Re: Riding after heavy manual labor

On Fri, 31 May 2024 21:41:05 -0700, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
wrote:

On Fri, 31 May 2024 10:50:03 -0500, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
>

Taking nothing from the technical arts (I have many hours
invested in trade school and a large multiple of those in
training employees over the years), to educate oneself used
to mean a passing familiarity with the many fields of
science, mathematics, languages, history, culture etc
besides general practical skills*, all outside one's
specialty.  I think that's a goal more than a standard but
it's a goal worth pursuing throughout life.
>
*practical skills including yes basics of programming-
logical processes and systems, more than actual composition
in hexadecimal or whatever.

>
I agree.  At some long forgotten point in my life, I had to decide
what direction to follow and in what career.  The general education
taught in college only covers the basics.  There's quite a bit that's
NOT taught, such as how to allocate one's time, how to do research,
how to work within a team, how to write a report or research paper,
how to ask for a raise, how to handle conflicting information, etc.
Those are taught on the job and often by trial and error.  So, I
applied the basics that I had learned in college to the problem. 
>
At the time, everyone wanted to become a programmer.  Programming was
future.  Soon, everything was going to be computerized and run by
software.  Or, I could become a scientist because the space race of
the 1960's needed more scientists to beat the evil Russians.  Or, I
could become a specialist in some field where I would become a
"leading expert".  There were other possibilities, but those are the
ones that seemed the most likely for me to pursue. 
>
The problems was that I didn't like any of the possibilities.  So, I
asked myself, what can I do best and what do I like doing?  Hopefully,
they would be the same thing.  It turned out that what I like doing is
fixing things and to some extent, it's what I do best.  The problem is
the college did not offer a degree in repair. 
>
So, I decided to become a generalist.  Knowledgeable in all fields,
but a master of none.  I can do anything, but not as well as some
others can.  I would need to build on something get experience.  It
seemed like electronics would be the most diverse since it touched on
almost all the technical fields.  I also decided that programming
computers would eventually be computerized and automated so I
intentionally avoided it.  I did some rather strange things, such as
try to use every tool, instrument, machine, computer, etc available,
just to gain some experience with it.  It's amazing what can be
learned in a few minutes of tinkering.  (It's also amazing how much
damage I can do if I don't understand in advance how it works).
>
The result is what I am today, where I can communicate effectively in
some rather diverse fields, while those who specialized early are
often lost in every field but their specialty. 
>
As for politics, I avoid it.  I tried politics in student government
and later working to help a local politician get elected.  I found
that I didn't like it and only concern myself with understanding
politics, but not getting involved.
>
Incidentally, the most useful class I took in college was engineering
economics.  It gave me a good basis for understanding how finance,
money, banking, etc work, and how they are related.  I still have the
textbook on my bookshelf and use it occasionally.  Once I understood
the basics, I taught myself the rest, mostly by reading.
>
I may not have done everything in my career correctly or made the best
decisions, but the decision to become a generalist was definitely the
right one for me.

+1

The more things I can do adequitely, the more comfortable I am with my
life. Approaching 80 years old in a few months, I'm still learning new
skills.