Rancho.
The building that housed DEC. was all boarded up and all the nice lawns around the place were nothing but piles of weeds.
There were even weeds growing out in the parking lot. So sad. After driving limo's for a while, I went back to school to
be a toolmaker (re-training compliments of the great state of Calif.). This at 51 years of age (a veteran's benefit, no less!!).
Did my 4 years of apprenticeship to become a journeyman toolmaker and as of this year am officially retired. You know, I
am still working as hard as before - I'm just not getting paid like I use to!!
ACHTUNG
Das machinen is nicht fur gerfingerpoken und mittengraben. Is easy
schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und poppen corken mit
spitzensparken. Ist nicht fur gerwerken by das dummkopfen. Keepen
das hands in das pockets, relaxen und watchen das blinkenlights!!!
Thanks for hearing me out -
Phil Potter.
), and i must say that i'm further encouraged by Eslapion's experiences.
Kidding bet that's the last thing you want to do after a long week of doing it, but man that skill is huge in this hobby to solder a kit to perfection is an art 
The longest first name I had was 17 letters long 
i would love to make it up there some day to meet you guys.
). That's when I noticed the demand for this type of service. So, I figured, what the hey; I like doing this kind of work, and I get to be my own boss. I'm pretty much doing this full time now. I figured I'd come up with a web site, and I'll probably do some advertising to maintain a good supply of clients in the future. Who knows; I may get busy enough to have to hire someone.
