1/29/15 You Want To Be A Man? #6

    Ambition.  Defined as desire for rank, fame, or power.  You need it if you want to be a man worth the boots you think you look good in.  We are blessed in that we live in 'merica, fuck yeah!  Opportunities abound for those that desire.  Everyone can find a niche to match their disposition.  I am very pro education but clearly, college is not for everyone, and everyone shouldn't be trying to go there.  For the uninitiated it is a colossal waste of time.  Some people are better off joining the workforce ASAP and getting experience in the real world.  That being said, it can be depressing in the beginning, nobody wants to hire kids, they usually lack focus, energy, attention spans, etc.
    Ambition got me in the door in my current position.  I had been with the company about four years but had been feeling the cold winds of change in the fab I had been in.  I applied for a position to do what I do now, with a different manager who is no longer around.  I had a feeling he didn't care for me.  He asked me "why do you think you can do this job?"  With his full staff of 4-5 TEM specialists there in the room.  I said first thing that came to my mind: "if they can do it, I can too."  He did not hire me, but I didn't care for his attitude anyway.  I hate uptight people with power.
    About a month later, my current boss called me in for an interview, I hadn't even applied for his position, but he took my name from the other manager and called me in.  He wanted an SEM technician, very similar to TEM, as far as we look at tiny samples and take pictures.  He was fixing to go on sabbatical, but wanted the position filled before he left.  I told him "hire me, nobody will work harder than me."  He did and I have been with the group now about 16 years.  None of the other manager's chosen flock is around anymore and he was laid off at a certain point.  No hate on him, but I don't appreciate when people don't see what a special snowflake I am.  :)
    I would never claim to be the smartest person in the group, we usually carry 4-5 PhD's in a group of about 20 people, and even some of the other people here are nuts with their fascination of what we do, but I will go head to head against anyone who claims they put out more work than me, year after year. 
    Be ambitious, apply everywhere, you never know where you might end up.  I had no idea semiconductors were a thing.  I assumed all electronics were made in Japan and or China, but here I am, almost 20 years into a career I did not set out on, but it has been interesting and fun.