old member (may I say "veteran"?) is leaving

[didierj]

Hi LabVIEW'er,

Some might have remarked that I was quiet for the last few months...

Well, this is because I rarely use LabVIEW since last October. I changed the job!

Working till then as a developer, now I act as a project manager (yes, these "useless" ones you could easily put in the same bin as the directors, always behind a word document and doing weired stuff on ms project )

Just to specify: I don't have to wear all day long a tie :!:

I work for a company that builds those complicated systems behind the rail signals, to avoid that 2 trains crash into each other. There I make the planning, design and startup of axle counters (a subsytem). So my job is to keep track in ms project, design the system (e.g. connection diagrams), tell the technitian when they have to do what, go onto the rail tracks when everyting is installed and fine-tune the system and last but not least tell the customer (project manager of the SBB: swiss federal railway) how good they are .

For the ones that don't know what an axle counter is: The tracks are divided into section of 20m to ~2km length. at the beginning and end of each section is a sensor that counts how much wheels pass. Now when a train runs the first sensor register a certain ammount of wheels. from now on the related section is "blocked" (the signal before this section goes to red). When the train passes the sensor at the opposit side of the section this one also counts the wheels. Now the signal can only become green if the two wheel counts are same. If the counts are not the same someone has to go onto the track and find the carriage the train lost .

I decided to change the job, because I missed the "free air", I'm about every other month on the tracks wearing these "ugly" orange and reflecting dresses. Working as a developer for the production systems gives almost no possibility to work outside the company walls. I would have prefered some job as a (LabVIEW, of course) developer for customer, but this good opportunity crossed my way and I jumped on it. Jobs like Michael or Jim have are quite rare.

Although my job is to "manage" I haven't put aside "development" totally. My first big project was to "invent" something to facilitate our daily job designing with the office-tools. So I did some weired stuff on Visio with custom shapes and VBA. I'm quite happy with the result and my new workmates too.

... oh, I almost forgot something (for you Michael, an old dept):

http://forums.lavag.org/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5143

With these two nice "random noise generators" there isn't much time left for some "private" LabVIEW projects. Maybe I can manage to wirework a bit on the way to/from work, just to calm down my emotions. Has anyone ever tried to wire two sub-vi's on a shaking train with a notebook-mousepad??

So, I whish you all the best for the future. Maybe, if time let it, I'll be here occasionally.

Didier

[Ton Plomp]

Hi Didier,

Welcome in the train business!

It looks like you're a competitor/colleague. We (Lloyd's Register Rail) developed the Gotcha system for detecting train and 'square wheels' at trains!

And yes you can do LabVIEW at 300 km/h in a high-speed train or a 120 km/h normal train.

Have fun and don't forget the wire

Ton

[didierj]

QUOTE(tcplomp @ Mar 7 2007, 01:51 PM)

Welcome in the train business!

It looks like you're a competitor/colleague. We (Lloyd's Register Rail) developed the Gotcha system for detecting train and 'square wheels' at trains!

In Switzerland the only (main) contractors are Alcatel (since January 1st named Thales) and Siemens. Actually the swiss federal Rail accept only one axle counter system for new projects and it is the one from Alcatel. So guess in which company I work .

QUOTE(tcplomp @ Mar 7 2007, 01:51 PM)

And yes you can do LabVIEW at 300 km/h in a high-speed train or a 120 km/h normal train.

But not in a 40year old suburb train at 80km/h (which seems to be more than this train was designed for).

[Grampa_of_Oliva_n_Eden]

QUOTE(didierj @ Mar 7 2007, 08:05 AM)

In Switzerland the only (main) contractors are Alcatel (since January 1st named Thales) and Siemens. Actually the swiss federal Rail accept only one axle counter system for new projects and it is the one from Alcatel. So guess in which company I work .

But not in a 40year old suburb train at 80km/h (which seems to be more than this train was designed for).

Remember the Lounge is always open.

May the "Big Wire-wroker" smile on your adventures.

Ben

[Tomi Maila]

Good luck with your new career! Remember that we'll welcome you back any time if you choose to get tired of being project manager.

QUOTE(didierj @ Mar 7 2007, 03:05 PM)

In Switzerland the only (main) contractors are Alcatel (since January 1st named Thales) and Siemens. Actually the swiss federal Rail accept only one axle counter system for new projects and it is the one from Alcatel. So guess in which company I work .

Keep your hands out of bribery. That's something you may face if your company needs to compete against Siemens For those who don't know Siemens has been giving major bribes to win contracts for at least ten years in the network and telecom business. If I recall correctly the money was routed via "consulting" companies in Switzerland. They are now being investigated even at the CEO level.

[crelf]

Cheers mate - have a good one! ...and, as Ben says:

QUOTE(Ben @ Mar 8 2007, 12:21 AM)

the Lounge is always open

[Jim Kring]

Didier,

Thanks for all your many contributions to the community

Please don't be a stranger.

Cheers,

-Jim

[Yair]

QUOTE(didierj @ Mar 7 2007, 12:09 PM)

With these two nice "random noise generators"

:laugh:

QUOTE

Has anyone ever tried to wire two sub-vi's on a shaking train with a notebook-mousepad??

No, but I have tried LV coding while being driven up a twisty mountain road.

I failed...

Good luck.

[i2dx]

QUOTE(didierj @ Mar 7 2007, 11:09 AM)

So, I whish you all the best for the future. Maybe, if time let it, I'll be here occasionally.

I whish you the best, too and I wish you good lock in your new job! Hope to see you from time to time in the lounge!

QUOTE(tcplomp @ Mar 7 2007, 01:51 PM)

And yes you can do LabVIEW at 300 km/h in a high-speed train or a 120 km/h normal train.

ACK, I did a lot of LV coding at 300 km/h (in the InterCity Express ...)

[Michael Aivaliotis]

Well, thank you for all your contributions. You were passionate about LabVIEW and about LAVA. I appreaciate your time an effort in the the community. It's seems like almost yesterday that your daughter was "born" on LAVA and look at her now!

Thanks Again, and have fun .

[Mike Ashe]

Didier ,

Best wishes to you and your family in the new management job. Glad to hear that you don't have to wear a tie all the time. Remember to read Dilbert regularly as a self check. If the humor stops making sense to you, then it's time to think about going back to your old job

Seriously, I've greatly enjoyed reading your posts. You've been a been a great contributor here and we'll all appreciate it if you stop back from time to time. In time you'll probably really miss it here. After all, it's not all strictly LabVIEW, that we're here for, I mean, how can you seriously contemplate going for too long without threads like The 5th Dimension "In the beginning was the Alfa, and his prose was without form, and his logic void, and ..."

[didierj]

Thank you all for these recomforting words... my heart is sick

QUOTE(Mike Ashe @ Mar 9 2007, 05:15 PM)

If the humor stops making sense to you, then it's time to think about going back to your old job

...count on that. But I think it won't happen too soon, my workmates also like one or two (or more) :beer: after work.

QUOTE

... I mean, how can you seriously contemplate going for too long without threads like

http://forums.lavag.org/The-5th-dimension-t4895.html'

target="_blank">The 5th Dimension

"In the beginning was the Alfa, and his prose was without form, and his logic void, and ..."

...have seen it :thumbup: .

"In the beginning was LAVA, then came Alfa and life stopped being as it was!"