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Working Environment

What is your working environment like? I'm currently at my 3rd CMM job and had very different settings for each of them.

My first CMM job was in a high volume manufacturing environment. I worked in a small climate controlled box in the middle of a large machine shop. It was the customary fishbowl setting with lots of windows in the box for everyone to watch me work. The box was just a little too small for all the work that went through it, so it was always a mess. It wasn't the most comfortable setting, but on hot summer days I sure preferred it to being on the shop floor (no AC).

My second CMM job was in a mold manufacturing shop. I worked at two CMMs side by side right on the shop floor. It was a pretty clean shop with lots of ventilation on the machines, so I didn't have any problems with the air bearings getting gummed up or anything like that. All the machines near me were doing finishing ops like grinding and EDMing so it wasn't too noisy. It was an ok setting. The whole shop was climate controlled so that was quite nice.

Now I work at a company that makes various aerospace parts. I do most of my work at a desk in a large open office. There is a CMM in the room adjacent to me and two other CMMs in a separate building. It is nice to work at a desk in an office, but the open office setting isn't always great for concentrating. Also, I'm an introvert, so I'd be happiest hidden away in a darkened corner. It can sometimes be a pain to work a whole building away from two of the CMMs I work with, especially when it is snowing in the winter, but for the most part it is a pretty sweet arrangement.

How about y'all?
What is your work area like?
Do you have any past settings you loved or hated?
Parents
  • First job was in an enclosed lab at a calibration lab with one window on the door. 2 CMM's and one mega surface plate (15' by 6'). Loved the environment of that job but the pay was $13.50 an hr. Coolest part about that job was showing people how friction can be nearly eliminated by flatness. First I would Clean the surface plate and place a 30 lbs steel angle on it. then with one finger I could push it and have it slide off the other side of the plate. Super cool.

    Second job was in a huge lab with a huge CMM. The floor under the CMM was cut out and it floated on 4 giant air bags. I had one window that was on the door to the room directly behind me. That's where all of the big shots had their meetings. So everyone would look through said window and watch me "do nothing but sit at my computer" and complain to my boss. I don't know what they expected me to be doing as a programmer. Dance?

    Current job is in a fish bowl. One CMM. 3 computers (2 desktops and a laptop). I have a little cubicle with the CMM right behind my personal PC. I feel like I'm in some kind of a command center wheeling around in my chair from computer to computer. All in all the environment here is pretty cool.
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  • First job was in an enclosed lab at a calibration lab with one window on the door. 2 CMM's and one mega surface plate (15' by 6'). Loved the environment of that job but the pay was $13.50 an hr. Coolest part about that job was showing people how friction can be nearly eliminated by flatness. First I would Clean the surface plate and place a 30 lbs steel angle on it. then with one finger I could push it and have it slide off the other side of the plate. Super cool.

    Second job was in a huge lab with a huge CMM. The floor under the CMM was cut out and it floated on 4 giant air bags. I had one window that was on the door to the room directly behind me. That's where all of the big shots had their meetings. So everyone would look through said window and watch me "do nothing but sit at my computer" and complain to my boss. I don't know what they expected me to be doing as a programmer. Dance?

    Current job is in a fish bowl. One CMM. 3 computers (2 desktops and a laptop). I have a little cubicle with the CMM right behind my personal PC. I feel like I'm in some kind of a command center wheeling around in my chair from computer to computer. All in all the environment here is pretty cool.
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