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Started by coxy, September 26, 2017, 02:17:22 PM

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coxy

this is more for the younger group of over 60    how much of what you learnt then do you still use today   example  like land surveying do you still use the old way or the new technology     I went to the college of hard knocks  :)   for some reason it wouldn't let me spell college  it went to collage  :-\

Ron Wenrich

We didn't do land surveying, but we had to find property boundaries and flag the lines.  We did them with compass and pace.  Wasn't too often you couldn't find a corner.  We were actually better than some of the surveyors when it came to woods surveying. 

Since I didn't keep up with too much of the new tech on the forestry end, I still used a lot of the old stuff.  I did cruises with a compass, an angle gauge and a clipboard.  With that, I could do management plans, timber inventories, and mapping.  I amazed myself with how accurate it can be. 

Timber scaling was pretty standard by using a 100% survey and marking trees to take.  Residual stands were kept by keeping yourself honest with an angle gauge.  We usually measured all the trees with a diameter tape.

I wouldn't go back to calculating with either a slide rule or a calculator.  Spreadsheets made computations so much easier.

At the mill level, we had a lot more automation.  Maybe not the top of the industry, but we were only a few decades behind.  We actually got into computer settings for the mill, as well as using laser lights.  Those things are meant to be aids, not crutches. 

When I was in college, I complained to a professor that they didn't teach how to do anything.  He told me that they taught us why to do something.  They figured we were smart enough to figure out how.  I thought that was a bogus answer until I got in the field and found out he was right.  Thank you Orvel Schmidt. 
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Bert

I didnt go to college exactly but went to an Aeronautics maintenance school and do have a degree in specialized technology. It taught me 2 things. One- never get on an airplane. Two- if you can count past 100 your smarter than 75% of people. Im not being funny but it was an odd experience. The top 3 guys I know in my class all went on to pave their own way in life. The rest- well they are leaving wrenches in your engine overhaul and talking to their shoes and making good money doing it.
Saw you tomorrow!

dgdrls

Quote from: coxy on September 26, 2017, 02:17:22 PM
this is more for the younger group of over 60    how much of what you learnt then do you still use today   example  like land surveying do you still use the old way or the new technology     I went to the collage of hard knocks  :)

Good example,  GPS revolutionized the Survey world and also created its own issues.
I have a 2 Yr. degree in surveying from the early 1980's,  and a Bachelors in Alternative Energy Tech earned in 2005.

I was too young for a Slide Rule,  I still compute and calculate a ton of stuff by hand and on an HP calculator.
I like spread sheets especially Gnumeric.

Automation is great, but when all the batteries are dead a 200 foot steel tape and Optical Instrument
will always get the job done so its good to remember how those work as well.

Beyond the Tech stuff, I also learned to think critically, analyze situations and had my eyes opened to the arts.

I try use all of it still

D

coxy

it was anything from going to college not just surveying  ;D

Ianab

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QuoteA shortage of skilled workers and a rapidly changing employment environment has prompted New Zealand businesses to declare that they are willing to recruit people with no formal qualifications.

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The businesses include Xero, ASB, Fonterra, Microsoft and Vector.

It's basically recognition by many of NZs largest businesses that for many jobs the attitude and adaptability of the candidate is more important than a piece of paper, in a subject that's not directly related to the job anyway.

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Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

DPatton

My 1984 - 1986 college education was in architectural drafting. I never did become a draftsman because quite honestly it simply didn't pay well enough. However i have used the blueprint reading skills that I learned in college almost every working day for the past 30+ years! Likewise I have also used the surveying skills that I learned by taking a couple entry level college surveying classes. I can honestly say that my college education has been one of my most valuable choices I made in life.
TimberKing 1600, 30' gooseneck trailer, Chevy HD2500, Echo Chainsaw, 60" Logrite.

Work isn't so bad when you enjoy what your doing.
D & S Sawmill Services

Texas Ranger

First went to college with a slide rule, rest of the class said it was unfair, run forward 6 years and  I go back on the masters with a handheld TI calculator, again the rest of the class said it was unfair.  But yes, still use some of the 50 year old education I gathered, and have managed to adapt it to the modern era.  Golly gee, how did I ever get by without a computer?
The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

woodmaker

My degree was in industrial management/industrial technology . Although I disliked being inside,and so only used my actual degree for a short period,I still use the accounting principles,the knowledge of metal properties,the hydraulic knowledge and application, and the machine tool operation quite frequently to diagnose my heavy equipment,or repair it.
franklin q80,builtrite 40,husky 372,sachs dolmar 123, dozers,excavators,loaders,tri-axle dump trucks ,autocar tractor with dump,flatbed and detachable trailers, and 8  f350 diesels

