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> few factory workers [...] would consider their work 'basket weaving'. I had the pleasure of working with a machinist named Bill who was probably 70 years old
by jzwinck 12y ago
> few factory workers [...] would consider their work 'basket weaving'.
I had the pleasure of working with a machinist named Bill who was probably 70 years old. He was an artist with tools twice as old as I was, sometimes five times that. After decades of experience there were no doubts about his products, no mistakes. He even included ergonomic touches not specified in the plans so that people using his products as tools downstream would have less chance of mistakes themselves.
When asked about some of the other people working in the factory, mostly 20-somethings, he said, "They are strong, but they have no finesse."
Bill was a 10x employee, and he wove the hell out of those baskets.
- lotsofmangos 12y agoAll I have to say is, watch this - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3wrzo_fabrication-d-une-lampe-triode_tech http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3wrzo_fabrication-d-une-la...
- dugditches 12y agoI don't think a machinist falls into what your parent-post was getting at. I have found skill and 'puzzle solving'(using Allen's analogy) in menial or physical labour. But as stated, your body just can't take it. And you realize you're spending your off time tired, sore and wasted. A machinist is solving problems and puzzles. A street sweeper or machine man on an assembly line aren't.
- hoprocker 12y agoStrongly agree. A blueprint is a Platonic puzzle -- Here, take this representation of an ideal and figure out some way of making it a physical reality.