Bored of programming

sounds like a dream job tbh

Loved it. The recession in 2001 hit them pretty hard. Went from record sales in 2000 to zero orders in the first quarter of 2001. There were two of us programming and one running the CMM occasionaly plus doing inhouse calibration. With out orders there just wasn't enough to keep the three of us busy. I was the last hired and didn't really have any calibration experience so.... Kind of worked out though. Found a new job in less than a week paying $4 an hour more. Commute was about the same and company benefits were MUCH better

sounds like me, we build stamping tools. Always got something to do, either program a new job or check one we are in-process on.

I felt this way two years ago, I started to learn VB.NET and then C# (thanks a lot to this forum) to automate a few things around the lab. Upper management noticed I was getting pretty dangerous at .NET and I became our pseudo software developer company wide. After implementing a few solutions around the plant with software, they are interested in me learning some PLC programming to troubleshoot our production lines (we deal with a costly third party programmer).

I like to keep being challenged and learn new things so HTH

Too much of the same gets old no matter what it is. I turned a job down at a "emergency room" for jobs where they all came in new and they rarely saw them again. The 'seasoned' ones just showed it in their face, they appeared tired of the same of what I thought of something that never gets old. They expressed a desire to get 'intimate' with the job... I couldn't believe my ears LOL!

Some people just think different especially the really bright ones I feel like they're the ones that struggle with this the most, so if you feel something... it probably means you're a smarty, artistic bloke!

I felt this way two years ago, I started to learn VB.NET and then C# (thanks a lot to this forum) to automate a few things around the lab. Upper management noticed I was getting pretty dangerous at .NET and I became our pseudo software developer company wide. After implementing a few solutions around the plant with software, they are interested in me learning some PLC programming to troubleshoot our production lines (we deal with a costly third party programmer).

I like to keep being challenged and learn new things so HTH

And that, folks, is how I became a PLC programmer (I guess I should call myself that after 4yrs of it) I program in Twincat 3 for Beckhoff stuff, it's mighty fun... for now until I plateau and make a similar post. In other words, very similar story here.

Example of something I've done last week to keep from getting bored. On our programs we have to input certain information like operator, cmm#, shown/opposite, temp, and date. All this was done with input comments but I learned how to do it with tracefields. I use flow control to alter the program if the part has tooling tabs attached and the flow control was controlled by a yes/no comment. I figured out how to use a tracefield input to control it. I want to make the program as easy and dumb proof as possible. It was annoying having to enter the inputs in the comments as they came up. It is much easier now that all the questions have dropdowns and are all in one box at the beginning of the program. I also have the date pulled from the computer so no input is needed from the operator. I could probably have the CMM number automatically entered as well but I haven't gone quite that far yet.

I am also working on having my job pay for me to do the VB.NET online Hexagon class.

My next goal is to get a handle on using subroutines while passing arguments back and forth. We did it in Level 3 but it was hard for me. I was a little overwhelmed at the time with all the new info I was already absorbing that week.

In all of my programs I have to capture a serial number & run number (currently done with operator inputs) & use that info to create a specifically named PDF report for each part inspection. I'd like to create a subroutine program wit the code and then call that sub in each of my "Validated_Programs" that the operator's run.

Programming is becoming a rarity right now for me. We don't have a lot of new jobs currently. In addition, I have been "promoted" to Quality Engineer, so now a bulk of my job is paperwork and data analysis (SPC, GRR, PPAP, etc) rather than programming. So when I have the chance to do some programming, I welcome it. I started working with VB a couple years ago, but never maintained using it.

Very cool, nice to know I'm not the only one that has taken this path