A little bit about luck and nonrandom meetings
I am a lover of metaphors and images, so I can easily find an analogy to any process. Well, about finding a creative engineer ... It's like looking for a husband for life. Even if it doesn't work out for life, you still want real impressions. And then how lucky. Everyone picks on the word luck. But how to do without it ?! It is clear, like a white day, that no water flows under the lying stone. Yes, and luck, like a gold digger. I washed tons of sand and suddenly got lucky. And most importantly, I'm not looking for the best, I'm looking for the right one.
For me, a person like a unicorn that everyone has heard about, but no one has seen. I saw and worked, but I have met few such people in my life, the fingers of one hand are enough.
Have you heard more than once the question of what came before, an egg or a chicken? So I wonder what is more important than creativity or skills? I think it's creative. Turning talent into skill is a matter of time.
Once, passing by the desktop of a laser machine operator, out of the corner of my eye I noticed his sketch in pencil. What, how? It turned out that there are good CorelDRAW skills, but complete zero in SOLIDWORKS. So I suddenly had a new engineer.
"Golden Boy" or about a self-taught engineer
For me it was magic how he modeled the products in his head and immediately drew the details for cutting. All the first designers created first in 2D, and then suffered over models and instructions. But a tenacious mind is the head of everything))) So in 2 months I unexpectedly got a creative engineer with my own opinion, with good taste and style. Suitable !!!
But children are growing. And the self-taught engineer wanted big projects, to get acquainted with ESKD, was looking for new knowledge and, of course, prospects. His parents are elderly, so at 25 he had to take care of his 17-year-old sister. I consider it a man's act. This is how I lost almost my blood and flesh. We continue to work, but the deadlines are not at all the same.
Is it skill or fantasy?
And then, in the midst of a pandemic and on the eve of the departure of my "golden boy", we decided to take the opportunity ... We posted a vacancy for a design engineer on one HR website. And a stormy feedback began. I was drowned in a resume. Most of the applicants were employed in the aviation and space sector, Samara is famous for this. I have no doubt about the professionalism of these people. I am sure that their skills exceed my needs. And this was most likely my first mistake. Since HR sites are not tailored to my needs.
Applicants were offered a test task. At that time, we had already developed the Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops units, Alexey was finishing Pterodactyl. So I decided to give it as an assignment. In order not to look like a lover of freebies in the eyes of engineers who wants to steal their ideas. The product is already there, no one has seen it yet, it is easy to compare the results. Terms of reference were sent to all applicants. The incoming traffic of the resume immediately dropped significantly.
Below I attach the text of the TK: The
results of the work began to arrive. And I wanted to sob from both laughter and grief. Many did not understand at all what material we were working with, the eyes began to twitch from some forms and knots, and the horror of the proposed images, if transferred to a dream, would make you wake up in a cold sweat.
Perhaps my task was far from ideal, perhaps it limited the field for imagination. But it was specific, had examples (guidelines), should take a little time and demonstrate the ability of engineers to fantasize.
So the question torments ... What is wrong in this world with a sweet kind creative, and maybe with me?
Below are examples of some of the work:
But, in fact, what happened with us:
