Thankful Thursday - Work

In this day and age I am so thankful I have a job.  It may not exactly be what I dreamed of but, they pay is good and I have a job to go to each morning.  I am an Architectural Designer/Drafter by trade and I am currently working for an engineering firm and helping to design mechanical, piping and electrical units.  Although Washington State seems to have weathered the economic downturn fairly well, the architecture and construction industries have taken a hard hit in the past couple of years. 

(Old style drafting office)

The photo above is what a drafting office would have looked like 60-70 or more years ago. 

(Old school drafting table & swing arm scale)

When I first learned drafting when I was in high school this is what the desk of a drafter looked like. 












 

(AutoCAD Architecture opening screenshot)



Then in college I learned how to draw on this...

(A place that looks similar to where I currently work)

... and now I sit in a place like this drawing drawings that look similar to...














(A engineering drawing I found on the web to use as an example)


...this, but...














(An architectural project I found on the web to use as an example)



I know that I am capable of producing things more like this.  Its amazing how fast things change over the years. And still, I find myself just being thankful that I am working and working in the general vicinity of what I have learned and been trained to do.

(This is an actual photo from my first drafting job that was in this beautiful office.
Thanks for the photo Erik)

Although there are definitely days when I miss working in this place!

***I copied these photos from the web as examples only.  I do not represent and have not worked on these projects.***



Project Monday - Perception

This is a little different outlook on Project Monday.  I don't typically like to mix my work with my personal life, but I think this is great topic when it comes to projects.  I am an architectural drafter/designer by trade and right now I am working as a drafter for an engineering firm.  My high school drafting teacher showed me this cartoon back then and I just came across it again recently.  Its a humorous take on the different ways different disciplines within the design stages view the process of a project. 

Do you remember playing the game 'Telephone' with your friends at slumber parties when you were a kid?  It was the game where you sat in a circle and one person would whisper a sentence into the next person's ear and then that person would whisper to the next and so on and so on.  At the end the last person would repeat what they heard and everyone would laugh because it was so different than the original sentence.

This cartoon reminds me of that game.  I think no matter what it is we do day to day, perception is a huge part of the outcome. Its funny how a client can have a vision and each different person along the way has their own interpretation.  Guess we should all take this as a lesson of life in the ways we view the world.  We may be looking at the same things but the way we see and interpret them can be so very different in the end.  A valuable lesson I need to take in to account in my everyday life.  Its so easy to see things our own way and stepping outside of our boxes into the realm of something new is scary.  But then again its facing and learning from the unknown which teaches us to grow and how communication can be a invaluable tool for a successful outcome between all.