Work Woes - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: PICmonster
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2014, 08:59:12 am
content: Work WoesI would appreciate your advice on what I should do, I am 51 now with a mortgage and there is just my income coming in as my Wife is disabled.To cut a long story short I moved from Lancashire to Yorkshire because of marriage, this is my second role in Yorkshire.I left my first role after 1 year because the company did not provide the work I was contracted to do, the Second Company looks the same now, I have been here 1 year 7 months nowI am a well-qualified electronics design engineer with 30 years of experience, I enjoy designing circuits and getting them to work, my job in Lancashire was great and I was reluctant to leave after 10 years of service as it was too far to commute daily.The first job in Yorkshire turned out to be a 95% documentation for an automotive company, but the interview went very deep into my electronics and software knowledge which I was commended by the R&D Manager who interview me, guess this gave me a false sense of security as the actual role just involved compliance documents around the two and very little actual electronics design, so this did not fit in well in what I and many others regard electronics engineering.Job 2 I was employed to design new products as my primary role, I have been working on old stuff and re-spinning old designs for the company, I have not been given the opportunity to make my mark here and my workload is quite low so I feel vulnerable, but I like the camaraderie and if I just was given the work I came to do I would be happy.I have asked about where the work is I signed up for in three emails and many conversation with the R&D manager, I have basically now given up asking as I am just being fobbed off with excuses and nothing he has ever said has come true, I do not trust what he has to say anymore, I am thinking that this role was never to do the new design work and he knew that, that was just a lie to get someone to bite the line.I am nearly two years in now as I wanted to give the company the benefit of the doubt, do you think they have had enough time to provide the work I signed up for?I am reluctant to rock the boat as it would seem that people who do have their cards marked, I have seen this happen, I can't afford to be out of work as I would potentially loose our home so what the heck do I do and how can I prevent this happening a third time, or is this what it is like in Yorkshire?My questioning at the interview state about the roles above was very thorough indeed as I wanted Assurity, especially after role 1 I was more thorough, I know I was very specific about this role and know what I was offered, indeed my contract says so, but alas no matter how much you try and vet the company at the interview stage it would seem they can just lie and get away with it.Any advice for a way forward would be great.J

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2014, 09:41:27 am
content: It's not the Yorkshire thing, It's automotive thing. I've been working for 2.5yrs for automotive company. I was supposed to be my first 'real' job after graduation (I'm only 26). Yeah, sure, bullshit. 99.9% of the time i'm doing documentation which could as well be done by a halfwit who knew how to copy-paste stuff.Big corporation, very resonable money for the country I live in but not for people who look for self development.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2014, 09:56:26 am
content: That is no fun. Like you I much prefer doing hands-on design, and documentation can be boring for sure. That being said, I find few engineers are competent enough to write good documentation. Fewer still are competent at good software. In any case, all jobs have their pluses and minuses. And documentation is very important. But 95% documentation for a good hardware bloke is a bit much in anyone's language.Companies do lie. In fact, I left two companies because their CEO's lied. One company's CEO said he had a profit sharing arrangement where the employees would share in 10% of the annual profits. He whinged he was making no money so there was no bonus, but I caught him out badly when I let slip he had been making a profit for the last several years. I resigned within days because he had not only cheated me but all the other employees too.The other company said they support people trying different roles within the company and do promote from within. I found anyone really good at their work were stuck. I had no where to move (I was a Principal Engineer) so I resigned.I suggest you keep at your job, but concentrate on Plan B. That could be going for another job at another company, being interviewed after work. Or doing some private consulting. I once was contracted to develop an entire medical instrument as a side line. Working two jobs at once is extremely demanding, so maybe do something where you are designing a product under your own business name on the side, like Dave did with his microCurrent. You never know, it could lead to bigger and better things. Plus it allows you an electronics design outlet when you are doing mostly documentation at work. If it is successful, quit your documentation job and run your business full time.

author: PICmonster
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2014, 09:58:30 am
content: Quote from: poorchava on March 20, 2014, 09:41:27 amThanks for your reply poorchavaI agree, the automotive thing I have learned this lesson now, I would not do that again, I suspect ALL big companies are the same, Medical, Aerospace electronics as well as they are laden down with compliance and regulatory documentation that someone has to do, sure cut and paste is pretty much all you need to know, soul destroying for a real electronics designer.So I deliberately choose a smaller company thinking this would be better, and it is generally much better, just that I aint got what I signed up for.

author: PICmonster
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2014, 10:06:08 am
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on March 20, 2014, 09:56:26 amThankyou very much for your advice, I have been thinking about a sideline of design work, freelance etc, but no plans at the moment.

author: bookaboo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2014, 12:23:42 pm
content: Part time freelance can be fun and rewarding, well worth considering in your situation. I used it as a pathway out of a bad employment situation where I had very few choices geographically.But has a few pitfalls I'd consider.First is that it's incredibly easy to underestimate time (and therefore cost) of undertaking a project, we all know this but now if there's a serious over run it costs you money, not your employer.Second is that there's a load of time wasters out there, people with "the next big thing". Oh yes it's gonna make them billions but when it comes to stumping up a few K for the design they stall and stall. Quite often they will try to string you along having meeting after meeting, asking you to investigate if this or that can be done. These days I'm quite firm, free consultation and a few hours R&D so that I can quote, after that the meter is running. If they are serious about the project they don't mind paying.Third is credit check everyone and get your money up front. No one wants to stump up all the costs in advance so break projects into stages - but get paid regularly and down tools if you don't.Others will be able to give you other stuff to look out for, that's just some lessons I've learned the hard way

