Would you leave the Quality Assurance profession given the option?

[RosieA]

Being a Thruway toll taker has appealed to me for a long time, Steel.

It's just tough to stay satisfied with a job that involves being the front man for the company on every problem that comes along. QA people face a lot of negatives every day. We never have the thrill of booking a really big order, or the rush of selling a new customer on your company. Our wins are quiet ones that no one notices because problems DON'T happen when we're really good.

The one thing that I most love about QA is teaching people how to do problem solving or reducing the little problems that add up to frustration for people. Unfortunatly, I'm not getting to do a lot of that on my current job...too busy mopping up the messes caused by a serious lack of management commitment.

 

[mooser]

Being a Thruway toll taker has appealed to me for a long time, Steel.

It's just tough to stay satisfied with a job that involves being the front man for the company on every problem that comes along. QA people face a lot of negatives every day. We never have the thrill of booking a really big order, or the rush of selling a new customer on your company. Our wins are quiet ones that no one notices because problems DON'T happen when we're really good.

The one thing that I most love about QA is teaching people how to do problem solving or reducing the little problems that add up to frustration for people. Unfortunatly, I'm not getting to do a lot of that on my current job...too busy mopping up the messes caused by a serious lack of management commitment.

Amen to that. I too spent tooooo much time getting us out of meeses that should have never happen if management was on the same page as me.
Mooser.

 

[SteelWoman]

As you probably remember from some previous posts, my company was recently "mostly" bought out by another company. I was appalled - though not particularly surprised - to see that neither company paid any real attention to the Quality function in the process of deciding who gets what, who does what, etc. It was clearly an afterthought. It's no fun being a "necessary evil." So yup, I'm sending out resumes and looking for a new career track, away from Quality. Which is a crying shame, 'cause I'm **** good at what I do. I'm one of those odd people (like lots of the Covers!) who just "gets" what a quality system is all about and what a good one should look like.

oh well..... sigh..... thems the breaks.

 

[RosieA]

Steel, what are you thinking about doing? I'm at the same point you are. I am ready to get the **** out of manufacturing for good. I'm so tired of fighting with management about a 32 cent cost reduced part that nets us $6400. in extra profit but causes a $600,000. return.

I just don't know what else to do, or how to get an interview when my resume doesn't look anything like the job I'm applying for.

Any thoughts?

 

[SteelWoman]

Rosie, I'm looking at anything that sounds interesting. I've got some resumes out there for manufacturing supervision, sent one regarding a tech writing job, even sent some out to jobs I won't mention here for fear of getting laughed off the board, but I'm really trying to keep my mind open. I've been tailoring the resume I send to the position I'm applying for, leaning it more or less away from quality as seems fitting for whatever I'm applying for - some "creative license" with the details without tripping over the ethical line!

Actually, the job I'm LITERALLY praying for is an ad in the local paper to work for the State as an Ombudsman, inspecting nursing homes for compliance and investigating complaints from family members. I think it'd be a nice blend of my Quality/Systems background and my sensitivity to the elderly (especially since none of us are that far away from BEING one!).

Good luck, Rosie... I feel your pain. I'd say "they'll miss us when we're gone" but I think you and I both know that's not true.

 

[Randy]

You clods have it easy...try to convince line supervisors and their leadership that you can get more production out of folks if they aren't on restricted duty because of work related injuries. DUH!!!

It got to a point at a recent meeting that I told all the management folks to write on a list all of the laws and regulations they choose not to comply with, sign it with me as a witness, and I wouldn't bother them any more. Talk about blank stares

 

[RosieA]

We ladies prefer to be called "Clodesses", Randy.

Steel, I think you'd be a great Ombudsman, and the Nursing Home world really needs the oversight. My 90 year old mother was in one for 6 weeks a few years back, doing rehab on a fractured knee. The stuff that happened in 6 weeks made both if us have a horror of her ever having to go back. I'm quite sure that she'd commit suicide before she ever went back.

Good luck to us!

 

[SteelMaiden]

I was appalled - though not particularly surprised - to see that neither company paid any real attention to the Quality function in the process of deciding who gets what, who does what, etc. It was clearly an afterthought.

"though not particularly surprised" is the operative phrase here

just my

if somebody thought about how anything would affect quality or the quality system, I'd probably die of a heart attack. would that be a recordable/lost time incident? :mg:

 

[SteelWoman]

It would be "lost time" but it would take a while before anyone realized it - like I said, afterthought!

 

[Mike S.]

You clods have it easy...try to convince line supervisors and their leadership that you can get more production out of folks if they aren't on restricted duty because of work related injuries. DUH!!!

It got to a point at a recent meeting that I told all the management folks to write on a list all of the laws and regulations they choose not to comply with, sign it with me as a witness, and I wouldn't bother them any more. Talk about blank stares

That's a good move, Randy. In my past, if reason, morals, laws, and facts didn't convince folks of what they should do, I refused to sign-off and I gave the Top Dogs the opportunity to sign-off on it personally. That usually got their attention -- but not always.