I love my job! 12

[MadMango]

Reading over this forum, we seem to get a lot of the same questions repeatedly, phrased in different manners. I find some of the things posted here amazing, and couldn't imagine myself staying in some of those conditions longer than a week. So I thought it would be interesting for us to post what we have found that we have liked or loved about our past or present employers. Maybe those are strong words as well? How about what aspect of a company kept you getting out of bed in the mornings?

I have found that most of my past employers were involved in products that were actually beneficial to society in some tangible manner. Even when I worked for a defense contractor, I knew the products I worked on were strictly defensive in nature, meaning I had a small part in potentially saving a life. Having this "peace of mind" made it very easy for me to go to work on a daily basis.

Most of my past employers had good attitudes towards their workers, salaried or not. It didn't matter if it was a large or small company, it seemed like the management actually cared about me. I know that The Board or The Investors could care less, but I always got the feeling that the CEO and those down the ladder always did. This was the warm and fuzzy feeling that made it nice to stay at an employer.

The vast majority of my coworkers have been a pleasure to work with. They all wanted to do a good job, and do the right thing, just like me. Even the grumpy guy wanted to do things right, that was why he was so grumpy. I found that some of my favorite employers had employees that were having a good time at work. It didn't necessarily involve Nerf darts and unicycles, but when a company allows a little relaxation it was noticeable (and nice).

So let's hear what's positive about your past or future employers, things than go beyond compensation. I'm sure in the end we'll see a trend that others can look forward to.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."


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[moltenmetal]

I think it's important for people to know that there are good situations out there. Knowing that, they should be less willing to put up with work environments and working conditions that drag down the profession as a whole.

I'm VERY lucky. I work for a company which is doing interesting work, serving customers who are happy to do business with us. The company gets fairly compensated for its efforts, and shares the profit equitably with its employees. When the company does well, we all do very well financially. We're private and employee-controlled, so we have no idiot shareholders who know nothing about the company, pressuring our management to do dumb things. They do dumb things sometimes anyway, but I guess that's inevitable.

I get to see immediate results from decisions I make. I not only get to see my designs implemented, I also get to supervise their fabrication- and I get to test them afterward.

I'm not only empowered to innovate- innovation is actually expected as part of the job. I have not only the accountability for the decisions I make within my scope of control, but also the authority to make them. Responsibility without authority, to me, is the definition of destructive stress. There are always things that are outside your scope of control that happen TO you, but that's life.

The work environment can be stressful, but is also cooperative. A lot of the in-fighting and discord that I've seen in other companies, between designers and builders etc., does not really exist here.

It's not perfect, but it's a very good gig. If it were only half as far away from home as it is, it would be even better!

By the way, I've worked in several other places where many of these things were not true. Seeing those in the rearview mirror gives me perspective on this job when the going gets tough.

 

[SomptingGuy]

The company I work for has changed massively over the years I've worked for it (was a bunch of gentlemen engineers, now more like a bunch of lawyers and accountants). The work is still fascinating though and I do get to use all that maths, physics and chemistry that I was told I never would use outside of university.

- Steve

 

[DRWeig]

"Give the customer what he paid for. If something is wrong, make it right. Do those two things, and the profit will be there."

Quote from one of the founders of the company. Hard to beat.

Good on ya,

Goober Dave

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[jmw]

