Guest UWOMED2005 Posted May 6, 2003 Report Share Posted May 6, 2003 Yeah, my Dad worked with Monty when they were young rising execs. I've heard him talk a lot about Monty and his proficiencies as an executive, but I think I'd be liable for libel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MayFlower1 Posted May 7, 2003 Report Share Posted May 7, 2003 Hey Sally, I worked at Carling in Design Interpretive. I participated in the design of the physical interface of Long Haul...and pretty much every other optical switch designed by Nortel. I have been significantly involved in the design of Taurus (new Norstar terminals), the new Nortel handset, Vista series telephones (100, 200, 250, 350), Nomad wireless telephone, the Multi-Carrier Cellular Base Station...cellular network planning software...the list goes on and on...I worked at Nortel for more than 10 years (actually, BNR then Nortel as previously mentioned). Anyway, how are you doing post lay-off? I find it's really great to be out of high tech...I've been doing so many different things over the last two years...although stressful...I'm really enjoying myself. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sally2001 Posted May 7, 2003 Report Share Posted May 7, 2003 Hi Peter, Oh that's so cool.. you and I actually worked on the same product.. hehe I'm not familiar with some of the other products you mentioned because we were basically in our own world. With 10+ yrs, I guess you got that famous email from John Roth about the "right angle turn". It was kind of neat to be inside the whole thing while it was happening. I got my papers/package less than a year ago.. It was a great relief initially but then you do feel the sadness and it was just a really unfortunate situation overall. Did you participate in the Right Management sessions? Wow, I really felt for some of those people I met there, it was like the end of the world! Now the job market for engineers is worse and my colleagues and I are in touch and it's really disheartening to see bright, intelligent, and relatively young PhD's going "so what are we to do now"? As you say, sometimes different opportunities open up as I, too, have tried to make the most out of the experience. I was always planning/hoping to apply to medical school at some point, even if it was down the road. Now it just happens that i am able to start preparing earlier! Well it's great to hear from you and best of luck in with this years application. Hope to be in your shoes next year.. or the year after... Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MayFlower1 Posted May 7, 2003 Report Share Posted May 7, 2003 Sally, That is cool...very small world. Did you participate in the Right Management sessions? I didn't participate in the "how to find a job" seminars that Right offered, nor did I take advantage of the job searching support they offered. I personally found their handling of the whole situation less than optimal. During my "meeting" with the Right Management person (i.e., the meeting when they give you your package)...the woman started bawling. While I appreciate she was being empathetic...I think she violated a professional boundary...I ended up consoling her...I found the whole situation very strange to say the least. I felt awful for many of my colleagues...while I was quite upbeat about the whole thing (not that I didn't have my issues) many were completely devastated. I felt it was important to support my employees as much as possible...and felt it was important to remain positive and help others see the positive side of the whole mess. What is really quite sad is many of my staff and colleagues still do not have work...I've been very fortunate. As you say, sometimes different opportunities open up as I, too, have tried to make the most out of the experience. I was always planning/hoping to apply to medical school at some point, even if it was down the road. Now it just happens that i am able to start preparing earlier! The above is really important to keep in mind. While it's completely reasonable and necessary to go through the stages associated with losing work, etc., it's also very important to pick yourself up, look at the opportunity, and learn and grow by the situation. It was a great relief initially but then you do feel the sadness and it was just a really unfortunate situation overall. I completely agree with you about the sadness...I really miss Nortel...I had a great deal of fun and learned even more. There aren't too many companies you can have these types of experiences at. Good luck to you too. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted May 8, 2003 Report Share Posted May 8, 2003 Hi Peter and Sally, Did you guys ever work with Francois Blouin? He was also involved in many designs including the Vista series and I was working with him, supplying the LCDs. I took him on a factory audit in Taiwan. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sally2001 Posted May 9, 2003 Report Share Posted May 9, 2003 Hi Kirsteen, Nice to hear from you; unfortunately I do not recall a gentleman by that name.. it seems that he was in a supplier interface group and my group really didn't interact with too many people outside the company. Our customers and suppliers were different internal groups. Also, I didn't work on the phone equipment side.. to us there was optical, center of our world , wireless which we heard about periodically and everyone else.. haha. I am not kidding when I say we had our heads in our work, but in all fairness optical was pretty big so just having the "optical big picture" was an accomplishment! Anyway, it's pretty neat that Nortel was a buyer for some of your (companys) products. Like Peter said, it's a small world. He may in fact know your contact since he did work on that product. Peter - just wanted to comment on the Right Management lady who was presented at your meeting. I completely agree that was a very unusual scenario and quite inappropriate. I recall our meeting was not one-on-one, a whole group of us were called in at once. The director came and did his thing, then the HR guy, then the Right Management guy told us what services were available blah blah blah. He was quite somber about it, but at that point we were quite ready and we were all in it together, so it was almost amusing. The reality of it all set in a few days later... Anyway, I am not bitter about it at all and am grateful for the chance. As you say it was a great place to work and learn from others. