Re: piping design materials

From: <Christopher>
Date: Sat Feb 24 2007 - 13:02:00 EST

On Feb 24, 2007, at 7:56 AM, John Luf wrote:

> The only thing I would disagree with is the ranking you have
> established.... on a large job the the piping flexibilty analyst ranks
> just below the office cleaning staff.

Who cares? It's like Section VIII work or FEA. Everyone thinks you're out to make them look bad or mess with their budget or make a lot of inconvenient technical quibbles, but it's more fun than a Polish picnic. And if you're good enough and don't burn any bridges, you might get to go out on your own (OK--usually after a lay-off…). Suddenly what used to be technical quibbles when you were making $1.50/hour magically becomes expert advice that goes for a good deal more. You cost real money, so people hang on every word because you're not just another in-house whiner.

You get to nose around everyone's project and deal with interesting people, not just pointy-haired bosses. You can make friends in the shop, because you ask questions and don't just nag about schedules. No one in management knows what you do, so you can ignore org charts. Some years you'll get as much as 15 or 20 minutes of gratitude when you bail someone's ass out of a jam involving code compliance. Best of all is getting to work on failures. That sounds bloody-minded, but, you can't beat it for technical challenge and mental exercise. It's like playing Sherlock Holmes without the psychopaths and scary dogs.

The down side is that you're the last one who gets called when some half-baked bright idea turns to compost and when they do call you're expected to work magic. You also have to learn not to say, 'I told you so,' even though everyone knows you told them so and they know you know. Specialists often are high on the lay-off list, but changing companies is the best opportunity you'll ever get to learn something new.

Christopher Wright P.E. |"They couldn't hit an elephant at <a href="/group/PipingDesign/post?postID=uDOOVDZbPF_w7HDEM1aA14f7Vv8tiegId5_wNJLAKJhDAE-HWKAolnGRB6myAUuLSH9xvGOiVg-XrXiKWp0">chrisw@skypoint.com</a> | this distance" (last words of Gen.

.......................................| John Sedgwick, Spotsylvania

1864)
<a href="http://www.skypoint.com/~chrisw/">http://www.skypoint.com/~chrisw/</a> Received on Sat Feb 24 13:02:00 2007