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2014, 12:37:41 pm
content: Freelancing is actually how I deal with the nonsense job, but it comes at a price. You need to be very resistant to sleep deprivation. I find myself working about 20-22 hours a day when I have a deadline coming (or the brown stuff hits the fan in some other way) in my freelance projects. Most weekends are filled with work too and it's often quite hard to manage all the everyday stuff at the same time (like cleaning the apartament, shopping etc). Another thing is time zones. Since I live in a relatively poor country, my rates are considered rather high and most of my clients either live abroad or live in Poland, but earn money abroad. This has cause a few situations where I had a lot of stuff going on in 2 projects, where one client was from central Russia (+7 hours) and the other was from US (-6 or -7 hours - I don't remember right now) and I had to have regular skype calls with both of them. That was really close to 100% sleep deprivation :/Freelancing is a good way to explore multiple fields, as you can same as easily get contract for consumer stuff, industrial automation, medical, entertainment, some module for an Arduino-bloke from time to time. Great way to learn new stuff, especially if you like diversity.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2014, 01:59:50 pm
content: First thing is, if you are 51 and have a serious issue to discuss I would recommend to cut down on the use of smileys.Second thing is, if you are 51 I am surprised that you never figured out that many engineering jobs consist of paperwork and meetings. Despite what the flux sniffers here on the forum try to tell beginners, it is not like spending all your time in the lab wagging around a soldering iron.So my suggestion would be, since you now have a design job, apparently with less paper work, you stick with it. Even if it is "only" re-spinning old designs. It sounds like your company has mature products and there is just not enough new design to do. That is not unusual. In some industries a new design is as rare as the big bang.Maybe they didn't lie when they hired you. Maybe they seriously planed to do some new design and needed people. But plans fail. Maybe a customer jumped ship. Maybe the market responded negatively to their first marketing brochures. Maybe they didn't manage to finance the new development. They can not give you work they don't have. And from the response you got the work is apparently not there. So no amount of complaining will make that work magically appear.They re-spin old designs because they see value in doing this, and if you do it right they see value in your work. Build on this. Be clever. Make sure they understand that your clever redesign saves them money, put your 30 years of experience into it. Work on your inside knowledge about the particular industry to understand industry requirements better. Keep current about new, better, cheaper parts and manufacturing technology.

author: Rigby
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2014, 02:44:25 pm
content: When I find myself in a position where the workload is low, and my work ethic is high, I turn to research. I open my ears, and I research everything I can so that I can latch onto relevant conversations or projects and help out. It isn't always possible, and I've worked in places where it isn't possible at all, but I spend my time learning what else is going on, anyway.More often than not, I am able to contribute in a lot of ways that are outside my job description. This is a long term gain, not at all a short-term gain. It's a long-term gain because I start getting valued more and pulled into odd little projects just in case I have some knowledge that the rest of the team lacks. It's a short-term loss because I spend a hell of a lot of time researching things I'll never use. My brain is full of useless stuff that I might never get to use in my life, but, once in a while, I overhear a conversation where I have a bit of knowledge, and I contribute. Once in a while people are annoyed, once in a while they are impressed, and pull me in.It is a very good tactic, for me. It may not work for anyone else, I don't know. I've found myself being sidelined a few times and I was able to undo it in those cases via this method. One must have energy to do it in order to make it work. A few quick google searches aren't enough for me; I have to join forums, IRC, ask questions, read, etc. In fact, that's how I came across this forum, of which I am now a regular, semi-active member.

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2014, 03:50:13 pm
content: Your wife like mine is disabled,therefore you have an inside knowledge of what sort of aids are required there is a big market out there for disability aids. Electronics now play a big part in that. The other thing is that it would appear that the disabled are considered easy marks for ripping off, I have just been sent a brochure for led reading lamps with all sorts of claims for helping people with cataracts, glaucoma and AMD, the price for a lamp £399.00.I just recently built an in car wheel chair charger for my wife my costs under £10.00 the biggest by far being the plastic box ( its just a DC to DC boost converter 12 V to 28 V)to buy one from the wheel chair dealers around £130.00. So there has to be room for an electronic design engineer in that field who understands what is required and is not going to rip people off.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2014, 05:13:22 pm
content: Quote from: G7PSK on March 20, 2014, 03:50:13 pmIt costs £130 because people pay that amount for it. If you look on Ebay or Alibaba I'm sure you'll find the same charger for much less.

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2014, 07:16:27 pm
content: One of the things which seems to surprise many people - even within the industry - is just how strong the link between price and volume actually is. If that 'special' lamp is £399 retail, that makes it £332.50 before VAT, and that means well under £200 wholesale. Work out the development and tooling costs for a batch size of, say, 100 units, and all of a sudden that £399 retail cost starts to look a lot more reasonable, even if the price of the actual components themselves is low.