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MayFlower1 Posted May 9, 2003 Report Share Posted May 9, 2003 Kirsteen, OMG, it IS a small world! I know Francois Blouin very well. We worked intimately together on a number of products, including Vista. Actually, Francois and I did significant laboratory testing on displays together. Our experiments enabled Nortel (BNR at the time) to specify displays for Vista and subsequent display-based terminals. If you bump into Francois sometime, ask him about the display lab Peter Hill set up with him...remind him of the extra air conditioning we had to put in the room to control the temperature...FYI, we had several thousand watts of automated lighting set up in our usability lab to simulate various illumination and glare levels a display might find itself in...it got so hot in the room we had to provide supplemental air conditioning so our respondents didn't expire from heat exhaustion during the several-hundred trial signal-detection experiments we were running. Ha ha...that brings back such great memories... By the way, if you didn't already know it, Francois is, in my opinion, a complete genius...I have never worked with anybody more intelligent, creative and capable than Francois. Thanks for the memory. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted May 10, 2003 Report Share Posted May 10, 2003 Hi there Peter, Very teeny world! I worked with Francois for a few years on LCD solutions, and in fact, I visited the wee LCD lab at the main BNR building on a couple of occasions. It was quite interesting and Francois seemed very proud of it. Cool! I agree with you completely re: his capabilities. At the time I recall hearing a number of rumblings alluding to the fact that Francois should be skyrocketing through the ranks at Nortel. Do you have any idea where he is at now, i.e., is he still at Nortel? It's been a few years since I worked with LCDs and so I've little clue as to the whereabouts of the "old" denizens! Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest krnboy Posted May 16, 2003 Report Share Posted May 16, 2003 three reasons 1) I want to do something important with my life. 2) I want to save people's lives 3) I want to earn a lot of money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MayFlower1 Posted May 16, 2003 Report Share Posted May 16, 2003 hey krnboy, 1) I want to do something important with my life.2) I want to save people's lives 3) I want to earn a lot of money If number 3 is really one of your top reasons for meds...you might want to have a second look and talk with some practicing docs...there are other way more lucrative professions and trades... Number 2 is a good motivation...I hope all meds students have this at heart. I would say that saving lives is only a very tiny part of medicine though...there's education...prevention...support...etc. Number 1...if medicine makes you feel like you're doing something important with your life (it would make me feel that way) then go for it...just realize there may be many other things that can give you that sense of doing something important. Please don't get me wrong...I'm not saying you're reasons are not valid...they are your reasons...I'm trying to suggest that what's really important is that you're doing what makes you happy and fulfilled...it's a long haul...lots of money, effort and time to get there...but the money thing...you really need to look around these threads and talk to docs, residents, etc., to find out the real scoop...the money isn't really that great compared to other professions...and it comes with a ton of responsibility...stress..blah blah. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peachy Posted May 16, 2003 Report Share Posted May 16, 2003 Yeah. I totally agree with Peter. Am I the only one who takes the money thing as a reason not to pick medicine? I feel like I'd do a lot better financially if I chose a more lucrative career... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bj Posted May 16, 2003 Report Share Posted May 16, 2003 Hi peachy, It's funny because I have a totally different reason for having the same opinion. Medicine's financial compensation is still considerable, given that the average household in Canada has an income of $60,000. TOTAL. My parents didn't make much when I was growing up, which made me humble about the whole thing. You are who you are, not what you do or how much money you make. I want my (future) kids to have those same values and not become (excuse the language) snobby little rich kids. I guess that may not make sense to some people, but I have always been pretty proud of working my butt off to actually earn everything I get. I see medicine as a way to do what I want to do. If we made all our decisions based on money, the world would be a sad, sad place. BJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted May 17, 2003 Report Share Posted May 17, 2003 Very few people choose careers for the money, rather it's the lifestyle. . . the idea you can buy nice things, wear nice clothes, eat nice meals. If that's the reason for choosing medicine, you'll go nuts: 4 years in undergrad, 4 years in med school, 2-7 years in residency, plus time devoted to paying off the debts. All this time (10++ years) is spent "living like a student" meaning you'll go nuts if lifestyle is your main goal. That being said, when all is said and done doctors do ok for themselves, particularly in the context of the average Canadian income, and even in terms of professionals considering the relatively high baseline income (for example there are quite a few lawyers struggling to make ends meet) and job security (considering the number of MBAs who have their careers end long before they're ready to retire.) I don't think you should choose medicine for the money, but at the same time you shouldn't lose perspective as to what other