User:VastError

BSEE and (almost) MSEE. For the latter, I chose a non-thesis and non-comprehensive test option that required an additional 6 hours of graduate-level courses, a project and an informal paper. I completed the hours and the project, but due to life difficulties never wrote the paper. The graduate credit hours have long since rolled off. In informal conversation I claim the masters degree (as being less awkward that "BSEE plus nn hours of graduate study"). In more formal venues I claim only the BSEE from an accredited engineering school, mentioning the additional hours only if the context is appropriate.

In the words of my favorite author, I have a lively interest in life. I have been a fry cook at McDonalds, a Cutco salesman (dismal sales record because I could not help but sympathize with potential customers of limited means), a sailor, a spy (I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you), a professional dance instructor, a TV tower installer (pre-cable - I could erect a 60' tower before lunch and another afterwards, all by myself), a stereo repair technician (can you say "8-track"?) and through all of this, an electrician.

The latter has been an almost lifelong occupation. I had my first exposure to electricity at age 5 while "helping" my father while he re-wired our rental home for window A/C. Translation: my mother, overwhelmed by numerous younger siblings insisted that he take me off of her hands for at least a little while. Dutifully wanting to help, I picked up a live wire and suffered electrical shock burns.

Later on, I completely absorbed some sort of "electricity for children" article and was able to visualize the fields and flow. Decades later my mother claimed that she has known only two people with that ability: my father and myself.

At age 15, I executed a simple rewire of a switched receptacle to an overhead ceiling fixture in my own room, and then (upon request) did the same for more rooms in the house. Later on, I did simple jobs for neighbors.

Upon return from duty with the US Navy (Uncle Sam gave a war, but I declined his invitation by joining the Navy one day before receiving my "Greetings from the President letter), I resumed my brief college career with a declared major of math. After two years of straight A's I acknowledged that I had no idea how to apply my new knowledge.  So I switched to Electrical Engineering.  I was much more comfortable with the same math, as I could see practical applications.

The GI Bill paid for my education, with enough left over that I did not have to work while in school. (I understand that things are very different for more recent veterans, as things were different between my father's time (WWII Navy veteran) where upon his marriage to my mother, his allotment was increased). I chose to not attend summer school, so I had to have a source of income during that annual interim. Hence the stereo repair and TV antenna installer stints. The former led to an FCC Second Class broadcast license, in competition with a co-worker. My informal background was vacuum tube technology, while his more formal background (courtesy of the US Army) was solid state. At that particular point in time the FCC license exams were still oriented towards vacuum tube technology. I got my license, he did not. I never used it.

For whatever reason, I answered an ad for apprentice electricians for the third summer and was hired. The commercial job employed three apprentices and one general laborer under the direct supervision of a journeyman, with a master/contractor overseeing. The journeyman quit, so the contractor asked who could read blueprints, I volunteered and was appointed in charge. My second stint as a manager/supervisor and (in retrospect) a clear warning that I am not management material. Nevertheless, the job went well until it was time to return to school. (The property owner offered me a $50 handshake upon learning that I was leaving. Years later, in another life, I shared an airline seat row with him and he well remembered me  He offered a job working directly for him, which I declined .). I enjoyed the actual hands-on work, but loathed the supervision part. In particular, I could not handle the "do only what you are told to do" attitude, when it was quite obvious what should be done next.

The experience did inspire me to take the licensing exam. It was a breeze. I have always been good at multiple-choice tests. In the Navy, I went quickly from E2 to E3 (determined by graduation from boot camp and then time in grade), then on to E4 (a multiple-choice test) and finally E5 (another similar test). I was one of the five youngest E5s in the Navy at the time. I learned this from a Navy Times article about the youngest E5, who joined on his 17th birthday, graduated from boot camp as E2, advanced to E3 with time in grade and then received two battlefield promotions during service in Viet Nam. The article casually mentioned that only four other Navy E5s were under the age of 21 - and I was twenty at the time of my promotion.

The following summer I was newly married and late into the summer job market for students due to the honeymoon. I tried applying to several electrical contractors to no avail until I connected to the man who would most strongly shape my electrician career.

I graduated with a BSEE and landed a dream job. I participated in the design of the world's first commercial multi-processor computer. Life interfered again and I was faced with my wife and children leaving me for our home town or applying for a transfer in the midst of a revolutionary product development. Wherein I had made major splashes and had advanced as quickly as was possible within my employer's rules.

Fast forward: I made the transfer, even though the handwriting was on the wall. The hometown branch was doomed by the combination of cheap PCs and letter quality printers. I managed to survive (performing heroics in a doomed project) and then transfer to an internal programming support organization. I did well within that organization, but life intervened once more. I did not well handle the end of my marriage and loss of daily contact with my children. Even less did I well handle my employer's decision that my services were no longer required - although I was called back as a contractor more than once.

Finally, the dot-com bubble burst and high-tech jobs were scarce, and non-existent in my home town. So I called my old electrician employer and was welcomed back. (Good to know at the time that someone remembered me with good feelings.)

After several years under his tutelage, business sharply declined (the housing bubble burst) and he had no choice but to set me free. I have managed to survive and make ends meet. I still remember my high school passion for programming and my later passion for digital logic design. So I maintain an ongoing software project in my spare time, and follow a much older predilection for solving individual homeowner problems within safe limits and at minimum cost.