I can't say I have any really complete good times with any company except to say that at every company I have found good fellow workers.
In my first proper job I was lucky enough that though the management should all have been put out to grass long ago and were highly risk averse I had a lot of very good and helpful co-workers.
Unfortunately there were no brown-nosers. I say unfortunately because an early learning experience would have helped greatly in later years.
This was a company in the last days of its "man and boy" era when it passed from being a family run company for 200 years to a corporately owned company (several in succession). The majority of the workers had joined from school, moved with the company from London to Sussex and been allowed time off for war service.
It did means lots of "we've always done it that way" attitudes but it was also a great learning ground.
One of the good days was when I finally inherited an office which I found to be stuffed full of prototypes and old products going back 50-100years - a few of which I still have.
What I savour are the successes.
Being young I wasn't afraid to ask questions and challenge silly "go away. I've more important things to do." answers.
Being told that an operation to disassemble a meter register, glue in a small magnet (to operate a reed switch) and reassemble would take 30 minutes each and cost accordingly it didn't seem reasonable.
I took one home and had several goes.
My best time was 45minutes. But simply pulling it apart and then trying to line up all the cogs and number rollers didn't seem reasonable.
I made a small jig up from a block of wood with a groove in it and 4 small panel pins. I pretty soon had the time down to around 40seconds.
I took it to the project engineers.
A couple of days later I asked in the assembly area if there had been any changes? "Oh, yes great. We have a new Jig now." They did indeed. It was my block of wood with a tool number marked on it.
Early satisfaction.
Not crowing appears to have been the best course because in later years my input was welcome on a range of projects I had only marginal justification for putting my nose into and I chalked up some good successes.
I still remember that early simple satisfaction with as much fondness as when, having directed the development of a new product, it became an industry standard and learning that the German Engineers at the client company would deal with no one else except me.

While that first company was very old fashioned, ultimately destined to be absorbed into a global company but with each step along that path marked by the lack of investment and the loss of product after product till none were left, and while paid abysmally, it was one of the most enjoyable companies to work for, especially in my formative years.
But was it the best?
Maybe an early exposure to the perils of modern corporate environments would have been better for me. I would have learned early about brown-nosers and idiot managers, office politics and all the other dangers of the modern workplace. Probably I got it wrong and should have started life in corporate industry and then looked for a nice old family business to grow old in.


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[Latexman]

It's the people. If they are good people - I get into that they are counting on me, and I'm counting on them. If they are good people, you can overlook that they are not perfect, they are not you, they may not have every "tool" you think they should have, you can help them and they can help you. If they are bad people - who gives a @&$%!

Good luck,
Latexman

 

[SLTA]

I have the most awesome boss ever. Of course, I'm self-employed

Thanks for this idea, MM. Being grateful is hugely powerful. So here goes:

I love that I can take off to take care of my kids and I don't have to ask anyone's permission.
I love that I can take or turn down a project based on how I feel about it.
I love that I can work whatever hours I need, when I need, as long as it doesn't mess up my family (too much).
I love that even my earlier crappy jobs, and I had a few, taught me a lot about engineering.
I love that I can do what I love.

 

[FeX32]

Where's the like button for this thread


Fe (IronX32)

 

[Guest0527211403]

I work for a company of about 50 people that builds machinery used in plastics manufacturing.

We have a gym that is ~50ft from my desk. I generally start work every morning with my hair still wet from the shower. Once a week we have a trainer/nutritionist who comes in and helps us set up exercise & meal plans for ourselves and family.

We have a chef who has worked in 3 star Michelin restaurants, who cooks very affordable breakfasts and lunches for us.

As I type this I'm looking over the 15 acre lot adjacent to us that the company owns and is expanding into in the next 2 years.

 

[ScottyUK]

One former employer were awful at dealing with some of the petty little things that would have cost nothing to fix, but could be absolutely brilliant with the big important things. The occasion which I will always be grateful for was when my dad was very sick, dying from cancer. I asked to take my bereavement leave while he was still with us and spend a bit of time with him. I had no other leave to take. A company director told me it was no problem, and I was to come back when I was ready, whether in a few days or a month later. Maybe it wasn't a big deal to the company, but it meant the world to me.


----------------------------------

If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!

 

[Gymmeh]

Well I am pretty content with my company. I have some ups and downs here but it helps that my company is trying to save the world, IE in the recycling industry. Over the last 4 years we have tripled in size, which has had some growing pains but all in all has greatly improved the company. A need young HR person and a new younger boss, has also helped modernize the company (Like-actually have PTO by the hr). Since it’s a small company it still has a small family feel. However like many small companies that are growing, I do more 60 hr weeks than I want to. I do less real engineering because we have to don’t a lot of our own drafting. And -the worst part- I don’t get to spend much time on E-T.