sawguy21

Quote from: Bert on September 26, 2017, 05:25:01 PM
I didnt go to college exactly but went to an Aeronautics maintenance school and do have a degree in specialized technology. It taught me 2 things. One- never get on an airplane. Two- if you can count past 100 your smarter than 75% of people. Im not being funny but it was an odd experience. The top 3 guys I know in my class all went on to pave their own way in life. The rest- well they are leaving wrenches in your engine overhaul and talking to their shoes and making good money doing it.
:D That is downright funny, I spent thirteen years in the aviation industry although not as a pilot or A&P. I earned a BA with a history major then a couple of years later went to voc ed so I could get a steady job. Major lack of planning on my part ::). I don't regret my college years, I learned a lot about living but if I had known 50 years ago what I know now I definitely would have made different decisions and maybe been on a fat pension. :D
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

Runningalucas

....Trade school, electrician.  College anymore to myself is more about liberalism, and fads, rather than learning a core curricula. 

When you pay to learn, but end up with a mind full of social justice warmongering, in the end you can look back, and............uh....
Life is short, tragedy is instant, it's what we do with our time in between that matters.  Always strive to do better, to be better.

wolf nemeth

Well, I've got a couple of advanced  degrees, and have met people who could barely read and write who are smarter than me.  I had  to unlearn so many college-bred  misconceptions before I could get both feet on the ground.  And once  I did,   I   felt that  I had a lot less in common with  my overeducated  brethren.  Lucky for me i managed to slide into a career combining my education with my love for the outdoors.   But I do wish I remembered how to use a slide rule!!
If you  don't know where you're going, you'll probably end up somewhere else!

gspren

  When I graduated high school in 69 I was a least likely candidate for college but a tour to Viet Nam and then a factory job sent me to college at 24 majoring in education to possibly be a metal shop teacher. I did do some substitute teaching but ended up with the Army Research Lab where I worked experimental weapons and materials. The college shows that you have the ability and willingness to learn even if it's not in your major area.
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

WV Sawmiller

   My best professor in college was in a wildlife management course. He told us to select a game animal then gave us a project to find 27 different items on a list about it and we could not use the same reference twice, i.e. we had to find 27 different reference sources. In that fashion we were forced to learn to use the library and do research. He said the best he could do in the time allowed in our class was teach maybe 50% of what was known about the subject but by teaching us how to use the library we could find over 95% of what was known in our local library.

   My most significant teacher was actually my 12th grade English teacher - his first teaching assignment. He was about 22 years old, might have weighed 95 lbs soaking wet and looked like a little English sparrow strutting around up there but he taught me how to go do research, document the source and organize it into something that flowed reasonably. It is easier now with a computer where you can drag and drop whole paragraphs. I did a multi-million dollar property investigation in the USMC, came in and laid it out on the conference table and the XO came in and told me it looked like a college research paper. I told him actually just like I had done in 12th grade.

   My wife retired as a HS teacher a few years ago and she said her biggest frustration was too many teachers and the admin just wanted to teach the kids to memorize various facts. She said they did not teach them to think.

   I had a man come in with a team of mules last summer to pull some logs for me and while he was not highly educated he was as smart as anybody I every saw in handling his animals and using them to get big logs out of some rough, steep terrain.

   All my life I have heard the expression "He was educated way beyond his ability". We've all seen people who were highly educated but could not apply their education into anything useful. There is a huge difference between education and intelligence IMHO. Intelligence is the ability to apply education and experience, yours an others, to accomplish a goal. Sometimes the smartest thing we can do is get someone else with the ability, training and equipment to do the job rather than hurting  ourselves, damaging our equipment and still not getting the job done correctly.

   I know in college and in subsequent training in the military and other I did much better in classes where I could see that it would be useful rather than in some of the classes college added to make me a "better rounded person".

   I agree we end up with too many liberal college professors and teachers who have never actually had to work at a real job and want to force their views on their students.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Savannahdan

College was quite an adventure for me.  I started after I left high school and failed miserably due to girlfriend issues.  I gave it another try and failed again, same girlfriend.  Decided I needed to get away from things and joined the military during the height of the Viet Nam war.  My awesome good looks and something else got me a job that fit my capabilities.  After I left the military I worked for a few years in budgeting and took some college courses.  I had this urge that I needed to get away from work and go to college fulltime.  So I left my job travelled half way across the country and went to college fulltime.  The most meaningful course I took was Art Appreciation.  I had a wonderful professor who was hellbent on getting me to become an artist.  I had already warned her that I can even butcher up stick figures.  She based her belief on my class participation and attendance.  I needed the course for credit hours, I enjoyed the course and I don't remember much of anything that I learned while I the course.  Funny, I now design graphic models to incorporate with my CNC router projects.  At least I don't have to draw stick figures.
Husqvarna 3120XP, Makita DCS7901 Chainsaw, 30" & 56" Granberg Chain Saw Mill, Logosol M8 Farmers Mill

coxy

I wish I would have stayed in the typing class in high school but at that time I thought it was useless and got my self kicked out of typing class and school the same day :o  I never thought I would  type anything in my lifetime was I sadly mistaken  ;D

sandhills

Coxy I took it, wasn't ever much good at it but learned the basics, my kids die laughing at me when they watch me peck around with two fingers.  The worst part is they probably don't know how to write  :-\.

