Red, Dallas

My only arguement with both of you is your claim to rant and go off topic. Neither is true. This is exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for. Do you live to work (do you love working and what you do) or do you work to live (do you do it for the dollars). Everything that both of you said goes into the mix.

As I've said, I always worked in small business and many of your experiences are foreign to me. Thanks for sharing.

Please everyone continue.

 

No one I know or can imagine on their 'deathbed' given the chance would say I wished I spent more time at the office...usually it would involve dreams and relationships that was neglected. Facing one's mortality can sharpen one's purpose or raison d'etre.
Having said that and being under and unemployed for a great part of the last 16 months and being in my 'peak earning years' it is difficult not 'working' for a paycheck. But I've learned to adjust my standard of living and be content, and what I do w/ my time I see as no less important than 'work'.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you're able to take an integrated approach on life that doesn't compartmentalize work / play / etc... when circumstances change it's not as traumatic, just a different manifestation of the same passion for this thing we call 'living' or Life.
If circumstances require 'overtime' there's nothing wrong w/ fullfilling responsibilities. However, beyond one's needs then it may just become an ego thing, which is also OK if one isn't arrogant and pretentious about one's success.
I work at living, living life w/ purpose and meaning...sometimes I get paid for it.
(Maybe it's too late to tackle this before going to sleep - forgive me if I've rambled incoherently)

 

Wow, Rob - Great topic. You obviously touched a nerve. Some powerful stories here.

 

Chuck/ RED MX6-

I read every line of your story and could identify (personally or via friends) with every topic. One of my former clients was a large Chemical Company located in the state of Du....er, Delaware I'm glad that you felt comfortable getting this off of your chest....in spite of being an s2ki member for less than a month

In the bumps of my career, I have to say that I've learned something new at every 'curve in the road'. PWRMKR had some good advice for the next generation:

[SIZE=1]\"No matter how automated things get, people still have to perform certain tasks, locally. I stress to the younger crowd that firm employment can be found in places that can

 

This is a great thread -- All of you are amazing people.

 

I am truly gratified by the responses to my post. I am obviously not the only person who has given this some thought.

PWRMKR, I am afraid that you are correct regarding the business of 1's and 0's. Who would have thought that "immunity from offshoring" would come to be a serious consideration in choosing a career?

RED, your analysis and description of the driving factors behind this phenomenon are spot on, and very well stated. Your experience sounds more wrenching than mine.

ralpher, I think that you are correct regarding small businesses. They are probably the last bastion of humanity in business.

paS2K, I PMed you.

Thank you all.

 

The 1s and the 0s and offshoring. I spent a lifetime in the menswear industry and loved almost every minute of it. I watched the industry disappear. When I took my apprenticeship as a cutter in the mid 1960s (I was under age but my father was a cutter) there were 3,500 active and employed cutters in Local Big 4 of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union. When I left the industry in 1992 there were only 7 members left and only 4 were employed. Local Big 4, which had been the pride of the New York region, was disbanded and put under the control of the Joint Board because it couldn't support itself. The last I heard, The Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union had to merge with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union because there weren't enough jobs left in America to support either.

The menswear industry was unique in that you could be a union member and own the company too. Most of us started either as cutters or salesmen. Many of us had parents in the business who brought us in. I probably would have remained in the industry a few years longer but I caught my long time partner stealing and I felt betrayed. I felt that my mistress had let me down. So you see, even small business is not a panacea.

Getting back to my point, there is a great article titled "Trading American Interests" by Alfred E. Eckes which appeared in the Fall 1992 edition of Foreign Affairs. It goes a long way toward explaining how and why we lost most of our industrial base to the nations overseas. Once you lose that, lots of other things follow.

The advice, by PWRMKR and others, to pursue a career in something that has to be done here is very good advice.

 

The answer to that question is simple.

If I won the lottery I wouldn't be working doing what I am currently employed to do... So I guess I work to live.

But I am sure that even with the 100 million super mega lotto winning ticket cashed and in the bank. I would still be working at something.

 

I'm listening you to all and for those looking for work, good luck. I live in a part of the US however where the economy is booming.

PaS2k they can't get enough architects here.

he first major Catholic University built in the USA 40+ years is going up here, on 3 square miles including it's own cityThey're hiting at all levels. All forms of supply industry are thriving here. Entrepeneurship abounds. There's even software and computer companies down here, more trying to come in from California every day. Want to build airplanes? There's a new private jet mfgr going in ...1000 jobs.

Some other perks... More golf courses per capita than anywhere else in the world. the worlds best fishing salt of fresh. World class beaches.

Florida's a nice place and you can ragtop all year round. If you are considering a move, look in the Naples Fl area, you'll find a strong contingent that's already here from your area. The demographics alone will force this economy for many more years.

The best move I ever made was to Naples Fl. I've been here 25 years.

fltsfshr

 

Although architecture as a career has had many changes over the past +20 years, the fact DOES remain that the creative and problem-solving nature yields a modicum of security/longevity for the top end of the profession [design, programming, problem-solving]. I don't think AI will displace these functions for a long time....certainly not in my working lifetime.

OTOH, the 'commodity' functions (such as producing standardized construction documents) has already started to often go off-shore