My father was a professional - part 2

Sequel from My father was a professional - part 1

Things I'm ashamed I didn't learned from him

Even though I knew my father was really skillful in almost any kind of job, I learned very few things from his craftsmanship. He was a great mechanic, but I didn't learn anything related to cars from him (I'm still very ignorant in that subject). He was a great electrician, I learned some stuff of that from him, but I dare to say ...not enough.

Besides the technical skills I could have gotten during my childhood there were other things he did that I just realized were really productive and he did them without having read anything, he just realized it by himself:

• Pomodoro, my father worked in that style during his entire life, measuring everything while working on it.
• Design by Components, I'm making an analogy here with the technique used to design components, but he did it. I now see it clearly when he was working in several iron-related jobs, while he worked with other people he always knew what to expect from them and viceversa.
• Agile, indeed he was agile, he adapted and progressed as soon as changes came, and they were quite a lot during his working hours.

I could list many more but mainly those are the things I can recognize now (a part 3 opening?). There are lots of things my father did write and did wrong, many things that have taught me not to concentrate too much in some things and leave others behind.

Even though my father was a great technician, he wasn't the best salesman. He built wonderful structures and products, but sadly that's not the only thing you need to sell a product. He failed in that for many years and when he finally realized how things should have been done, he ran out of time. 

Sadly for him his work depended on his body, his eyes, and mostly his hands. Health was never in my father's side, during his entire life he fell over and over sick and got involved in several accidents that reduced his capabilities as a craftsman, and the age didn't help neither.

As he became old we all knew he was an expert, but teaching or mentoring was not the best of his skills. He lived to be a great worker and leader, but when the time came and he needed to move to some other thing, he was blocked by his peers because he didn't have a degree or some paper to 'certify' that he really knew what everybody claimed. It's a shame to live in a society where papers and certifications are more valuable than empirical experience, where families and friends can make more than real skills and knowledge. Where it is more valuable to have influences than being the best at your work.

That's what I'm trying to avoid, if some papers and certifications are required, perfect, I'm gonna get them. I can get knowledge, I know that. I like to be an apprentice, to learn, but I also like to apply what I learned, that's why I would never look for a scholarship that bans me from working while studying, if it's not applicable it doesn't have value. Make whatever you do valuable, don't waste too much of your time.

Those are some lessons I learned from my father's life, I hope to be as good as he was, but the trip is long :-)

My father was a professional - part 1

I recently spent some time at my hometown checking some old pictures and notebooks I've got from my childhood, and then spent some time thinking about all my father did for a living, for us, and for all the people around him during his life time. This is a short story of what I know about him that makes me declare that he was an engineer, in the best meaning of the word.

His childhood

First of all a little bit of background, his father was an empirical-mechanic that fought in the war, his mother a school teacher. During his childhood he had to work in order to help his family, so he used to make toys with empty cans: cars, dolls, tools, figures, etc.

Then sold that stuff or trade it for some groceries. During these years worked with his father fixing cars or doing maintenance, you have to understand that cars back didn't come with a manual, books were not accessible and knowledge about mechanics was almost impossible to get.

So he learned on his own, by inspecting, analyzing, figuring out about all the components and how they fit in this system. He learned a lot during this period and created a reputation around him, he could fix things that no one else could, and learned fast about new things.

Teenage years

While still working and studying, he started buying manuals and equipment from stores far away his town, everything by mail, making himself the only person able to get parts and also the only one capable of assemble them.

University

Eventually, he made it to the university, with the little resources he could save while he was working registered in one of the best universities in Bolivia, but his trip only lasted a few months since a military dictatorship closed all universities that were not complaining with their 'patriotic' vision.

Then came back to his town and got the chance to go study in a different country, but sadly he couldn't finish that course because he had to return to help his family, because his father fell into alcoholism and there was no point on trusting him any kind of job or money.

He came back and bought the equipment for a complete workshop, the first one in town. Then managed to avoid taxes on the equipment by making it look old or by splitting it into parts. And I'm talking about big machines, as they were in those days (60-70s in South America).

Professional career

Once in home, started working with his brother in the workshop, working with lots of people and doing everything on his own. He managed the budget, schedules, resources and planning. Planned everything and had a notebook registering all he did and how much he spent doing it, when something went wrong or outside the plan, he planned it again, updating the original plan according to the current scenario.

Among the things he did, these are ones I remember:

• Adapted a car for a disabled men (his legs didn't work), so he could use only the wheel and the gear shift stick to accelerate, slow down, switch gears.
• Designed and installed the electrical installation for his shop, as he needed different voltages for the machinery, and the electrical company didn't know how to do it, he did by himself.
• Built all the infrastructure for a car washing shop, this structures needed to support a lot of weight and be generic enough in order to support several kind of cars.
• Built his own sewer system, using reserve pools in order to improve water's use.
• Designed a pressure-based water system for the car wash shop (using Bernoulli's principle), so he could use very few energy in order to make the water flow through a hose.
• Created his own door-security system, not a big thing, but it managed to keep the doors closed in even with the strongest winds blowing.
• Built a small car for us using and old washing machine, pretty cool.
• Built a car for the family using parts of broken cars, pretty cool also.
• Learned armory on his own, and fixed weapons for the military men that once tried to arrest him.
• Adapted race cars, this was huge, because all racing cars were always in his garage, pretty cool.
• There are more things....I'll be listing them in the future....

Practices I've learned from him

My father was very good in empirical situations, he knew a lot, and if he didn't know, he was really quick in learning. These are some things he did I really appreciate:

• Planned everything, and kept planning if anything changed.
• Made a budget for everything, scheduling everything based on the real time he needed.
• Was truly honest about his work and progress, this didn't always was well taken.
• Never worked overtime, he kept this discipline until his dead.
• Treated his coworkers and employees with respect, and payed a fair salary, even when this meant that he wouldn't get any income.
• Taught his workers, shared knowledge.
• Checked for prior art about anything he involved into.
• Kept his workplace always clean and ordered.

Things he did I disliked, or things he didn't do at all but should have

Even though I loved my father, he had some things that neither I nor my family liked that much.

• He was hot-tempered when he failed.
• He didn't like to read anything that wasn't technical.
• If something went wrong, it took a while for him to recognize a mistake.
• He made things for his coworkers if he knew that it will take them longer to do.
• He avoided discussions and because of that, lost lots of deals.

Things I'm ashamed I didn't learned from him

This will come on part 2 (including my justification about the title)....