Had an uninvited (but welcome) visitor today...

[EPS]

Maybe a Lynx? I have seen Lynx up behind Granite Falls

Maybe really dark coat no tail could have been a lynx

 

[ZigZagZeke]

I started as a lowly diesel mech in the USCG, then came out and worked on tractors/equipment, working my way through community college, got an AS in equipment tech - which I didn't really need (they didn't teach me much I didn't already know), but I took a course in electronics which intrigued me; it seemed to me (and still does) that everybody and their dogs thinks they are a mech (even when it comes to tearing down a crawler or a combine) and I didn't want to be outside in weather like today for the rest of my life repairing some equipment in the mud and snow for flat rate having some shop/service manager tell me I was too slow.

I knew I could grasp electronics and many other people could not. So I went another two years and got an AS degree in EE, which got my foot in the door of hi-tech. It took another 5 years but that got my foot in the door of software and I saw where the money was - software not hardware, so I worked my way into writing software and been there for 30 years. Now I am a lead/senior engineer.

I don't have any real high math background - you don't really need it for most software engineering, especially business apps. I hired a math major last year and he had some good tech skills, but was difficult with people and is no longer on the team - which is too bad, we could have used his skills this year, but not at the cost of his personality.

Mostly I have taught myself what I know of software engineering. It takes some time, aptitude and a lot of perseverance, but I know more than one skilled s/w engineer who taught themselves.

The thing I really like, besides the problem solving, is always learning new things and improving my skills/knowledge.

I was an electronics tech in the navy. There was no school or even job code for what I was doing in submarines (weapons guidance systems test equipment), so I taught myself. US Steel was desperate for instrument techs when I got out of the navy. I had all the skills needed to be a journeyman, so I got OJT and taught myself the rest. After that, journeyman control technician was a breeze. Again, mostly self-taught. Then PG&E sold all its power plants and I needed a change of career lines. Became a metering technician, journeyman again, my fourth journeyman card, and all pretty much self taught and OJT. Then meters started going high tech and I had had 30 or so semester units of computer programming languages and concepts. I ended up becoming a senior systems administrator for a smart metering application. Every single step along the way was mostly self taught. My last side project was a redesign of the data verification modules in the data acquisition server application. I proposed that instead of hard triggers on the incoming data that we analyze it statistically, using a basic T-test and standard deviation. I couldn't adequately explain my idea to any of our analysts and programmers because none of them was a math major. They didn't understand statistics. I finally gave upon the project and retired.

 

[HB of CJ]

FWIW, unsalted peanuts just don't taste right.

 

[The Heretic]

Maybe really dark coat no tail could have been a lynx

Lynx are much larger than bobcats - have longer bodies and legs.

the one I saw I at first thought it was a dog, but the closer I got then I realized it was a Lynx. Beautiful animals.