News of Cross-trained techs?

[Ronin]

          I am interested to hear about your experiences concerning cross-training.   Although this may sound a bit like "General Discussion" material, I thought it would be more "news"-worthy due to the fact that there are those of us out here who are unemployed, who are trying to think about other ways/careers that are similar and might be something worth trying.   
          For instance, I could fully dedicate myself to the UAV/RPV community of technocrats if only I knew the way into their hearts and labs.  Would they have me at their breakroom table for a discussion about full-autonomy at 100 feet above the treeline (terrain-following/forward looking/low-altitude navigation), or would they make me to suffer the obligatory three years of silent treatment before ever even giving me a look at the T. O. /T. B. ?  I must take leave of this evil that has befallen my thirst for more knowledge.   I must have new problems to study, or I will surely die under the weight of a thousand resistance measurements, and their respective data entries.
           

[ZZ]

I know of a few AF PMEL guys who got out and hired on to MERC (Biomed/Medical Equipment Repair) jobs. The work is very similar, but obviously more specific to medical equipment and hospital environments. They pay well and have quite a few more locations to work at than Calibration labs. Beckman-Coulter is a big Biomed company you might want to look at. They like ex-PMEL or electronics trained techs. I attached a link, but you'll have to navigate through. It's a very large and diversified company with many different specialties. Good luck

https://www.beckmancoulter.com/wsrportal/wsr/index.htm?bhfv=-2

[WestCoastCal]

Speaking of Beckman, now that Danaher has completed the aquisition, is Beckman High School (Irvine, CA) going to be called Danaher High School?

[Ronin]

Thanks ZZ !  I have found a couple places that seek our skill set in this branch of metrology but haven't convinced myself to dive in just yet.   I think maybe it has something to do with being affiliated with the military for so many years (for me personally), I like the feeling that I am participating in the nation's defense blah blah etc.   Of note is the statement that often accompanies such announcement in biomed: "Must obtain ICC Board Certified BMET, CRES or CLES certification within one year of hire. "  Haven't looked into that so much, but I think it wouldn't be a problem to get the creds in time.  Thanks again!

[ZZ]

I worked with a guy last year at company "X" and he got hired on with B-C into basically an apprenticeship which includes approximately 2 years of mixed advanced schools and OJT making $27.00 p/h while doing so! Not bad for an apprentice/trainee. His qualifications when he hired on to B-C: AA in electronics + 6 years in commercial cal (no PMEL school or military training at all). PMEL school + experience isn't a silver bullet, but it still holds a lot of weight based on what we do and how we do it.

[Foghorn1776]

      About 14 years ago, I was employed by a small company in Northern NJ (long since bought by a bigger outfit and moved to Ohio) to help them get thir ISO-9001 accreditation.   I went to a weeklong seminar by Stat-a-Matrix and learned everything about ISO 9001:1994.   Back at my company we established a quality manual, procedures, internal audits, the works.   Of course with my PMEL background they also had me tracking all the TMDE in the place.   But it paid off when we had our external audit and became ISO 9001 certified.
     To make a long story short, my experience in QA and auditing was a big boost to my career.   It gave me another set of skills that match well with my PMEL training.   If you're having difficulty getting employment in a calibration, try QA or auditing.