New Job!

I finally got myself a new job about a week or so back. It's with a company that I almost had a job with a few months back, before I decided to go to school for the summer, Rev1 out of Tampa, FL. This, of course, means that I'm moving... once again. As much as I'm looking forward to not living in Illinois any more, I really had hoped to not have to move once again so quickly. As I've said before, I love to travel but I'm really getting burned out by the constant moving of everything I own from one place to another. On the plus side, with this move I already have several friends in the area, so at least I don't feel like I'm starting completely from scratch.

So six days from now I'll start my tip down to Tampa. The trip in total is going to take me about 5 days. In part because I don't really want to drive any more than 8 hours a day and I also have to swing by my parent's house in Michigan to pick up Bear, who's been staying with them since early July. My apartment lease ran out a few days back and it is easier to get friends to let you live with them for a week when you aren't bringing 50 lbs of chaos along with you.

One of the great things about the trip is that it gives me an excuse to drive near where Steph lives again and spend a few hours hanging out with her. I'm not sure if I've mentioned her in my posts before now... although I'm pretty sure I haven't. Steph is an awesome, smart, dinosaur obsessed geek that I met a few months back through OkC. We went on a date a few weeks back and both had a great time. If circumstances were different and we didn't live so far away from each other (a distance which is about to triple) I would be very interested in seeing where things went with her. As it is though, I've gotten a great friend out of it. We are planning on spending a day at Kings Island, outside of Cincinnati, basically pretending to be kids again.

Then, after a quick stop in Atlanta for a night, I'll be in Tampa, FL. One of the main reasons I'm looking forward this move is that it will put me back in a city located right on the water, something I sorely miss from growing up in St. Clair, MI. The combination of high diversity of population and water front city should lead to many great times while I'm there!

Didn't I just do this last year?

So, along with many other people, I'm going to be getting laid off from Caterpillar this coming Friday due to work force reductions.

I don't really have a whole lot to say about it at the moment other than I've already updated my resume.  It's still a relatively rough draft but, if you don't mind, take a moment to look it over.  The format is a little bit messed up simply because I copy and pasted it.  That being said, any suggestions or comments are welcome.

Objective:

To obtain a technical position which utilizes my experience in troubleshooting, preventive maintenance, system analysis, and operations.

Professional Summary:

Military veteran with an exceptional background in troubleshooting, preventive maintenance, system analysis, and system operations. Skilled in working under time sensitive conditions while maintaining an extremely high level of proficiency and competence. Experienced in performing maintenance on and troubleshooting electronic, pneumatic, hydraulic, mechanical, nuclear, and cryogenic systems. Self starter with a strong desire to excel in a variety of challenging situations.

Experience:

Caterpillar (Volt Technical Resources) June 2008 – February 2009

Research Development Technician

• Design and build multiple test benches for the testing of manual and automated embedded software applications.

• Coordinate and perform hardware testing; including thermal cycling, HALT, and vibration.

• Thoroughly document results of testing, create detailed reports, and communicate results to senior engineers.

• Fabricate numerous test harnesses, test boxes, and test panels.

• Act as Point-of-contact for shipping and ordering lab parts and components, for both internal and external sources.

Linde Group: May 2006 – June 2008

Operations Technician

• Understand, monitor, and take corrective actions to ensure product quality.

• Understand, monitor, and take corrective actions to maximize plant efficiency and minimize downtime.

• Have participated in several major plant evolutions, including start-ups and shut-downs, contributing to the safe and efficient restoration of the plant to operating condition.

• Participated in trouble shooting and repairing equipment due to unexpected failures.

• Maintained detailed production logs and records.

• Qualified to issue hazardous work permits.

• Facilitated communications between on-site management and the remote operating center during plant failures, allowing for a minimum of downtime and loss of product.

• Verify and implement OSHA safety standards prior to major contractor work.

• Qualified to perform analysis and quality review for certificate of analysis.

• Ensure plant site is maintained as a secure and safe environment.

• Perform required plant maintenance.

United States Navy: May 2000 – May 2006

Reactor Controls Division Leading Technician: August 2005 – May 2006

• Experienced in performing preventative and corrective reactor plant maintenance on all reactor instrumentation and control equipment, and radiation detection and monitoring equipment.

• Supervised and directed more than twenty nuclear qualified electronics technicians in the performance of preventive and corrective reactor plant maintenance.

• Performed quality assurance audits on reactor logs to monitor trends and identify abnormal conditions, and to ensure complete accuracy

• Diagnosed electronic system malfunctions, leading to minimum down time of the effected reactor plant systems.

• Responsible for ensuring the accuracy of reactor plant technical manuals, making recommendations to correct inaccuracies, and writing up technical paper work to allow for inaccuracies to be corrected.

Nuclear Reactor Operator: February 2002 – May 2006

• Ensure safe and continued operation of the nuclear reactor during a variety of plant conditions on two classes of Naval Nuclear Propulsion Plant

• One of eight personnel out of thirty chosen to stand reactor operator during the department’s yearly operational readiness exam.

Wire Free Communications Technician: August 2002 – July 2005

• Responsible for development and implementation of WIFCOM (wire free communications) training program on board the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

• Trained over 600 reactor department personnel in the use of the WIFCOM system.

• Responsible for performing preventive and corrective maintenance on all WIFCOM equipment

Electronics Technician [Nuclear]: January 2001 – May 2006

• Skilled in troubleshooting electronic systems to the component level using schematics, wiring diagrams, and technical manuals.

• Aligned, adjusted, and calibrated electronic equipment within exact specifications using frequency counters, digital multimeters, oscilloscopes, visicorders, and high-accuracy pressure gages.

• Analyzed and interpreted test data to ensure the proper operation of millions of dollars of complex reactor instrumentation and control equipment.

Volunteer Experience

• Youth soccer couch for U17 coed: Fall 1999

• Southwestern Illinois field office manager for a United States presidential campaign: January 2008 – March 2008

• Southwestern Illinois county coordinator for a United States presidential campaign: January 2008 - February 2008

• Organizer of a volunteer group located in Edwardsville, IL: September 2007 – June 2008

Education/Qualification:

• Perusing Bachelor's Degree in Nuclear Engineering Applied Science and Technology from Thomas Edison State College (estimate graduation Fall 2009)

• WIFCOM Technical School, Lynchburg, VA (2 weeks)

• Safety Programs Afloat course, Norfolk, VA. (1 week)

• Naval Nuclear Prototype, graduated January 2001, Ballston Spa, NY. (24 weeks)

• Naval Nuclear Power School Enlisted, graduated August 2001, Charleston, SC. (24 weeks)

• Electronics Technician Nuclear Field A School, graduated February 2002, Charleston, SC. (28) weeks

• High School Diploma, St. Clair High School, St. Clair, MI, 1998

Security Clearance

• Maintained a Confidential and Secret level security clearance from July 2000 - 2006