Drafters & Surveyors (GIS, AutoCAD and MicroStation)

Hello, my name is Steve and I have been active in drafting and engineering for the last 10 years in the North East Ohio area. I have learned and grown from all my prior employers and continue to grow. I am actively searching out my next en devour due to tight economic times.

I've also been a project manager from cradle to grave and enjoy this also.

I wish the best to everyone and look forward to building up my network and helping others as I go along.

I am new to networking. I am new to drafting. I previously worked in Customer Service. We were some of the best paid CSRs in Iowa. I lost my job 2 years ago when Whirlpool bought out Maytag. Through NAFTA, I was given the opportunity for a 2 year degree. I sat with a drafter in R&D and decided to go for an AOS in Computer Aided Drafting Technolgies. I would love a job in Mechanical Drafting. I loved Autodesk's Inventor. I really thought I would be moving my career forward instead of backward. If I'd not gone to school, I would already have 2 years under my belt with the local phone company. I've been searching since April, and gone on several interviews with no results. They hire someone with experience. I went as far as 70 miles away last month for a job in biodiesel fuel technology. But I also interviewed last month with that local phone company. Waiting. Calling them. Projects put out further into this month than originally expected. Biodiesel fuel and wind energy are becoming big here, if anyone is interested. I'd like to get in the door, on the ground floor, but without experience, I'd don't know how. A bunch of engineers that used to work at Maytag started their own freelance engineering firm but won't see me. I would appreciate any advice, mentoring, networking. Feel free to review my resume and critique it. I don't have any money anymore for searching. I'm barely keeping the utilities paid. My husband, son, and I are living on my husband's $768/month (as of this month) disability check, the kindness of friends, and the food pantry. I know there's something I can do to put my talents to work. I just have to figure out how to find it. Thank you all for being here to support each other.

Hello to all. I'm new to Brightuse and the group. I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice for me. I have a 2 year drafting degree from a technical school and a few years experience. Unfortunately some events in my personal life have taken me out of the drafting field for over a year. I really want to get back in to it but I'm unsure I can. Any suggestions or comments would be extremely appreciated. Thanks. Also would like to widen everyone a happy and prosperous New Year.

Thank you, Freidy, for inviting me to join this group. I know we will see a brighter dawn soon since my grandmother said it's always darkest before the dawn. Here's hoping you all had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year!

Yeah. Just keep going to work, and look for a new job. Mostly I've discovered the source is local.

Hi Everyone,
Have any of you suffered from “Burnout” and what do you do to overcome it?

Over qualified? Did someone say "Over qualified"?
Shameless plug: http://www.cafepress.com/chottbv since you might have gift giving needs for the overqualified folks in your life...
I admit, it's rough looking. I was so mad when I drew it, it was the graphic equivalent of my spitting and sputtering like a leaky radiator.

The year was 2002. My husband & I had moved to the sleepy little town where my parents had retired, because of Dad's health. Everybody knew it in the town (very small town). I let it be known that I knew I wouldn't get a job like I'd had in Massachusetts, wasn't even asking for a full time job, just something to stem the leak on our savings for a couple of years (and we could have done it, too). Sales, waiting, pushing broom... I didn't care! Heck, I grew up in a similarly depressed area, I grew up in the mid-west... I knew $25/hr jobs just didn't exist... or for that matter, jobs that I had paper qualifications for at all!
I also knew the good-ol-boy system, I knew who to talk to, I knew the favor system, I knew the volunteer system, I knew the pleasantries...

But still I got the "You're over qualified" schpeel.
>:(

For a year!

What broke it? My husband and I belonged to this club that an Arkansas County Judge also happened to belong to. For all this time I'd asked him if the county needed a drafter. He kept saying "No".
Then one day we were all sitting around, shooting the breeze and he got to bragging on his secretary. It was a long time, it seemed, before he could find a secretary with all the skills he needed.
I listened, noted that I had every one of those skills...
As it so happened, I had picked up the mail on the way down, and I had recieved one of my resume's back (again, I was over qualified), so I dug it out and teased "Well, if she decides to up and take off on you, I have all of those skills."
Da Judge pulled it out of the mangled envelope and started reading... and we all continued to razz and pick on each other in the "good ol boy" manner... when all of a sudden he said "Mapping!"
I looked over at him "Yes?"
"I thought you were a drafter, I didn't know you were a mapper, too."

Uh...

Well. I ended up working for that county (it was made clear that there was a loop hole since I had skills that weren't readily available in that county) for the worst pay that I'd had since before I went back to school, granted, and a 28 mile (one way) commute. It wasn't as effective at stemming the leak on my savings (gone by then) as it would have been a year earlier. Benefits were... dismal. $5000 deductible on my insurance, with essentially minimum wage earnings (at that time). Riiiiight.
But, it was a passable job until hurricane Katrina... fuel prices, ya know. I was spending more in fuel than I was bringing home from work...

Over qualification of candidate can make employers hesistant of hiring you because they are afraid that if you find something better, you will leave. Employers spend alot of money on new hires so this is very common among employers. I know everyone is frustruated because of the economic crisis but I'm sure with the improvements on infractructure the govenment want to make, job will become ableable soon. If you have free time brush up on some of your old skills or learn some new ones. There are a lot of open source softwares, and free training in the internet so hit those up. Also I've seen some new positions for Engineering Technicians in USAJOBS.com, look into those.

__An update on the GIS Tech position at Fort hood- we will start to look at people in Jan-Feb time frame. The money has been slow comming down.

--have a good day everyone!

Hi Everyone; I am new to BrightFuse. I lost my job in April and still have not found work. I am and architectural draftsman and work in design of residential and commercial property. I live in Arcadia Florida. Although they have not said anything about my age, some have said that I was over qualified.

Might try this site: http://bv.com/careers/