Musings and Memes

As I perused the latest issue of Chicago magazine at my parents' over the weekend, I noticed what I think is an important omission in the sample job categories of "who makes what". Tradesmen.

Maybe its because I'm the son of a Dachdeckermeister (Master Roofer), but where are the roofers, plumbers, and masons that build the city and keep it from falling apart?

There was one Master Carpenter that is listed (under "Music" working for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) that is making a handsome salary of over $150k. Today's youth needs to see this, that the trades are a viable option. They don't need an expensive 4-year degree that doesn't guarantee a job, but rather, an apprenticeship program with a tradesman.

I've held many jobs in my day, but I can say I've learned the most working for my father, in our family business. Sure, there was the stressful family-dynamic, but I got to see and experience first-hand all aspects of running a business. Sure beats fetching coffee for a summer as an intern at some Agency dot com.

Posted by Eric Gockel at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In a promise to myself (and my prehypertension), I vowed to only make positive posts on my shiny new blog... and it won't be easy (if you know me). This is therapy.

To help remind myself, I pulled up a post about design consulting by Victor Lombardi last year:

"Highlight opportunities instead of bitching. As designers, we walk around in the world and feel overly sensitive to everything that isn’t designed well. We watch customers struggle when using poorly designed products. There’s an inclination to highlight these faults to executives whom we think should know about these faults. And maybe they should, but mostly they need help seeing the big opportunities. It might sound like product faults and market opportunities are simply the flip side of the same coin, but it’s the difference between being perceived as a whiny designer and a valued business advisor."

Amen, brother.

Posted by Eric Gockel at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)