On Working With Your Hands

I'm sure most of you have already seen this, but for those of you who haven't:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magaz ... gewanted=1

 

Interesting read - thanks for sharing

 

THANK YOU MotorDuck, I'm printing this one out for my wife!

 

This guy nails it!!! Just so happens he shares one of our passions.

 

wow. By profession, I'm a "network guy" - I've been in the IT field for over 20 years now. I was talking with my wife last night about how frustrated I am with work in the office and that I'd rather be doing some "working with my hands".

My father talked me out of being a mechanic 24 years ago.

 

You and me both (on both counts)! 8)

 

Make that 3 20 year IT guys who often would rather be doing something with tangible results!

mikeg

 

Interesting article, but 15 years late for me. I was a cubicle gofer, at Montgomery Wards at the main office in Chicago. I started as a commercial artist, we actually used pens and rulers, that was great! Then in '88 we switched to Mac. That started out great, but with the constant soft and hardware upgrades the trend became: nobody over 30 has a clue. Wards crashed, but I had already left Chi for Michigan. Now I'm a Handyman, I fix stuff and after fixing stuff I sleep well at night. The nights here are dark, and I can hear only crickets and far away trains. Fabulous! I think the stimulating thing about "working with your hands" is that the work is 3 dimensional. That stimulates the brain in a very natural way. Another and fundamental thing about corporate work is that: it is a political fiefdom, and advancement is determined primarily by your popularity. Bummer! :evil:

 

If anyone who has ever seen the movie "Office Space", she/he knows exactly what he is writing about. I work in .NET Web Development and I am taking a break to get my certs (while still looking) and while I enjoy designing and coding there are more times than I care to admit I would rather be working on my bike or designing an electronic circuit. Better yet gotten an electro-mechanical engineering degree.

 

my parents tried to talk me out of it but at the time i would have nothing of the sort. so here i am 6 years later an auto technician. it's kinda nice but as i work for a big corp sometimes i still wander if my efforts were worth it and what exactly i've accomplished

 

My sister is an attorney for the federal government. Her husband is a bus mechanic for their local school district, in his spare time he restores old cars.
My sister gets very unusual looks from people when they find out what her husband does for a living.
My boyfriend is a heavy equipment mechanic, he loves what he does and is good at it. I wouldn't want him to do anything else. His family tried to talk him out of it and still do at times.

 

Well I see both sides.
When I was young my folks also talked me out of a career in physical labor.
My dad said you don't want to do that for the rest of your life.
I thought I did.
I went the path of college and management.
I hated the management stuff, I just was not born to be a prick.
The money was good, but I hated what I had become.
So I too found myself in IT.
I thought damn if I had followed my own path were might I be.
Then I see the guys at the bar at 4:00 sweating, filthy, hands cut up, complaining about there back and the heat.
I see my friends 45 years old, own there own business, busting there a$$ literally, trying to pay the bills.
I then think Dad might of been on to something.
I work on everthing from cars, bikes to plumbing, carpentry, electric.
This is all for pleasure or necessity.
It is a different story when you have to do it.

 

Another IT guy here but I'm only out of College 2 years. Through out school computers were a hobby for me. It is what calmed me down took my mind off school and all the crazy drama that surrounds it. Now that I sit in front of screen for 8 hours a day its not relaxing any more. I loath having to fix my own computer when something goes wrong. Wrenching on my bike is what I do for fun these days.

I often think how much nicer it would be to have some sort of manual labor job. Maybe go to a motorcycle tech school learn some basics and start working in a shop somewhere. But then I think won't that turn my hobby, my escape into something I loath? I don't want that to happen. Even though I would rather be at home right now replacing valve shims and getting the valve cover leak fixed I'm glad a have a good paying job that can support my family and my hobby.

 

Amen. I TOO am in IT, a "middle manager" flying a desk, and I do kind of miss being on the road actually FIXING stuff. Working on the bikes is still a relaxing activity (punctuated by moments of abject frustration but that comes with the territory.)

 

For the most part, fixing these old bikes and keeping them on the road is our outlet for "working with our hands" I think.
I'm a mechanical engineer that used to operate, haul, and repair heavy forestry equipment.
Driving a computer doesn't satisfy the need to change the physical state of things so wrenching on an XJ is my therapy.
I'm lucky with my job and actually can get out to the shop or job-site a day or two every week to get dirty.

 

So this thread has brought up a correlation betweeen XJ's and IT workers.
Why do you think this is?
8 out 15 poster are in IT.
Just over half.
Things that make you go hhmmm.

 

Except me, Hound, I'm in the sh IT. :wink: