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[Kaitain]

Whoops! I've started a job!

I've left the fast and exciting (hah!) world of engineering design to work for a major control systems vendor (yawn). I'm still coming to terms with the differences, though the first and most obvious is that I seem to be a lot busier than I was last month, and am getting a painful initiation into the inner workings of a certain Microsoft product known only as Word.

Just in case D~ wondered where the reply I owe him to another thread got to...

[Daniel ~]

For those of us that lead sheltered lives
Define: major control systems vendor.

Happy you found employment even if it's to make you yawn, beats sitting around staring at hungry mouths":O}

Sorry about "The harsh Word" I'm told secretary's committed suicide in droves when they had to update Word a few years back, well, maybe not suicide, they just jumped out of windows...

(You inspire me K. You always have! LOL)

[Kaitain]

Originally Posted by Daniel ~

For those of us that lead sheltered lives
Define: major control systems vendor.

The big players in this business are (in alphabetic order) ABB, Emerson, Honeywell, Invensys and Yokogawa. I work for one of those.

Originally Posted by Daniel ~

Happy you found employment even if it's to make you yawn, beats sitting around staring at hungry mouths":O}

Ah, I had a job before that was enjoyable enough, remunerated enough and in the absence of anything better would've been quite comfortable for a while. It was, however, never going to get me anywhere. New job is a slight change of career and a little bit of a risk, but life would be dull if I didn't take risks...

Originally Posted by Daniel ~

Sorry about "The harsh Word" I'm told secretary's committed suicide in droves when they had to update Word a few years back, well, maybe not suicide, they just jumped out of windows...

There are few things in life more entertaining than putting an old engineer in front of new Word!

[ThunderRd]

Originally Posted by Kaitain

There are few things in life more entertaining than putting an old engineer in front of new Word!

I guess that explains why Gareth now needs coffee to set stuff in motion...

[Aedan]

Actually, I like the newer Word a lot better than the old one. Yeah, it's a pain relearning some things, but they should have done this the first time around - such is the benefit of hindsight.

How inner is the "inner workings" of Word - like unpicking the XML?

[Kaitain]

To some extent, where themes and colours are concerned. Just setting up templates, fields and data sources is enough for now.

(I'm motivated by laziness - if extra effort now means I can produce a document in half a dozen mouse clicks later, I'll put in the extra effort now)

[Gizmo]

Originally Posted by Kaitain

...if extra effort now means I can produce a document in half a dozen mouse clicks later, I'll put in the extra effort now)

Which is the defining characteristic of a good engineer....

[Daniel ~]

and I suspect, creation itself....

[Kaitain]

Originally Posted by Gizmo

a good engineer

Nobody's ever accused me of being one of those before...
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[Daniel ~]

Well....at lest not in a court of law....":O}

[chrisbard]

Originally Posted by Kaitain

There are few "things" in life more entertaining than putting an old engineer in front of new Word!

Giving him a young bird secretary with up to neck legs?

[cloasters]

Mmm, up to neck legs, ghrhgghtrh. (Homer Simpson lost in food ecstasy).

[Allan]

Hey kaitain, congratulations on the new job.

I'm actually partly in the same business, with my main areas being data communication with our products through different protocols (BACnet, Modbus, Profibus, LONworks etc). So we see our equipment being used with systems from many of the vendors you mention...

[Daniel ~]

It's all well and good to pursue careers and stuff, but are you saving for my retirement, it's bound to be expensive! ":O}

[Kaitain]

Originally Posted by Daniel ~

It's all well and good to pursue careers and stuff, but are you saving for my retirement, it's bound to be expensive! ":O}

By three time I get to retirement age, retirement will seem like a quaint anachronism, or the hallmark of a billionaire. But yes, I have savings and a retirement plan, for what it's worth.

Retirement plans in this country are very close to state-sanctioned theft, so I tend to invest a minimum in that in favour of schemes I control, where there might actually be something to leave the kids (even if only enough to cover the cost of dying).

[Kaitain]

Originally Posted by Allan

Hey kaitain, congratulations on the new job.

I'm actually partly in the same business, with my main areas being data communication with our products through different protocols (BACnet, Modbus, Profibus, LONworks etc). So we see our equipment being used with systems from many of the vendors you mention...

Hey Allan, how's it going?

Which company are you with? Always interesting how many third party products we use while claiming to offer a sole-source product :-D

[cloasters]

Originally Posted by Kaitain

Hey Allan, how's it going?

Which company are you with? Always interesting how many third party products we use while claiming to offer a sole-source product :-D

LOL! (I thimk)

[Daniel ~]

Originally Posted by Kaitain

By three time I get to retirement age, retirement will seem like a quaint anachronism, or the hallmark of a billionaire. But yes, I have savings and a retirement plan, for what it's worth.

Retirement plans in this country are very close to state-sanctioned theft, so I tend to invest a minimum in that in favour of schemes I control, where there might actually be something to leave the kids (even if only enough to cover the cost of dying).

Why make this all about you? My question was

It's all well and good to pursue careers and stuff, but are you saving for my retirement, it's bound to be expensive! ":O}

[Allan]

Originally Posted by Kaitain

Hey Allan, how's it going?

Which company are you with? Always interesting how many third party products we use while claiming to offer a sole-source product :-D

I work for the largest pump manufacturer in the world - which has its HQ close to where I live. I know there are many 3rd party gateways that can communicate with our products using our proprietary protocol, but we also have lots of communication interfaces, so we can integrate our pumps in large BMS/SCADA systems using the most popular protocols around..

[Daniel ~]

Nobody wants to plan for my future! How wise you all are! LOL