New job here too!

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sudsmaster

sudsmaster

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Joined
Dec 23, 2004
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Location
SF Bay Area, California
I start a new job in two weeks. Quit my current job today - and am basically happy that I did. The new job will be for more pay, vastly better working conditions, safer, and with room for advancement and learning lots of new stuff (CNC machining/programming) for a much larger company. Only downside so far is that my 2 mile commute becomes a 22 mile commute - with a crowded interchange in between - but I think it will be worth it. It was definitely time to move on, and then some. The old was making large volumes of relatively low tech low tolerance parts. The new job will be making relatively low volumes of high tech high tolerance parts, plus they will train me in a new CAM (computer aided machining) program. The company makes automated/robotic chip handlers for the semiconductor industry, so the emphasis is on quality and precision.

So, please wish me luck. In the meantime I'll be trying to clear more clutter out here and maybe take a couple of days to visit some of the countryside and decompress. Wine country sounds about right...
 
Well, I guess the rest of the country is pretty much asleep, so as a fellow west-coaster, let me be the first to offer my best wishes on your new venture!
 
Re: Congratulations:

Good Luck and great thoughts for you new venture, from another Northern California Westerner. I hope that this does work out for you and will be well worth your extra Travel time and distance.

I've personally have never lived much more than approx 15 to 20 minutes between home and work, when I did work for the State here in Sacramento.

Peace, Lots of Fun at the Wineries in Napa, or wherever else you plan to check out, Steve
SactoTeddyBear & SactoTeddyRanger...
 
Thanks all for the notes of encouragement.

Well, yes, I'll have to skirt the Maze, but not enter the toll plaza area proper. It's half forward commute and half reverse commute, but I think if I keep to the usual machinist hours (7 am to 3:30 pm) it shouldn't be too bad.

There are also alternate routes I can take to avoid the Maze altogether, but these involve in-city detours. Still, it's an option, and will probably add about 10 minutes drive time.

In any case, I'm very happy to be out of what was essentially a verbally and psychologically abusive environment. The old job was a family owned business with some real serious dysfunction going on. Most of the time I was able to stay out of it but it got to the point when I had a good offer it was a no-brainer to get out of there. At this point, a traffic jam seems kind of pleasant.

:-)
 
Hey Rich, sounds like you made the right move. Enjoy your vacation meantime. You've hit a good patch of weather and if you do head to the wine country it should be really beautiful. On the other hand, the Santa Cruz County beaches tend to beckon this time of year too, and Russian River would be very relaxed.

I'm sure you'll figure out a way to deal with the maze. My experience when I used to drive the NB Nimitz was that the #2 lane often moves faster than any of the others, including the #1 lane. What happens getting onto the Eastshore is another matter but I'm sure you'll figure out the best option. I'm guessing that in this case, BART isn't.

Ralph
 
Ralph,

The problem with BART is that it doesn't go close enough to the workplace, and I'm told I wouldn't want to bicycle through some of the neighborhoods in between. Otherwise I'd do that. I still might. And then there's always the local bus, if possible.

I'll be taking 580 the whole way, avoiding 880 entirely. I can also take 580 to 13, take 13 into Berkeley and rejoin 580/80 west/east bound at Ashby.

Greg,

I don't know if I'll be able to photograph any parts - unless they're in a finished product that is available to public. I will be sigining a confidentiality agreement. I'll have to see once I get there.
 
Rich I know that route well. My sister's ex in-laws lived in Montclair off of 13. I also would often use that route to get to the lively intersection of Telegraph & Bancroft where my sister lived in Berkeley. They don't call 880 "The Nasty Nimitz" for nothin'!
 
Congrats!

I left a very stressful DOT-COM (Read: DOT-GONE) and have never regretted it. It was the kind of job where we worked 12+ hours a day, 6 days a week.

A 14 month tenure / "tour-of-duty" there felt like 14 years and was considered a good run.

Much luck and much success!
 
Daily Commute

Congratulations on the new job Rich! How long will it take you to drive the 22 mile route? I live about the same distance from my job, but in LA traffic it can take anywhere between 40 to 90 minutes.
 
Spiralator,

Well, I drove it in about 30 minutes one afternoon for the interview. In the morning I expect it might take a bit longer. Maybe 40 minutes? I'll have to find out... lol...
 
Rich, like you said, you'll be heading in to work earlier than most people. My commute is about 14 miles and if I'm not on the road by 7AM, I will hit some minor slowdowns. I'd rather get into the office early than have my progress impeded by too many cars. Even on the Nimitz I think you'll be OK since you'll be traveling through there before the commute is in full swing. Of course you'll need to allow extra time for working around the Nimitz's obligatory jack-knifed big rigs when the rainy season returns.

Your new job sounds great, the old one sounds like it was definitely time to leave it behind. Enjoy your couple of weeks off!
 
