Shoulda mentioned earlier. new Job

[coius]

Yup. I finally got a new job! I am currently working for Lucent/Alcatel survying cellphone signals in a van. We just picked up the van and am waiting for the sign from Lucent to get the equipment from them.

It's going to be a rather fun job, but there's little room for error, so we gotta work carefully. Wish me luck!

 

[ChristTrekker]

Congratulations. It's been a bumpy road for you. Hopefully smooth sailing from here on!

 

[Christopher]

I wish for coius to have luck.

 

[wally]

So, will the high tech equipment be relatively automated, with GPS/GIS integrated data collection? Will you mostly push the start button and drive, or is there a lot of measurement equipment manual operation depending on what you encounter in the field, like unexpected jamming or multipath? And most importantly, will you get to utter words like "can you hear me now?" [8D]

 

[Lateralus]

Congrats.

I've been unemployed since June and have run out of options.

 

[coius]

The funny thing is that I have been sitting in this van all day, get paid $16/hour and haven't had to do ANY work yet. Yay for the ultimate job!

Anyways, I am working with special cellphone systems working on a beta Cellphone 3G network for AT&T and Lucent. So the back of the van is almost completely filled with cell phone equipment. We got 5 cell phone antennas at the top of the van, 2 cellphones calling each other to check for blocked/dropped calls, and a 3G Wifi Card in two laptops. It's pretty cool!

 

[coius]

Sitting with some coworkers in a van (I am with the yellow coat). The box is filled with Expensive 3G Cell Equipment. I would say about $25k for the equipment. We have been trying to get the damn stuff to work all day. And we have burned through a quarter of a tank of gas just keeping warm.

I stop work in the next 23 minutes, so I will have put in a 9-hour day doing NOTHING but browse the web, waiting for stuff to work (my supervisor is trying to get the stuff to work)

Sweet job

 

[Lateralus]

If you don't mind my asking; how did you get the job and what are the qualifications?

Sounds like something I'd like.

 

[Phreakinus]

Yeah, I'm curious about it too.

 

[LCGuy]

What an awesome job :O

 

[Bunsen]

Whatever you do, don't sit on the transmitter

Congrats!

 

[Unknown_K]

Am I the only one who would go nuts having a job doing nothing in a van for 9 hours a day?

 

[istar1018]

Good for you!! I hope you enjoy this one... just as long as you don't drive around saying "can you hear me now?"

I agree with you Unknown_K. From personal experience, having a job where you do nothing all day gets old FAST (especially when you don't have the Internet to distract you). But, it sounds like when this one gets going, it'll have the right mix of cool technology and working with other like-minded people.

 

[foetoid]

Congrats.
I've been unemployed since June and have run out of options.

McDonald's? A warehouse? you're never really out of options.

 

[coius]

Crap... Well, an unfortunate turn of events, Lucent decided they only need one team. So the guy in the photo, and I (in the yellow coat) have been laid off. This sucks SO bad. I can't get a decent job and keep it. And every time I get a job, It ends badly and it's not my fault.

Being unemployed REALLY sucks, and I found a good job, and Lucent changed their Minds. Sucks being a contractor :-/

I am really down about this. I get a cool job and I find out I am no longer needed

Anyways, I get paid for yesterday, but I am really down about this. I just got a new car for the job, and now I will be paying it off with NO income.

I guess life sucks sometimes...

 

[Scott Baret]

Am I the only one who would go nuts having a job doing nothing in a van for 9 hours a day?

I'd be the same way! I was at work today and the phone didn't ring for about ten minutes or so and I found myself going crazy because of that!

This is why I love the field of education (my study in school)--you've got to be alert every minute you're on the job and there is no such thing as a second without something going on. Even if the students are in the middle of SSR, you've got to be prepared for anything.