On 6 Feb 2008 17:02:53 -0500, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:

>Those who tend to be successful, I think, tend to be people who instead 
>of learning "how to build a paint sprayer", but rather how to follow 
>instructions on how to build something.

That is dispiriting.

>From there, one possible career path is process optimization, which can 
>open a bunch of other doors as well.
>
>> That's the problem or at least one of them. Not everyone has
>> the opportunity to re-skill and move up. 
>
>At least in my experience, the opportunities are there, but the 
>motivation often isn't.  Of course, it's not 100% who have the 
>opportunities (or don't have the motivation).  

I saw it differently here when Mrs T started to go the way she did. (I won't go
into that. It is an old story and you shouldn't talk politics or religion if you
want to keep friends. Oh what the Hell I can't keep my mouth shut :) 

>A big problem also has to 
>do with people living beyond their means; when you do that, you can't 
>take a lower paying job while you are re-skilling.

How very true. Debt is a major problem here in the UK.

>When I moved into instruction, I took about a 7% pay cut (in base 
>salary), and it was a struggle for a while.  After 5 years, I'm back 
>where I was when I left the previous employer; but I'm also described as 
>"unamerican" by some because I don't carry a lot of debt load and 
>generally we only buy what we can afford right now (excepting big-ticket 
>items like cars, houses, and that sort of thing).  Credit management is a 
>skill that it seems a lot of younger people don't have these days - even 
>in my generation, debt loads tend to be higher than our parents' were, 
>and we learned about credit management later in life than we really 
>should have.
>
It may be what brings gown the house of cards :(

>> I'm on career #4; worked in
>> factories, became a service engineer, worked offshore, now in SAP. But
>> then I'm a chancer
>
>Same here.  The director I worked for 6 years ago (when I left to come to 
>Novell) said that he wished he had the guts to make a drastic change like 
>I did.  I think he was also commenting on my choice of employer as well; 
>Novell has long been known as a company that you're likely to get laid 
>off from.  I've survived 3 or 4 RIFs in 5 years, the first one a month 
>after I started.
>

Welcome to our caring company. I won't introduce you to those people they won't
be here long. :)
Yeuch!

>> I can't believe I've had three interviews this week for jobs that would
>> take me completely round the world. And one later in the week to work in
>> Malaysia. That is a far cry from my father who only went abroad in the
>> war.
>
>Wow, that's impressive.  :-)
>
Thanks I think so too that's why I'm bragging. :) Even if I don't get any of
them I'm pleased that I was considered. 


Regards
	Stephen

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