Internship and maybe a new start

[AlZilla]

2 hours ago, fredk said:

WW2 the famous bomber called the Lancaster was built mainly by women.

A friend of mine recently passed at 91. Back in the early 50's she led an all female crew, welding up bomb bay doors on some kind of aircraft.

[Handstitched]

Forgive  me if this sounds like a "what do you want to be when you grow up "  question, but i wanted to be a farmer, that was until i went an open day at an agricultural  college in my younger days , not far from where i live, a few farmers gave a demonstration on how lambs tails are removed,      it made me  feel ill 😢.  Oh well,  bang goes that idea. But in hindsight,  I'm glad I didn't continue that idea as it's an incredibly  tough  and frustrating  job and often with little and sometimes  no return.  Many assorted jobs later,  out  of the blue, I tried my hand at leather work, and enjoyed it, now  20 years later , I  still do 😀 

HS

[Handstitched]

@Tove09Tilda I really hope everything goes really for you 🙏   

A former flame of mine  is a scientist,  her office was adorned  with degrees of all kinds in science ,  she spent many years at uni,  she did do some science based jobs  in labs etc, but they didn't last long, some  of the jobs she ended up doing were food tasting demos in supermarkets , , when we first met, she worked at fast food takeaway joint, go figure ? 

HS

 

[fredk]

I used to drive new cars, we had two at the time. The dealership I choose gave good deals. The cars had to be serviced at the usual regular intervals. The chief mechanic was a young lady. She did a first class, and quick, job on my cars. Her diplomas lined the service reception walls. After the first time of her servicing my car thereafter I always asked for her to do my car. Many times I was in the servicing reception booking my car in and I heard others say very strongly they didn't want her touching their car

One time as I was going in to book the dealer stopped me for a chat 'you can't have Kathy to do your car'  

'Oh, why, has she left?'

'No, she's gone over to England, the importer is doing mechanics classes for the new range coming in next month'

'Why did you hire her anyway?' He knew I liked her and meant no harm with this

'She's a first class mechanic, top of her class, and we always hire the best'

After the dealership closed down I lost track of her

[Mulesaw]

@Tove09Tilda Congratulations, that is SUPER news.

I hope that you will be able to find some accomodation near the saddlemaker while doing your internship.

Another thing, how did your Y-shaped dog harness turn out? 

Brgds Jonas

 

[Sheilajeanne]

As someone who has a science degree, and is very interested in it, it really burns me the number of times women have made really important scientific discoveries, only for men to take all the credit.

The best known example is probably the discovery of how the DNA molecule is put together. It was a woman, Rosalind Franklin, who did the x-ray crystallography that revealed the molecule was actually a double helix. Yet scientists Watson and Crick were the ones who received all the credit. 

In a later edition of the book, The Double Helix, (published 1968) Watson confessed that Franklin did not receive the credit she deserved: 

Quote

"Since my initial impressions about [Franklin], both scientific and personal (as recorded in the early pages of this book) were often wrong I want to say something here about her achievements." He goes on to describe her superb work, and, despite this, the enormous barriers she faced as a woman in the field of science. He also acknowledged that it took years to overcome their bickering before he could appreciate Franklin's generosity and integrity.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Double_Helix

Unfortunately, this was many years after Franklin's death from cancer in 1958.

[Tove09Tilda]

Okay, now that my internship is over — one week earlier than planned — I thought I’d give you all an update.

I did learn a few things about leather, but by far the biggest lesson was learning what a toxic work environment actually looks like. Not in theory — in real life. I’d heard about it before, but I’d never experienced it firsthand. Now I have, and I can say with 100% certainty: I dodged a bullet.

On top of that, the company itself seems to be on rather shaky ground. Reflecting on the experience during the train ride home, I noticed quite a few red flags pointing toward a… let’s call it an uncertain future.

That said, here are a few things I learned and can share, as they’re not secrets or company-specific:

1. If you have enough strength, a very sharp cutter knife can be almost as good as a half-moon knife (personally, I’ll still stick to the half-moon).
2. Always apply stain following the growth direction of the fiber — you can check this by rubbing your finger up and down along the edge.
3. Also stain the back of your loops.
4. Piping can easily be done by inserting PVC as a filler, or by skiving the edges and leaving only the center at full thickness.
5. You wouldn’t believe how much of a saddle is made from fat leather.
6. Forget everything you know about maker’s marks — silver pens and fountain pens are widely used instead (though I’ll probably still stick with maker’s marks).
7. Patterns you use frequently should be made from thick cardstock and clearly labeled. For everything else, large craft paper works fine — just weigh it down and trace with a silver pen.
8. Never cut your stitches when you need to undo them. Use a blunt awl and open them one by one.
9. You can trim the edges of rolled pieces with a No. 6 edge tool.
10. Saddle cushions are more often than you’d think backed with thin carpet.
11. Use a round awl when going back into stitches so you don’t cut the thread.
12. Better to have stitch holes slightly too small and use pliers than to make them too large.
13. Always — and I really mean always — expect to use more strength than you initially think.

In the end, I was advised to look elsewhere if I truly want to become a saddler — preferably England rather than Germany. And honestly? I can see why.

If the German traineeship system doesn’t change significantly in the coming years, I can say this very clearly: I will never, ever let a German-trained saddler work on any of my animals. No training on the animal itself, and an exam consisting of one bridle and hand stitching at the very end? I’m sorry, but that’s a hard no from me.

The same goes for saddle fitting, by the way. I’d rather take courses in England whenever possible, combine that with a Saddlefit 4 Life education, and do it myself.

This could have been a great experience — but when people look at you strangely for asking “why,” they’re not going to be great teachers. And when most people around you seem unhappy, that tells you everything you need to know.

So no new start — but that’s okay.

I’ll refocus on business consulting now, especially change management and family business consulting, and pursue that more seriously. I’m currently looking for additional pro bono work, so if you know a small business that could benefit from a short-term external perspective… you know who to recommend 😂

Best, 
Tove 

[ClaimedVacancy]

I had a very similar experience leaving the military; internship at a wood shop making furniture, while still being paid by the government (legitimate program!). It works great if the company is great to work for, but i was free labor and made a lot of pretty stuff at no cost to them. of course there is wayyy more vetting of companies now than there was then to prevent that.

I learned more about what i don’t want versus what i do, and ended back in my original field of expertise post service. And fortunately it worked out very well. But my path was trades first then college. So a bit in reverse. 

Best of luck out there! There’s an opportunity out there. PS, we’re experiencing the same problem in the US with applying and being rejected in respective fields. Its became a major problem, and hiring appears to be stonewalled out by some entity (AI usage on both ends?). It’s a weird time that i hope will loosen.