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Lack of time


keybdwizrd

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I started a new job last month (thankfully, as i didn't care for my old one). I've had a lot of work-related travel, though - a week in Boston, a week in Phoenix, a week in San Francisco. When not traveling I've been learning the ropes and setting up and office in Chicago. More travel is in my future.

 

Weekends have me flying home on Saturdays, taking care of necessities in my life and around the house. This weekend we have out of town guests. And in the midst of all this I've been battling some rather serious health issues.

 

If you have the time to wrap your head around your music, and enjoy your synths, I envy you.

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I hope you are able to tackle and overcome the health issues.

 

My job wears on me too. There was one night this last week when I felt so mentally drained and tired that I was literally aching. I kept wanting to turn on the Kronos but eventually just turned on the TV instead. My wife doesn't really grok this effect.

 

Are you running Logic or DP on that new Mac Air? Do your job give you time on the road to play or is it nonstop work? I know that in the manufacturing world there are heavy travel-related jobs that leave little room for anything but sleep.

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I started a new job last month (thankfully, as i didn't care for my old one). I've had a lot of work-related travel, though - a week in Boston, a week in Phoenix, a week in San Francisco. When not traveling I've been learning the ropes and setting up and office in Chicago. More travel is in my future.


Weekends have me flying home on Saturdays, taking care of necessities in my life and around the house. This weekend we have out of town guests. And in the midst of all this I've been battling some rather serious health issues.


If you have the time to wrap your head around your music, and enjoy your synths, I envy you.

 

 

I travelled extensively in my 30's/40's. The novelty wore off quickly.

 

I would not take a job travelling like that, and avoided it when I turned 50.

 

fortunately , I have my own business, so all my travel is local , by car. I set my own schedule but mostly work 6-7 days per week.

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A new company took over the IT contract for a major defense company that I work at, resulting in many months of employment insecurity and the inconvenience of reapplying/reinterviewing/renegotiating my job. On top of that I have been undergoing cataract surgery (left eye July 1st, right eye yesterday). Good news: I've been rehired (thanks I think), my surgery has gone well (so THAT'S what hi-def TV looks like!), and my new album is going well. It's the first contemporary Christian album I've ever written and somehow it is making this strange time of bad economy and great uncertainty a little more bearable. Sometimes music is all we have.

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Try college. Between the individual projects, group projects, studying, and speeches. I have no time either. I'm not happy that this is another week that I couldn't spend my Friday practicing piano, getting more adept with Pro Tools, and work on my own music and sounds.

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Glad to hear you got a job, KW, but I'm sorry you're having health issues. Illness pretty much throws a wet blanket over everything.

 

My job is becoming higher-pressure; As a US-based software engineer, I'm considered "expensive" by the company. So I really need to start making bigger splashes to justify my existence. When I get home now, I don't really feel like doing ANYTHING, including keyboards.

 

I'm about to make it worse, too: I'm probably going to start going to school this spring semester. Without a sheepskin, my career movement is stuck, at least in a large coporation. I'm dreading doing this, because I know it'll be hard to be good at both work AND school, but... gotta do it. I'm gonna be the "that old guy" among all the fresh-out-of-highschool kids. :rolleyes:

 

Don't do what I did, kids. Go to college. Get that degree.

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Glad to hear you got a job, KW, but I'm sorry you're having health issues. Illness pretty much throws a wet blanket over everything.


My job is becoming higher-pressure; As a US-based software engineer, I'm considered "expensive" by the company. So I really need to start making bigger splashes to justify my existence. When I get home now, I don't really feel like doing ANYTHING, including keyboards.


I'm about to make it worse, too: I'm probably going to start going to school this spring semester. Without a sheepskin, my career movement is stuck, at least in a large coporation. I'm dreading doing this, because I know it'll be hard to be good at both work AND school, but... gotta do it. I'm gonna be the "that old guy" among all the fresh-out-of-highschool kids.
:rolleyes:

Don't do what I did, kids. Go to college. Get that degree.

 

You won't be the old guy. Just change your image a bit and get some cool tattoos. :D

 

Seriously, I thought I was going to be the old guy but a lot of the young people really take to me and are interested in my life experience. This will likely be the same way for you.

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Do degrees actually count once you've been in the workplace for so long?

 

When I'm recruiting, I couldn't give a rat's buttock about the degree - all I want to know is how much real world experience the person has had.

 

But I hear you EP.....we are already outsourcing some of our development to an Indian mob........it's a fraction of the price.

