thoughts on my new job... brain semi working.

[vampyrewolf]

OK, first things first, going to bed before dawn is going to get me... last 2 nights I've lain in bed from 11pm to 2am trying to sleep, and fall asleep somewhere around 3am, up at 6am.... and then sleeping after supper for a few hours. MIGHT just be in a daylight dweller sleep pattern by the end of the 3 weeks of training Just in time to go back to the night shift(1545hrs to midnight or 0200 for OT)

My training group is only 5 ppl. 2 of us from my class, 2 that used to work there before and went back so they can move up, and 1 on a work practicum for 16 weeks for his engineering.

Yesterday was just lectures and figuring out the building. Made for a long day but at least not draining....

Today on the other hand

We each have a board about 5"x8".... not bad till you think about it having 9 sections and each section having 50-60peices in it.... yep.... thats right.

Working with peices 0.04"x0.02" up to 0.22"x0.25", and about 1mm thick. Was working with the 0805 peices at the end of today.... Thank god they have a 10x loupe to see how the work is, no way in hell am I going to be looking at solder joints that small even with my glasses. They've got some pretty wide tolerances, like being allowed to have 1/2 the component off the pad... Either I'm good or the tolerances are WAY too wide, so far my worst is less than 10%, I'm hitting the company target 95% of the time.

Found out where we move to after training is done too.... I get to work in WIRELESS as a Production Technician. Nothing like soldering peices you can barely see, never mind work with.

Fun eh? Do this till I've got everything paid off, and go back to school for another 2yrs... at least the company policies include a back to school bonus, the company will pay up to 50% of tuition costs for a tech program if you do the paperwork that says you're coming back.

[Dr. Snubnose]

Vampy: At Least you can sleep!!!!!! a little........LOL......Doc

[DAYWALKER]

Aloha Terminator B,

CrIpEs Working with pieces THAT small, you're gonna end up looking like you're sleeping when you're not, and when you are sleeping you'll look like you're awake!

Wanna trade occupations? No,just kidding...I like you.

Good to hear about your job and hope you've been healing well.

God bless knifebro

[vampyrewolf]

not so much sleep as collapse

had supper today, went to my couch, turned tv on, and woke up 3hrs later with my face wedged between the hard armrest and the back. Couldn't even tell you what was on the TV, I don't think I was awake for 2min after hitting the couch.

[vampyrewolf]

Aloha Terminator B,

CrIpEs Working with pieces THAT small, you're gonna end up looking like you're sleeping when you're not, and when you are sleeping you'll look like you're awake!

Wanna trade occupations? No,just kidding...I like you.

Good to hear about your job and hope you've been healing well.

God bless knifebro

The wonders of insomnia to begin with... you're never really awake and you're never really asleep(unless you just 'collapse' like I do with a big meal)... I'm going to really enjoy the weekend.... sleep in past dawn and look at stuff bigger than sand

Are you sure you don't wanna trade? you can go buggy from the fumes if the tiny chips doesn't do it.

Gotta love being ambidexterous for those things... see the other guys chasing chips across the table when it moves... tweezers in left hand, soldering iron in right. I may not have to strength back in my left wrist, but mobility and dexterity are coming back(still a little bit further to go).

[zenheretic]

The wonders of insomnia to begin with... you're never really awake and you're never really asleep(unless you just 'collapse' like I do with a big meal)... I'm going to really enjoy the weekend.... sleep in past dawn and look at stuff bigger than sand

.

The movie "Fight Club" nailed that description perfectly.

[vampyrewolf]

well, apparently being ambidexterous is a real gift for soldering... wasn't getting the ideal amount of solder, was told to try some different things, solder onto a scrap board...

well, left handed soldering did the trick. more control over both the solder and component. She just about freaked though when I told her how I fixed it

"so what'd you do differently?"
"switched hands"
"huh?"
"switched hands, soldering left handed instead of right handed"
"that's one thing we DON'T recommend ppl do around here, a right handed person can ruin a board like that"
"gotta love being ambi"
*and then I get a look 1/2 way between shocked and amused, followed by stunned silence out of her*

Think it was worth it

[Michael Cook]

it'll be easier if you don't back slide on your days off, so I've heard.

[Zwaplat]

Sounds like big fun...

Atm, I know how you're feeling. It's 1.15 AM, I've already done 4 exams in about two weeks, which didn't go well all. Got a difficult exam yesterday (actually, the day before), and got another exam tomorrow (actually, today, in 7 hours to be precise ). So I had exactly one evening and one day to study 700 powerpoint slides of Pathology. Great fun.
I'm now doing my second rehearsal, and I'm down to the last 100-ish slides. Which I know the least of all. I hope I can go to sleep before 2 AM. I'm totally knackered.

