Nothing but Job Posts

[CalibratorJ]

I keep trying to get you older techs to write something down.  Document some trick of technique you have created and used for years in calibration.  Something you can pass on to the next generation of metrologist.

Look at the Cal Lab Magazine's Metrology 101's.  The whole goal behind that was to encapsulate a little bit of knowledge for the next generations.   Because you are correct, the field is getting watered down.  But the techs coming into the field are a green as you and I were 30 years ago.  What they don't have is a stack of coworkers 5, 10, 15, 20 years their senior.  Most companies will have a 15+ year knowledge gap that will be near impossible to fill. 

So I ask each and every one of you.  Write a couple papers before you retire.

Mike

Writing papers and all is great, however I have learned that "passing on knowledge", while it is usually appreciated by the people/techs needing the knowledge, companies don't tend to appreciate it, especially if you are doing it on their dollar. In today's environment it is all about the dollar, turning equipment, etc. Writing a paper or something similar doesn't make money or turn equipment.
Oh, you want me to write it on my time? So who is paying me for my time.... right, no one out there pays for papers.
Just my thoughts.

[griff61]

Papers are nice and all, but I think demonstration and practical training gets us more bang for the buck. We have a program here where each tech is required to present a class on something they feel that they are an SME on. Even long time techs learn new things and often even the presenter learns something as well. It makes it much easier on the organization as a whole when someone is absent or moves on. There is a much smaller learning curve, if any, when a "new" tech assumes that particular function.

[mrrob007]

The problem is that companies see that Metrology is just overhead, and paying one of us vets to come in and train all these green techs is an unnecessary expense.

I left a company not too long ago where the manager believed that if you didn't have an EE, you couldn't possibly calibrate electronic equipment.

So every candidate I wanted to hire, with a military background and decades of vital experience, he lowballed.

Seems to be the trend in the market these days. Companies will pay the price.

[Hawaii596]

I did just that. Great magazine, by the way. I wrote METROLOGY 101's for torque wrenches and Ice Baths.  Parenthetically, I am working on becoming a writer (book project in the work for the past 18 months).

I would love to see some ideas for a next METROLOGY 101 article. I completely agree that we need to pass things down to the next generation.