Working Environment

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?

Pretty funny. When I worked in a fishbowl it took me a while to get used to people teasing me through the windows about sitting at a computer most of the time - presumably not doing anything. Eventually I just leaned into it - pretending to sleep, yawning wide, picking up the newspaper, etc.

I have only ever worked alongside another programmer for a total of 6 months of my total 7 years. I would love to have a coworker that understood what was going on and someone I could bounce ideas off of.

My current job is the first time I had other programming coworkers. I'm one of 4. I do say it is nice. I thought I was pretty proficient at this stuff, but I have learned a whole lot more from the other guys here. It is nice to be able to help each other out. It is also nice to have someone who can cover for you when you go on vacation and stuff.

However, it can be difficult for us to all be on the same page sometimes. We all have our own ways of doing things and it can be rough to collaborate on big jobs or work on each other's programs.

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 LIL SQUATCH, 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.

I have only ever worked alongside another programmer for a total of 6 months of my total 7 years. I would love to have a coworker that understood what was going on and someone I could bounce ideas off of.

It's great until you run into the dreaded 'programmer ego'.

Usually that person knows far, far less than they think, and their insecurity is driving/protecting their ego.

That type of person can usually rarely be taught easily, always fights and argues. Gets possessive about the CMMs. Horrible co-worker.

It's great until you run into the dreaded 'programmer ego'.

Usually that person knows far, far less than they think, and their insecurity is driving/protecting their ego.

That type of person can usually rarely be taught easily, always fights and argues. Gets possessive about the CMMs. Horrible co-worker.

I have encountered a few of those people through my years. Usually a customer or supplier programmer who will not budge on measurement differences.

It's great until you run into the dreaded 'programmer ego'.

Usually that person knows far, far less than they think, and their insecurity is driving/protecting their ego.

That type of person can usually rarely be taught easily, always fights and argues. Gets possessive about the CMMs. Horrible co-worker.

So true. So aggravating. I try my best not to be that guy. Luckily, checking out this forum and seeing all the smarties on here helps to keep me humble.

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.

I'm glad that you are liking the new job. I hope that it gives you the headspace to truly find peace with your loss.

I'm glad that you are liking the new job. I hope that it gives you the headspace to truly find peace with your loss.

It is strange, it's less stress with more responsibilities but I do love the job. Getting out of the last s***hole I worked at helped a lot.

@A-machine-insp Good to hear that you found someplace cool to work at! Have a Merry Christmas a-machine-insp!

That sounds like it could be a good arrangement. With the CNC programmer near by, I bet you have a good handle on what's coming your way and when. It could be a good team setting as long as everyone gets along. Where I work it is rather departmentalized. We all get along ok, but communication is lacking.

We all get along and I take that as a huge blessing. I've known everyone of our "NPI team" except 2 for at least 14 years, we all work together to make each other look good and we all make sure the credit goes to the right person and try very hard not to make ourselves standout individually. And in regards to knowing what is coming through the flow, we use MS Planner extensively and it helps tremendously and all tasks are setup and assigned by our manager and lead engineers.

Just a little bit of history on me working here. I spent 9 years here as the lead CMM programmer then left for 6 years and the man that I work for now is the man that I wrote my first CMM program for his first part that he programmed on a CNC lathe. Been a very good working relationship for as long as I've know him and worked for him. He's a no BS straightforward person, you know your job and do it and he lets you do what you need to do to get it done