I really hope that made any sense at all. The part of my brain that still works, is trying to remember everything about cancer, atherosclerosis and...stuff. You know, diseases...sick stuff...

[Civilian]

Fun eh? Do this till I've got everything paid off, and go back to school for another 2yrs... at least the company policies include a back to school bonus, the company will pay up to 50% of tuition costs for a tech program if you do the paperwork that says you're coming back.

well that is worth the price of admission right there!

[vampyrewolf]

well that is worth the price of admission right there!

Considering that if I get the full 50% of tuition, thats 4K they're giving me... 6K if they cover 50% of books too. Which to me means I have 4-6 months of income to myself that I don't have to squirrel away.

Add in the fact that, if I have to sign paperwork saying I'll be back a year or two after I'm done my 2yr course... well, that just means I have work right out of school and don't have to job hunt

[vampyrewolf]

5-6 parts that weren't 100% on target... 2 were lifted on an end, a couple had peaks, and one had to be touched up on an end(hadn't heated up enough the first time)... out of about 70-80 today. Not bad for my 2nd day with left handed soldering

Tell, yah though... the 0603 parts are getting pretty small... never mind the 0402's....
had a 35mm film canister passed around, we were told to guess how many there were in it.... a little over in inch on there.... 3590 parts....

Would have been a perfect day if I hadn't burned my thumb at 10am changing tips.

[Slick]

Just a bit curious.

About 15 years ago I took a 30 contact hour electronics fab course at a Tech college. I was good at what we did but it didn't cover SMT components. I can't imagine desoldering/soldering that crap.

I've got a cousin works radar tech for the FAA and all the tini-weenie multi layer boards are just swapped out and and sent to some poor specialist for repair. I don't envy you. I doubt I could even do that job.

Does that class have have many dropouts? I'd probably be one.

[Vincent]

sounds good, glad ya got a job.

[vampyrewolf]

Ugh, working though my sleeping hours is taking a toll. Got home yesterday at 5pm, had supper at 6.... slept on couch till I was sent downstairs, then I slept on my couch till about 2am, got online for about 15min and went back to bed till my alarm went off at 6am.... next week I'm up at 5am for a 0700-1515hrs shift

slick: My 8 month course this winter had very little for soldering in class. We put together a power supply, and the teachers marked VERY loosely. I got more out of making my own projects and having a couple fail from soldering.

I think the big thing with this few weeks of training before hitting the work floor is how well you take critism more than how well you can solder. We do all one of peice in an area and see how the progress is coming as far as hitting the company goal for our workmanship... and she finds the smallest thing to pick apart in your work. A couple of times I was given a 2nd board with space, to make sure I could do the small peices if I actually have room to get my tip in there(wouldn't hit 100% in cramped spaces)... so I'd do a dozen more and get it looked at. Of the 5 of us, I may be the furthest behind after all the extra bits, and finally switching to my left hand to get it right, but she's finding less and less to pick apart on mine

If they had expected us to solder these tiny components on in our first day, I could see folks walking out. We started with 14 pin ICs and worked our way smaller. That first day was just about all 1206 parts, which are huge in comparison to where we are now. As long as you use the light to see your work, it's easy... you work by reflection

next week is the theory. 120page package to read over on the weekend... and we're going to cover it in 4 days. Just a refresher of the stuff we covered in the last 4 months of my course though.

When we finally hit the floor, it's going to be relitively easy. Easy tech has a spot, and you do the same thing all day. The boards come 80-90% done. First few ppl adjust a couple settings, and then it goes along the line, either adding a part or running tests on it. The quota all depends on what your job is, you could be running a test that takes 5min or 45min.

As far as the boards getting sent back... so far it seems like W&R is a black hole. product comes in, they run tests to determine why it failed, and either send it back along the line for refurb or toss it. Depending on the line, we'll usually never see any refurb work.

[vampyrewolf]

geez.... rambling posts like that should count for 2 or 3....

[Slick]

I always figured most failed complex boards are scrapped out. My cousin never saw much in the way of refurbished boards come in. If it failed once and gone under the iron for repair you probably don't want it running the radar at your airport. That is funny. Save $1000 dollars/dump a 747. Ooops!

I thought most fab was in the far east. Maybe Canada has a niche.

Very late here. Hang in there.