[Lemans64]

Not going to Blame Engineers, just something that comes up when doing our line of work, why did they do it like that. But ya my brother worked in Lumber industry for 40 years, made 5 bucks an hour more than me. He did not have a trade, nor did he have 50g in tools that he had to pay for. But to start over again in the middle or close to the end of my career life span was not really an option.

Life in the beginning was good, so never thought about moving into something else. By time it got bad it was too late to really gain anything, start at the bottom, no holidays, last on holiday list etc. Now I'm too old to go anywhere, 60 this year and just had Heart surgery so must wait out my time and maybe start picking my jobs. Things are getting tougher in the trade, nobody wants to pay to figure out what is going on in the vehicle. Nice to have this as a Hobby but as a career it's Tough to earn an Honest dollar. In Dealership life the Warranty flat rate system is not really that great.
But this is just my opinion.

Originally Posted by Tom Vaught

1) I am an Engineer, 39 years in the game.

2) Last count I had 12 tool boxes (in my garage and workshop downstairs).
About 50% Snap-on stuff and 25% smaller Harbor Freight boxes, (7 drawer end cabinets, (as they are easier to organize in my workshop). The rest were older Sears chests.

3) I did the Mechanic job in my Uncles Pontiac Dealership for a few years and went back to the University for an advanced degree.

Several years working for Holley Carburetor and 39 years for the FOMOCO
guys. I did the 24 hour shift work in the Emissions/F.E. organization as my first job there. Threw 50 lb bags of shot (weight) to set the correct weight for EPA testing prior to shipping the vehicle to EPA's test site.

Did the traveling deal living out of Motel rooms another 8 years as a Truck Test Engineer. Testing was all over the USA.

Did the Advanced Engineering work for 6 years. Lots of travel to different test tracks and wind tunnels. Again living out of motel rooms or Company owned condos.

Research was nice as I was finally able to be with my family. But I have always been a hardware guy.

So you could have made more money working for the Lumber guys vs the Mechanic job. Why didn't you leave???

Always interested in why people stayed in the same job for years even though they hated the work. Care to explain????

Tom V.