Strictly speaking, the Nimitz is 880, and it begins at the maze and goes all the way down to San Jose. I won't be traveling the Nimitz, if I take 580 instead, which merges into HWY 80 out by Berkeley for a few miles and then veers off to the west.

580 is closed to truck traffic which is a big plus.
 
That's perfect if you can avoid 880 completely. I remember when motorists had to take streets (Hoffman, I think) off of NB 80 because 580 wasn't completed through to the Richmond bridge. You should breeze right through once you hit I-80.

When you consider that some people have commutes of 100 miles or more each way, this drive will be a relative piece of cake for you. You must really be excited. A longer commute, yes, but your new destination sounds like it will be well worth it.
 
22 mile commute, child's play

Congrats on the new job! New jobs are hard to come by thanks to the economy being in the toilet. And it's well worth a long commute for better conditions.

Mine is a 91 mile commute one way. Thank God I have a TDI Beetle that makes 50mpg (about 4 gallons round trip). If I drive at or a little bit under the limit without getting run over, I could squeeze a few more miles out of it.

Use good name-brand fuel, drive non-aggressively and take routes that aren't as jammed up with traffic.

My Garmin has a traffic feature that I never got to use but it's supposed to tell where the traffic is and re-route around it.
 
All Highway

The best part of my commute is coming home @ 2am. No traffic except for trucks and the occasional car. Cruise control @ 70 all the way to Crossville (65 going up the mountain).
 
I didn't know they made TDI bugs. I don't think I've seen one of those on the road, unless they don't have TDI badges on them. I have, however, seen a couple of Smart cars on the freeway and they are more or less capable of keeping up with the flow of traffic but they look like deathtraps to me.
 
Jason,

You cannot ever have experienced SF Bay Area traffic. It's not the distance that is the issue - it's the traffic jams. Back in the late 90's, it used to take me 1 to 1.5 hours or more to travel 25 miles down to the San Jose area. One jam after another. Friday afternoons were the worst; it could take 2 hours or more to get home those same 25 miles. I finally started a combination of bicycling and train (had to ride eight of those 25 miles) just to avoid the stress (plus it was good exercise). When the dotcom bubble burst, it got somewhat better for a while, and then that phase of my career ended and I haven't worked in the San Jose area since then.

The "Maze" is what is called the convergence of five major freeways just before the Bay Bridge toll plaza: 24, 80, 880, 980, and 580. One accident and it's bolloxed for hours. Fortunately I just have to skirt the Maze, but I'm hoping the traffic gods will be smiling. Due to the geography of the East Bay, there aren't a lot of parallel highway routes to take. Usually it's either city streets or a single major freeway in whatever direction you want to go. And while in years past you used to be able to hop on and off the freeway to take advantage of the streets, now there are metering lights on just about every on-ramp in areas prone to congesetion, so sometimes you just have to grin and bear it.
 
Suds, since you seem to like to work in machine shops, is all this work have anything to do with the nuclear industry? A radio host, Fred Honsberger says there are pleny of jobs in western PA, that a company would hire 10 machinsts now if they could. He tells this to people who complain they can't get a job. Every one of companies he talks about makes parts for nuclear power stations - one makes the casks for nuclear waste. Is that why there is so much work in that career?

http://www.kdkaradio.com/pages/1616397.php?contentType=4&contentId=1529372
 
Bob,

It would depend on the shop. Some of what I did might have been used in the nuclear industry, but most of it has been for the high tech, solar, and biotech industries. One problem is that the machining business is highly competitive. It's capital (for the machines) and labor intensive. You can only cut the machine tool cost to a certain point, and after that it's labor that gets squeezed, both in terms of wages and demands for increased productivity per man hour. It can become somewhat of a problem when the labor is highly skilled, I suppose, especially if the owners like to manage by yelling and prides itself on "ripping new ones" out of employees and customers alike.
 
Bon chance, mon Ami !

Whenever I think of you, it's always of those delicious drinks, fruits & veggies from your garden and your marvelous contraptions. It's an American tragedy that you can't make a fortune right at home, doing all of that, especially tending bar for Aworg and faxing the drinks cross-country. Hey! maybe shortly --teleportal robotics.
 
You are too kind, Mickey.

I am glad you were entertained by my amateur photos of drinks and sundry garden produce.

I never anticipated being thought of as a lime drop, but I suppose I've been compared to less delightful refreshments. I guess Laundress has her luggage, and I have my contraptions, LOL.
 
Good Luck Rich! Change is good

Sounds like you are on a good adventure. Don't let the commute worry you - I had a job 15 min from home and I was miserable. Now I drive about an hour to a job I really love and am fine. My partner still comments (over a year after I switched) on how much happier I am. Its better to fight traffic for an hour or so and enjoy the next 8 hours than to breeze into work and be miserable for the next 8 hours.
 

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