sawguy21

Quote from: coxy on September 28, 2017, 08:37:18 PM
I wish I would have stayed in the typing class in high school but at that time I thought it was useless and got my self kicked out of typing class and school the same day :o  I never thought I would  type anything in my lifetime was I sadly mistaken  ;D
Typing class was for girls. If we had only known.  :D
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

Ron Wenrich

We had typing for college prep students.  I'm glad I took it.  My wife was a business major in high school and can type about twice as fast.  She can also use shorthand. 

When I was in college, they had us take a 1 credit course in computer programming.  I thought that was a waste of time.  I figured I"d never be at a company that could afford a computer. 
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Crusarius

It is surprising how often computer programming skills get used everyday. Whether you know it or not. Excel VBA is the biggest one I use everyday. Macro's are your friend.

WDH

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on September 28, 2017, 12:55:09 PM
There is a huge difference between education and intelligence IMHO.

Some people have both and some people have neither  :D. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Magicman

But you learned some big words, some of which you know the meaning and some of which I don't !!   :o   :D
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It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Roxie

Back when dinosaurs roamed, a high school education could actually set you up to walk out the class room doors and into corporate America. 

Like Ron's wife, I took business classes.  Three years of bookkeeping were available, but you had to pass the first year to qualify for the second.  The classes were pass or fail, and no middle ground existed.  Each end of the year final exam was balancing your very own unique company books.  In other words, if I completed mine, no one could use my work sheets to get their answers. 

The same curriculum rules applied to typing and shorthand.  To earn a diploma with 'Business' on it, you were also required to pass 'Business Law and Economics' and 'Office Practice.' 

Looking back, I am very happy that I learned the frame work of accounting with hand entries on ledger sheets, because I had a very solid foundation to build on in the real world.  My friends still consider me a freak because cash flow projections and amortizations thrill me as much as budget and financial variance reports. 
Say when

Don P

I didn't last too long in college. dad says I graduated early  :D my folks are both trained as teachers and have done that more often in volunteer capacity, Dad was trained as an industrial arts teacher, to make something useful and beautiful does take a well rounded mind. like they say, you don't own something unless you can teach it to somebody else.

schooling doesn't end, or shouldn't. we do tend to get tunnel vision when left to our own with a curious mind but that is simply something to be aware of... run your particular interest hard but come up for air and get yourself some culture now and again. that makes us a well rounded person and that is a critical part of who we are which affects what we do and how we do it. I'm usually surprised by the networking of ideas and people even as I step outside of my usual fur lined rut. most people, certainly not all, are basically wired to help one another, everyone brings something different in that regard to the table. I've found myself in an after dinner conversation about acoustics with a conductor and can now walk in and around a room with a different set of senses working... we are cool creatures.

I've taken a number of technical education classes through the years in and around the focus of my tunnel. I wish that were more affordable, I think the adult taxpayer should have better access to affordable classes at land grant colleges.

The only thing I'd still be able to do with a slide rule is launch a pencil at the ceiling. I must have spent an inordinate amount of time studying the cantilever  :D Miz DeBerry was our typing teacher. the good girls were along the front 2 rows where the school had bought nice electric typewriters. The rest of us were in steerage on antique manual typewriters. for those too young to remember those machines, if you fat fingered it and hit more than one key, several keys would swing up at the same time, bang into each other and stick, which isn't good for the machine and you have to stop and pick the keys apart then go again. In miz deberry's class, after the second week or so, when your hands were down under the hood performing that operation a young man also needed to be listening for the incoming eraser, this was back when a teacher had no problem driving a point home  :D When she gave us our final timed test I had made it up to 13 words per minute but when she deducted mistakes I was at -5 wpm. not wanting my fat fingers banging away any longer on her machines, I passed  ;D

LeeB

I never made it to college and didn't finish high school for that matter. I consider myself reasonably well educated though. You don't learn everything in a classroom, or should I say, not all classrooms are in a building. I've learned a wide variety of things in my oilfield career but probably the most important in my mind is that I can do just about anything if I put my mind to it.
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

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