I built a steel plant from the grassroots, so I learned all the nuts and bolts. When there was a problem, I would be able to guide them, though I am not a technical person.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I know how to set an irrigation tube, and I helped with the harvest. I learned the law of the harvest without even knowing I was learning it. On the farm, you learn early that you reap what you sow.
I would say the most help I got was from my dad. My dad is a civil engineer in Switzerland; he's 90 years old now, so he's no longer active as a civil engineer, but still a very active person.
I started at GM knowing very little about that particular business. Not being an expert means you have to learn everything, starting from the basics.
Be able to read blueprints, diagrams, floorplans, and other diagrams used in the construction process.
I am a mechanical techie. I can build things with my hands.
I build engines and attach wheels to them.
I collect old rusty hand tools and sharpen and polish them, then use them to build things out of walnut and cherry that I harvest from fallen trees in the woods.
I began as a weatherman and I learned very quickly I wasn't very good at it.
As an engineer, I tended to maintain my own equipment along with developing the processes for it.
As an engineer, you learn there is a solution to every problem. It may take you a while, but eventually you're going to find it.