careers have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MayFlower1 Posted May 17, 2003 Report Share Posted May 17, 2003 I don't want people to take what I said the wrong way...I'm not saying the money in medicine isn't good...but it's not as "way over the top" as many people looking in think. Sure, some of the specialties and subspecialties make significant amounts of money...but they have also sacrificed a great deal of time and money to get there...they also have a signficant amount of responsibility associated with it. With respect to less lucrative specialties...like Family Medicine, for example, as bj and UWOMEDS2005 have correctly pointed out...it's not a bad living...in fact it's quite good compared to the average Canadian income...for sure...but you're certainly not swimming in it. Actually, the primary reason for the above post was more centered on motivation for doing medicine and the fact that money is really a poor motivator for any career... Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest j282 Posted May 17, 2003 Report Share Posted May 17, 2003 Bj I thought the household income in Canada was 30,000 per year. Did it double in the last couple of years? Mayflower, just curious what are you up to these days? Are you still on those gov't contracts or have you moved on to a new venture? A thought on the subject. The money's good, even after sevicing a 150K debt, your monthly income will far exceed that of the average population. Despite the extra 4 years in school over a undergrad degree, you have essentially extended your working life in some cases by 20 years (people getting "phased" out "laid off" "redundant" at age 50 in the working world while you can work till 70 worry free). Financially there's no issue, hands down its the best paying, most secure profession. All global salary surveys show physicians as the top income earners in any country. However what one should really be thinking about is the immense responsiblity, the emotional toll, the stress, the stress of schooling, one's own health in dealing with the aformentioned issues. The time involved in running your own business. etc. Take Care Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MayFlower1 Posted May 17, 2003 Report Share Posted May 17, 2003 j282, Nice to see you...you haven't been posting recently. Mayflower, just curious what are you up to these days? Are you still on those gov't contracts or have you moved on to a new venture? Well, like many others here...I'm waiting for "D-Day" in a few weeks...that's my primary objective right now. I'm no longer working for the Government. While Statistics Canada was very interesting, the environment wasn't for me...I found it quite pathetic, quite frankly. I do understand that the environment varies greatly, however, depending on where you are in the government. The biggest problem at Stats was that there is no motivation for doing a good job...lots of redundancy...waste...and, believe it or not, poor research. In defense of Statistics Canada though...there are a handful of really creative and expert researchers...and a few really amazing research programs that nobody but a national research agency could ever dream of conducting. After finishing up my last contract with Stats, I worked for another local research agency (Ekos). I was analysing data from a syndicated research study they do (Rethinking Citizen Engagement). I was also involved in planning the analysis of another syndicated study (Rethinking the Information Highway). A great company and wonderfully challenging research projects. Unfortunately, like everyone else, they are feeling the "pinch" at this time of year...it's the slow time for market/social research...so the contracts are over for now. I've just applied for another position to manage a market research division at a really cool company...I'll divulge the name (which will be of interest to many here) once things are worked out. This is one of the possibilities for my "Plan B". Of course, I'm still working at my wife's clinic...primarily doing IT/Communications infrastructure, billing systems, electronic and paper medical forms/patient info sheets, and I've just launched their web site which has received many kudos from the CMA/MD Management. We're still finalizing some of the content...once it's iterated again I'll post the link here. It's not a flashy site...but it's extremely functional. The best part about the site is the information...a literal goldmine of info for people thinking about setting up a private practice. Tons of great stuff about policies, etc. How about you...what are you up to? What's your "Plan B"? With respect to your other point: A thought on the subject. The money's good, even after sevicing a 150K debt, your monthly income will far exceed that of the average population. Despite the extra 4 years in school over a undergrad degree, you have essentially extended your working life in some cases by 20 years (people getting "phased" out "laid off" "redundant" at age 50 in the working world while you can work till 70 worry free). I think rather than the financial aspects...you hit the nail on the head with another point...the stability...this is a very attractive aspect of medicine...absolutely no doubt. Financially there's no issue, hands down its the best paying, most secure profession. I agree, that it's one of the most secure professions, however, I'm not so sure about the fact that it's the best paying...it's a very good living...but there are many other ways to make more money...forgetting about how hard one has to work...or stability, etc. However what one should really be thinking about is the immense responsiblity, the emotional toll, the stress, the stress of schooling, one's own health in dealing with the aformentioned issues. The time involved in running your own business. etc. This last stuff is the stuff that absolutely has to be factored into the "higher salary". There's no doubt about it that relative to the salary, physicians have way more responsibility, emotional and physical stress...etc., than other professions...this is a really important thing to keep in mind. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.