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Thanks for the encouragement, Muzik!
:thu:

 

:thu: You'll be fine, more marketable afterwards, and some people will like that you went back to school to broaden your knowledge.

 

Think about all the new contacts you'll make too.

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Do degrees actually count once you've been in the workplace for so long?

 

Not sure, but IMHO, it's worth it alone just for the networking. :idea:

 

AFter being in school with people for a while, you come to know people's strengths and weaknesses. This is the kind of stuff that company's are founded on.

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If you have the time to wrap your head around your music, and enjoy your synths, I envy you.

 

 

On the other hand, as a recent graduate who's now 4 months into the job search with no viable prospects, I envy you. I've got all the time in the world, but I'm dead broke. Hard to get inspired to do much of anything musically when you're constantly waiting for the phone to ring, but the call for an interview never arrives.

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On the other hand, as a recent graduate who's now 4 months into the job search with no viable prospects, I envy
you
. I've got all the time in the world, but I'm dead broke. Hard to get inspired to do much of anything musically when you're constantly waiting for the phone to ring, but the call for an interview never arrives.

 

 

Prayers for you CK.....may that phone ring shortly.

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Michael I hope you get better soon. I know it can be frustrating to have no time to yourself. Illness can just intensify that feeling. I think I speak for many when I say I wish I could just play music and not have do anything else employment wise.

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oh man my kbdwiz hope you get well soon, congrats on the new job

 

@the pro hd vision is sweet

 

I've had to make some sacrifices for moar studio time. too much work or not enough work are both destructive to creativity and output.

 

try to take advantage of technology and latest software. ideas are fleeting and inspiration always strikes at the most randumb times. the laptop workflow is faster and beatboxing into my phone captures ideas.

 

those awkward mumblings all pop up in iTunes in chronological order. when I'm feeling burnt out and am retartedly staring at a blank logic session those phone recordings really help

 

I was in a rut april-march and the output dropped a little. I got an opportunity to join a band and learn a new instrument (bass). since mid mid june we've done some shows and recordings. change and variety are good

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I've had a lot of work-related travel, though - a week in Boston, a week in Phoenix, a week in San Francisco. When not traveling I've been learning the ropes and setting up and office in Chicago. More travel is in my future.

 

 

Do you have any time at night on the road? If so, you could still make some music on the road with your Mac Laptop, a software DAW and one of the tiny USB keyboard controllers like the nanoSeries 2 controllers:

http://www.korg.com/nanoseries2

 

You might be able to play for 20 minutes a night on the road to reduce your stress level.

 

I hope your health issues improve.

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Do degrees actually count once you've been in the workplace for so long?


When I'm recruiting, I couldn't give a rat's buttock about the degree - all I want to know is how much real world experience the person has had.


But I hear you EP.....we are already outsourcing some of our development to an Indian mob........it's a fraction of the price.

 

 

It depends on the job. Experience is important, but the filter of a say a professional engineering or science degree is required for many jobs (sometimes even legally as the "Professional Engineer" certification may be required). Experience *and* the degree are very desirable. In my area a PhD is required usually to get into the door, and especially if you want to be functioning at a certain level of seniority and autonomy. Coming in through a more engineering or technician-style position with a BS or MS degree in engineering or science and then getting 15-20 years experience will get you there too. In addition, I have seen candidates for an R&D position rejected because they do not have a couple of years of post-doctoral research at a University (I had a two year NSF/3M sponsored post doc at U of MN). The post-doc requirement really depends on the competition; if there are 5 good candidates (relevant background, etc) and some have the post-doc then they may be preferred.

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Yeah, but I'd say that you're doing actual SCIENCE, Gribs. It doesn't surprise me that they would want PhD's and such.

 

I'm self-taught; Got lucky with a private company, got paid well and got to solve interesting problems, worked there for 15 years. The company got sucked-up by a larger company, though, and the only reason they kept me is because I came with the rest of the old company's brain trust. If I was looking to get my foot in the door here now, they wouldn't even look at me without at least a BS is EE or CS with a 3.5 GPA or better.

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Good technicians with experience but no degree, at least in our lab, are worth their weight in gold as they are the ones who are dedicated 100% to building things like prototypes and experimental apparatus, they know the internal system, and they have a long term vested interest in the success of our programs. The career path for a technician of this kind (no degree, right out of high school) has been pretty much destroyed now though and being filled by new engineers or even contract engineers instead. I think the youngest permanent employee technician in our lab is in their late forties or early fifties, and the oldest has been around for about 40 years and is just working because it he likes his job.

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