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I don’t think the tool is as important as the what you’re doing with it. QA is done with a keyboard but is considered less skilled. Sculpting statues may use

I don’t think the tool is as important as the what you’re doing with it. QA is done with a keyboard but is considered less skilled. Sculpting statues may use a water jet but would be considered more skilled. So the question seems to me: what are people doing with these water jets in US automotive plants? How long does it take to learn? How much variance is there in ability? (We talk about 10x programmers, are there 10x machinists?)

dvtrn 6y ago
(We talk about 10x programmers, are there 10x machinists?) Yes. Why wouldn't there be? Asking honestly? A story, if you will-because I have a very intimate relationship with industrial machinists: My father was a certified industrial welder, pipe fitter and metallurgist for General Electric's gas turbine division for 32 years (he was also a licensed master electrician) He was the only individual in his functional team with the number of licenses and depth of mechanical engineering background to his name. He oversaw several manufacturing retrofits in their plant, and lead a team of 10 other engineers, all of whom through his time and tenure became family friends. I know all of their stories and backgrounds intimately. When he left GE due to layoffs in the early 1990's, he opened his own shop and hired several of those machinists to come work for him. Despite getting to see this work daily, up close, and learn for myself the family trade of metal smithing (both of my brothers, my father, two of his brothers and my grandfather were all metal workers and passed down the trade through to my generation), I was the first to cross over the digital divide and go white collar as a full-time career, but I still have a strong appreciation for mechanized labor and I took this with me into automotive. So, all of that said, to answer the question, I think yes, there absolutely are 10x machinists (I don't personally buy into the "10x" thing generally-at least not the way it is sometimes applied, but in alignment with your question, yes) and I remain firm in my objection that these people are less skilled because their skills are different or differently applied than ours as SWEs.
- chillacy 6y ago
  Makes sense, as I was typing that out I suspected the answer was yes, given what I've seen in various labs I've worked at, but just wanted to frame the question in terms of skill cap.

dvtrn 6y ago

(We talk about 10x programmers, are there 10x machinists?) Yes. Why wouldn't there be? Asking honestly? A story, if you will-because I have a very intimate relationship with industrial machinists: My father was a certified industrial welder, pipe fitter and metallurgist for General Electric's gas turbine division for 32 years (he was also a licensed master electrician) He was the only individual in his functional team with the number of licenses and depth of mechanical engineering background to his name. He oversaw several manufacturing retrofits in their plant, and lead a team of 10 other engineers, all of whom through his time and tenure became family friends. I know all of their stories and backgrounds intimately. When he left GE due to layoffs in the early 1990's, he opened his own shop and hired several of those machinists to come work for him. Despite getting to see this work daily, up close, and learn for myself the family trade of metal smithing (both of my brothers, my father, two of his brothers and my grandfather were all metal workers and passed down the trade through to my generation), I was the first to cross over the digital divide and go white collar as a full-time career, but I still have a strong appreciation for mechanized labor and I took this with me into automotive. So, all of that said, to answer the question, I think yes, there absolutely are 10x machinists (I don't personally buy into the "10x" thing generally-at least not the way it is sometimes applied, but in alignment with your question, yes) and I remain firm in my objection that these people are less skilled because their skills are different or differently applied than ours as SWEs.

chillacy 6y ago
Makes sense, as I was typing that out I suspected the answer was yes, given what I've seen in various labs I've worked at, but just wanted to frame the question in terms of skill cap.