I would argue the best part is the atmosphere created by the small group we have. Everyone typically gets along really well. There is a lot of stone busting…especially even across departments.

 

[MadMango]

I'm glad folks are posting positive things here. When you do encounter something that needs fixing, by all means try as hard as you can, but remember that some things are just outside of your sphere of influence to change. It's better to look for a new employer (or got the self-employed rout if possible) than to sit and fume and stress over things you can't change.

I worked for a large medical device manufacturer, used to love the fact that we had chefs to prepare breakfasts and lunches. Everything was always fresh and tasty, and very convenient.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."


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[jmw]

Justkeepgiviner, that reminds me the second good company was one where they had an onsite nurse a few days a week and the company contributed to the social club funds. They also had a dinner dance for all the employees come Xmass with a great menu, a dance band and a cabaret act.
(Sad was to see how they changed under new owners).

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[casseopeia]

MM, is it coincidence that you posted this on Valentine's Day?


"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge." Ivana Trump

 

[KENAT]

Current US employer, well getting most Fridays off is nice, and generally some flexibility in schedule.

Previous employer in the UK, well I didn't realize it at the time but compared to what I've encountered here at my current US employer and what I read about here and elsewhere etc. well let's just say it was some kind of Elysian Fields/Nirvana.

Things like getting a company credit card (2000 pound limit) as soon as it became clear I'd be doing any significant travel. When they couldn't' get me the card in time for my first big trip they gave me a boat load of travelers checks (and I think some $ left over from another trip) to take. Even before that on smaller trips they usually reimbursed expenses the same day I put in the claim and normally from petty cash so I didn't have to wait for a check/cheque to clear etc.

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[berkshire]

Well at least you did not have the company treasurerer hounding you about receipts saying " no tickee no poundee"
B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor

 

[KENAT]

Well actually, that was one of the only bad things that sprung to mind about that place. The CFO/finance director was a bit of a typical accountant 'price of everything, value of nothing' type.

There was a hullabaloo after one manager went on travel without approval, it was a sales/marketing type trip. They implemented some draconian travel restrictions after that. Trouble was the most impacted folks were engineers that had to go on travel to support various test, customer progress meetings... not 'at risk' but explicitly listed tasks in customer SOW etc. that we were being paid for.

So, me being me (or is that I being I;-)) replied all to the email that he sent notifying us of the changes, asking for clarification for everybody on the various typo's, short sighted assumptions (e.g. in the section for currency conversion they had a fixed 1.5 which was a typical approximation for the $ but useless for Euros and not close to the 1.7 or so which was real for the dollar at that time).

Went over like a turd in a punch bowl!

This is the same guy that complained when I left something about me being ungrateful given the high pay they'd given me etc. He missed the part where I met my wife on extended travel for the company - so it was their fault for sending me to the colonies long enough to go native;-).

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[berkshire]

""so it was their fault for sending me to the colonies long enough to go native.""
I love it.
B.E.


The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor

 

[MadMango]

Casseopia, coincidence only. While I enjoy my present company immensely, I reserve stronger feelings for actual people.

People really do make a difference in an organization. If you have happy co-workers, chances are the company is nice to work for. I've also had the chance to observe employees while I waited for an interview, and have even scoped out the lunch crowd at restaurants near a company I was interested in, just to get a chance to hear some insider banter. That type of observation sticks in my gut, and while it has tainted past interviews, it has never led me astray. If I walk into a company and see zero personal effects in anyone's space, I consider that a warning sign.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."


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[SomptingGuy]

My first real big overseas job was a real hoot. It was costed by someone who then left, leaving me to spend the money.

Without any experience of expenses planning, I just bought what I needed, including upgrading my car(s) and hotel. When all was said and done, I managed to fluke it at £20 under budget, so I bought a corporate umbrella, which I mananged to leave on a train in London.

The joys of being single and care-free.

- Steve