[Caroline Conway]

The good news is that I was able to reinvent myself and fall into a great situation now! I ended up becoming an AutoCAD instructor at a vocational school that caters to people who are looking to change skills due to work injury, getting out of the military, etc. Currently have my AutoCAD Professional certification and working on certification in Revit and Inventor.

So…reinvent and it may help

[Caroline Conway]

I designed the kitchen remodel in one house. Added cabinet space and counter space. Ended up with over 50 square feet of counter space…undercabinet lighting, a new overhead fixture and all sorts of goodies.

One thing I’d like to add to that article is DO NOT SKIMP. Don’t go for cheap contractor grade if you can afford better. Discuss the remodel with a professional. Think long and hard about that kitchen and what parts are or aren’t functional.

I wouldn’t mind doing that sort of thing freelance or fulltime.

[Caroline Conway]

Just my $0.02 here…I’ve used 2 different smart P&ID software packages. One was from CATIA and the other was from Autodesk. Both did the job, however I do think the Autodesk program was easier to use and had a much shallower learning curve. So…in my admittedly biased opinion, go with the AutoCAD Plant 3D package…it has the smart P&ID capabilities and the ability to transfer information to the 3D and BOM. The only drawback is writing the project.xml file. That I don’t know how to do, so you’d have to find someone who could…

[Caroline Conway]

Back in the dark ages when we were still on the boards, I had the good fortune or misfortune of working for a crusty senior who was smart as hell and knew his stuff…I’ll never forget the day he tore a print up in front of me and said, not unkindly, “you can do better”. From that moment on, it was my personal goal to make that just as perfect as I could. He took me under his wing for the two years I worked for that company. A few years later, he saw me working at a pizza joint and told me that I needed to get my backside back into design because I had been good at it.
Fast forward quite a few years…working with a seriously kick-butt engineer…he and I were discussing a system that, due to the requirements, was going to have a bunch of tees and flanges. I designed it with a bunch of weld neck flanges…no spool pieces needed. Dropped the estimated price of the system by quite a bit and made for a much cleaner install.

[Caroline Conway]

When I worked for one company, training was continuous. Every few months there was a week or more of training on one thing or another. However, I discovered that was the exception rather than the rule. Anything that impacts overhead charges is considered frivolous or unnecessary. The emphasis is on billable hours not training hours. What businesses fail to realize is that those training hours lead to greater productivity in billable hours, enabling a company to stick to their budget more easily. However, in the current climate, if something doesn’t immediately enhance the bottom line, it is “unnecessary”. Too much time is spent thinking about how to make money and not enough time is spent realizing that the money is made or lost by the front line employees/designers.

If they leave, then the company is doing something wrong. There’s an issue in the management culture. Pipers aren’t dumb, but if we’re treated like rubbish, we’ll happily go on to the next gig. Treat us right, give us a good work environment, occasional recognition, and we’ll stay.

[Caroline Conway]

[quote=”Anton” post=8946]This is a question that was asked by “JPL” on another forum, and I’d like to hear the thoughts of pipers here.

Lets discuss the elephant in the room.

• How many of us are losing employment?
• Who is laying off?
• How many designers are losing their jobs?
• I’m in the New Orleans, LA area and the trickle has started. Will it become a deluge?
• I am starting to see many good people around me lose their jobs.
• What are you seeing in your area?

[/quote]

My last job lasted a whole 4 months. Great company, great environment, LOUSY planning. Got told not to come back while I was home with the flu. Yeah…made me REAL happy.

Laying off…all over the place as far as I know

I relocated for the aforementioned job. I wish I had known it was going to be a short term gig. I’m tired of relocating from place to place for the promise of a job. I think employers should again be paying for relocation, then they may be more invested in keeping their employees for a longer term.

[Caroline Conway]

I’ve primarily used two different software suites. Catia and Autodesk. Between those two, I can transition to almost anything. Solidworks for mechanical is just CATIA sketcher, broken out on its own. Microstation is similar to CATIA also. Autodesk keeps it’s command structure pretty stable from flat 2D to most of its 3D applications (Plant 3D and MEP).

The HARDEST thing to do is to train someone to “think in 3D”. I’ve never had a problem with that, even when doing 2D work. But, try training someone who’s whole background has been as a 2D cad jockey. Sure they pick up on the software quickly, but they don’t get the ins and outs of a 3D way of thinking.

As I said in my post on LinkedIn, I’m ready to get out of the business and go sling hamburgers. There’s no jobs out there for someone who doesn’t fit the pigeonhole of whatever it is the employer wants, the hiring powers that be don’t think outside the box and realize that someone with 15+ years’ experience can do just about any job set before them. Us oldtimers are more than willing to learn, heck, a GOOD piper never stops learning. We build our reference books, we know where to find information, we go get the information.

Oh well…

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