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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 CMM job is where I was introduced to quality. Learned a decent amount but was then put by myself on second shift and had no support. We mutually separated which was good.

    Second CMM job was where I learned the most. My boss let me learn by trial and error and experimenting with different techniques. I quickly became the top CMM operator and programmer there. My wife passed away at home while I was working overtime on a Saturday. My boss had lost his first wife while he was working for this company so everyone was very understanding and let me take as much time off as I needed. What I wasn't happy about was the 3 bereavement days they give are all unpaid so I had to use a week of vacation which made me very unhappy. I didn't want to quit racing so I had to use unpaid days off to finish the season. While I appreciated the understanding they had for my situation, I was waiting for them to fire me due to attendance points from the unpaid days off. In their (somewhat) defense, I was spiraling down fast at that time so I didn't really hide my frustration. Due to feeling stuck where I was, not as high of pay as I should have been making and due to personal reasons, I left that job on the one year anniversary of my wife's death.

    Third CMM job I was at for 4 months. The company is garbage and treats quality as such. Did not care about the quality of the parts, they just wanted them out the door. I had depression from my wife passing and this job made it worse which made my frustration very bad. I was told I had a bad attitude (which I did) but I explained how backwards the company was regarding quality. My boss agreed with me but, due to the director of operations being a production guy as well as an idiot, I was told it wouldn't change. I started looking for a new job after working there for a month. We also mutually separated on the day of my doctors appointment to get me on an antidepressant. That place can go f*** it's self... except for , he was cool.

    Current job, I am the only one in the quality department. I am also the person in charge of our AS9100 stuff. We lie somewhere between a production shop and a job shop. Very small company (about 10 people total), very good machinists, I get along with everybody and I have a 4 day work week. I am really happy with this job and plan on staying for the foreseeable future. My home and job are 40 miles apart and I'm looking into moving closer to where I work.
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  • First CMM job is where I was introduced to quality. Learned a decent amount but was then put by myself on second shift and had no support. We mutually separated which was good.

    Second CMM job was where I learned the most. My boss let me learn by trial and error and experimenting with different techniques. I quickly became the top CMM operator and programmer there. My wife passed away at home while I was working overtime on a Saturday. My boss had lost his first wife while he was working for this company so everyone was very understanding and let me take as much time off as I needed. What I wasn't happy about was the 3 bereavement days they give are all unpaid so I had to use a week of vacation which made me very unhappy. I didn't want to quit racing so I had to use unpaid days off to finish the season. While I appreciated the understanding they had for my situation, I was waiting for them to fire me due to attendance points from the unpaid days off. In their (somewhat) defense, I was spiraling down fast at that time so I didn't really hide my frustration. Due to feeling stuck where I was, not as high of pay as I should have been making and due to personal reasons, I left that job on the one year anniversary of my wife's death.

    Third CMM job I was at for 4 months. The company is garbage and treats quality as such. Did not care about the quality of the parts, they just wanted them out the door. I had depression from my wife passing and this job made it worse which made my frustration very bad. I was told I had a bad attitude (which I did) but I explained how backwards the company was regarding quality. My boss agreed with me but, due to the director of operations being a production guy as well as an idiot, I was told it wouldn't change. I started looking for a new job after working there for a month. We also mutually separated on the day of my doctors appointment to get me on an antidepressant. That place can go f*** it's self... except for , he was cool.

    Current job, I am the only one in the quality department. I am also the person in charge of our AS9100 stuff. We lie somewhere between a production shop and a job shop. Very small company (about 10 people total), very good machinists, I get along with everybody and I have a 4 day work week. I am really happy with this job and plan on staying for the foreseeable future. My home and job are 40 miles apart and I'm looking into moving closer to where I work.
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