🚀 go-pugleaf

Susan Hogarth wrote:
> 

> > But then, Raleigh/Durham has never been a place where results
> > count; just plenty of CYA documentation that the manager "did
> > the right thing", and hired the one with the most supporting
> > paperwork.
> 
> Is that why you and your wife came here to work?

She didn't come here to work; we still had small kids
to take care of, and that is a full-time job for one
parent.

Despite my prior knowledge of conditions in NC from a
year-long assignment to Goldsboro's Seymour Johnson AFB,
my best friend assured me that the Triangle was nothing
like Goldboro (and he was about half-right) - and that
it was a great and growing industrial area in dire need
of my services.  Once again - in a way, he was right:
there was a great need for experienced automation folks
here fifteen years ago; there still is.

However, the number of businesses owned/managed by those
with the sense to know that continuous, efficient operations
("results") are more important than replacement of everything
five or more years old (by college-boy "experts", who don't
know anything but that which they read about in the trade
mag press releases) - is very small.

This dependence upon excessive trust that folks with "the
right certificates" know what they're doing - and failure
must be because the equipment is outdated - doomed many
Triangle businesses from the start. They never could become
really profitable in manufacturing, under those conditions.

In the Triangle, it is not good to be an experienced, say -
draftsman, with five years use of CAD under your belt.
No - you must have a four-year degree of *some* type and
have used particular software brands and of specific version.

That's like assuming that an experienced Ford mechanic isn't
as good as a kid who just took a six-week factory course on
Hondas.

In the Triangle, it is not good to be an experienced and highly
- respected administrative clerk/typist/secretary/asssistant,
fluent in the use of word processors.  No - you must have a
degree and have been using a particular brand/version of the
boss' favorite software.

That's like assuming that a 20-year veteran detective from Detroit
would be less valuable on a police department than some kid with
a "law and justice" AA from Wake Tech, aware of NC twists to the law.

In the Triangle, it is not good to have expertise in a particular
technology area, and be adept at conveying that knowledge to
others.  No - you must have a BA or MA in English to be a technical
writer; experience in the technical area is optional.

And that's just dumb.

- John T.