Well I am an old man too I guess, I have been doing this for 12 1/2 yrs and I am 35. I have worked both commercially and for Military Labs. I think what Ryan was aiming for in a not so eloquent manner was no matter the field whether commercial or Military is the pay is simply too low. Our entire career field has always been a little lackluster on the payscale when it comes to the knowledge needed to be a Metrologist. Simply stating that "Civilian companies need to make money to survive and we have to do things in the most effective and efficient way possible with minimal funds. " is a cop out! Everyone should be looking at how to be more efficient, more productive, make more profit for the company so the company can remain in business and be competitive yada yada yada. I get it, I support it, I just will not be raped in the name of it!
Let's also not forget the email says LabTemps. com which means it is probably a recruiter such as Volt which means they are getting paid per hour as well, the lab itslef is paying higher than the $15. 50 but that extra will go to the middle man, at least it looks that way!
I understand completely, the field is plum full of small time labs trying to compete with larger labs driving the price per piece down a bit(there are some big labs doing this too don't get me wrong, and we all no how lowest bids on contracts and how tight money is these days with the military how some of these contracts can be)) and what happens is the profit goes down so they counter this with lower pay for the techs to keep a low over head for higher profits as well as not having the money to buy all the new test equipment that is coming out daily and constantly changing all in the name of staying competitive and remaing profitable yet the profit even when good never seems to filter to those who work so hard to achieve that goal. And some of these postions for a first term guy coming out can be a suitable tempory fix to the problem of needing a job and some income , however, in the long term we all should be working toward increasing our wages and forcing these companies who like to low ball to raise the standard wage thus increasing quality of life for the techs and decreasing the amount of turnover we have in our field.
I am pretty sick and tired of always looking for the better job so to speak when if we had a standard wage or even just a little more respect and understanding for what we do our Labs would keep personnel longer thus making them more profitable by decreasing turnover which will maintain all that knowledge in a lab that is built up with experience. When you have a lab that has a lot of experince those techs will know the most efficient ways to do things thus decreasing time and increasing production sending profits higher, yet, in order to do this you must pay a higher wage as incentive to stay and help the company compete.
Well I have babbled long enough, basically I am saying all of you are right in many ways just saying it differently and all make good points. It is these types of discussions and dialogue that we can all understand not only the differences in the career field but also how we all can do things to change the enviroments in which we work. Hopefully anyway!