Paul,
Sorry for not getting the drift of your comment.
I know many large engineering organisations who dont keep their standards library up to scratch. I have access to many Australian documents because of the standards committees that I serve on. Some ISO documents are also available to me. But I also work on jobs with ASME, ANSI, AWWA, AWA, WSAA, JIC, DIN, EN and SIRIM standards. I would go broke investing in all these documents.
As contributor to Standards Australia I know that they get very little government support. They have to trade commercially. (Another round of economic rationalism imposed on engineers by the "beanies"). So they publish revisions more often than necessary. They have a policy of revising a document if its of a certain vintage even if the technology hasnt changed.. Well the physics havent changed but someone sees it as an opportunity to make more sales. Sounds like a software development company doesnt it!
I pool accesssibility to standards with a number of trusted people in a small network. Thats the only way we get to keep up to date. But I suspect this approach keeps us more up to date than some of the big boys. Also I can get to the Standards Office and peruse whats there.
Geoff
Paul Bowers <pbowers@pipingdesign.com> wrote: I was pointing out the cost difference between "a hundred dollars here and there" for, say, access to ASME codes and the cost of software for CAD.
CAD seems to have turned drafting/technical drawing into a commodity.
That's not going to change, but as the other Paul says, everything depends on how good management is.
The piping design world (plant owner/operators and engineering design firms) desperately needs interoperability between CAD systems so that smaller entities can compete. What we have now is effectively multiple closed systems that limits one's ability to play based on which brand of hockey stick one uses. And the hockey teams also lose, because their pool of players is also limited.
Paul
Geoff Stone DD&D Australia wrote:
> Paul,
>
> I disagree. If you have these resources you can up your rate and be different.
Take the medical profession as an example in business. The general practitioner
in ahospital or medical centre makes a living, the brain specialist makes a
killing.
>
> If you are very good at what you do then invest in the resources and hire
yourself back with all the software/hardware. You can write it off with the IRS
on your tax and also gain other tax benefits.
>
> Once you are independent then you get more respect from the company. I did it
32 years ago and have never looked back. But you have got to take a risk and you
must be better than the 'pack". You have to have the latest in everything, know
the problems and benefits of the tools, be prepared to meet deadlines, take the
risk and benefits of fixed price tendering and provide service to you client. To
make the big bucks you have to go from a one man band to about fifteen strong.
Anything in between has to be a Co-op to be financially stable.
>
> Its not for everyone but there are opportunities out there. There is a
worldwide shortage of engineers and draftsmen. Not everyone wants design sub
contracted to a swet shop on the Sub Continent.
>
> Geoff
>
> Paul Bowers <pbowers@pipingdesign.com> wrote:
> tomcruz55 wrote:
>
>>Probably the problem is not with searching but getting hold of the
>>reference material for free. A hundred dollar here and anohter there
>>can bankrupt a lot of small guys like me in no time at all.
>
> Consider the freelance CAD guy:
>
> - $4000 for AutoCAD/Microstation (plus ongoing upgrades)
> - $4000 for add-on piping software (plus ongoing upgrades)
> - $? for specific hardware suitable for CAD
>
> Running PDS or PDMS is out of the question, so you can't play with the
> big boys. This of course limits jobs you can work on.
SPONSORED LINKS
Online mechanical engineering degree Process piping Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering class Mechanical engineering college Mechanical
engineering degree
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: PipingDesign-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
Design Detail and Development (a division of Blenray Pty Ltd)
Mail Address PO Box 1351 Castle Hill NSW 1765 Australia Tel Mob 0402 35 2313
Office 02 8850 2313 AH 02 8850 2324
We specialise in pipe network and waterhammer analysis, pipe stress analysis,
the design of buried pipelines and thermoplastic pipe systems.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Received on Wed Sep 07 21:43:00 2005
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Mon Oct 27 2008 - 20:24:09 EDT