42 job, job searching, and jobbing (first formal job in USA)
My first formal job in USA was a semi-professional job with a title of "information system analyst" in the Department 95, "Information System Department in the Product Support Devision of McDonnell Aircraft, aka McAir, of MDC, McDonnell-Douglas Corporation".
(2019/2/23 16:48 The reason I call it semi-professional is that at that time there was no professional course series for developing people to serve as system analyst let alone any degree title showing the specialty. There was one book on the subject and a course on system analysis was available for future or existing programmers, in St Louis.)
Shortly after I completed the required four-year residency of PHD program, 1981, at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Washington University in St. Louis focusing on Social Work Research, my wife told me that I had spent too much time studying in colleges and I need to get out and get a real job. I agreed and felt sorry for not being productive for too many years since I left my previous job as a social caseworker of the Christian Children's Fund in Taiwan in 1972.
I moved out of the designated study room in the basement of Brown Hall where I spent my precious four years of full-time study with a great deal of freedom fumbling in the campus. I paid minimal tuition to register as a student without taking a course but working on my statement of concentration and preparing for qualification examination. At the same time, I whipped up a resume of mine for my wife to bring to her office at McAuto, a subsidy of MDC specializing in data processing, which is the fancy term for automating the business application, for passing around the related departments. The most related department of her job was the system department where the system designs and specs were produced for the programming work of her department. 5/29/2018 1:23:00 AM
I don't remember which one took place before the other, moving out of Brown Hall or getting a job with the MDC. Anyway, I got an interview at the Corporate Square where "Department 95" located. Then I was offered a job and reported to work. At that time, we lived about one block off Olive Blvd, north of Creve Coeur and was about one mile from the office. I actually walk to work several times. But that walking-to-and-from -work was too risky because I had to cross the Lindbergh Blvd, which was guarded and divided with automobiles rushing at high speed.
I was assigned in a section managed by Don Bucher, who was one of the two section managers under Paul Curry, who was one of the two branch managers under the department head, I forgot his name right now, (Ed Ryan, 2019/2/23 16:59). I sat right in front of Don.
He always chatted with me while we sat at our own desk and I only had to turn around to face him. The first week I was asked to substitute a co-worker who signed up to attend a training class on system analysis. That was a course I completed at Washington University shortly before I got the interview with MDC. Since I was the newest staff it was reasonable for me to receive training at the company expenses even though I had that training shortly before I was hired. It became one of the easiest training course for me because it was an enjoyable review of the subject that I really like very much.
The particular methods taught in that training course became one of the unique strength throughout my 15 years at MDC. I continue to use those methods everywhere I went. I acquired a 2010 version of a software (Visio) for using that method, through eBay.com, recently paying only $9.99. I plan to use that software and that method for illustrating some new system ideas to be developed as my volunteer service. (0:30 7/3/2018)
The first assignment at McAir was to maintain the data of maintenance record received monthly from the US Air force. The data came in one or two data tape. I document the reception and forwarded it to the tape library of McAuto to be cataloged and be ready for routine scheduled processing that converts the data into the database format defined in the homemade generic information system called TRIM. That application was developed in house technically led by my section manager, Don Bucker, as a DBMS, database management system, with its peculiar data structure definable by every application and operated through its peculiar language called "TRIM selection" for selecting and formatting the retrieved subsets of information.
The system analysts in the "department 95" spent a lot of time designing the database structure and the retrieval statements, schedule the routine processing to be included in the scheduled production run of the particular job streams.
That was the era when no other DBMS was available to ordinary users of computer. There was no ordinary computer user, period. We used IBM 80-column punch card to feed the programs into the main frame computer. I am oversimplifying in stating that no other DBMS was available to the ordinary users of the computers because there were some that I used at Washington University. I learned the two major statistical packages, SPSS and SAS. Most users of these two packages knew they were software for handling statistics but unaware of their functions of a database system. I guess that was simply because very few people knew the functions and the usage of the database which is quite different from a simple flat file of data.
In 1991 the A12 production, a joint project between McDonnell Douglas Corp. and General Dynamics was terminated by the Defense Department. MDC started a big wave of layoff that affected all divisions and all areas in the corporation rather than just the A12 production team. My understanding was that they did not want to release everyone working on the terminated project. They wanted to keep some of the selected employees and cleaned the houses everywhere instead.
I received a pink slip on the 23rd of January, shortly before the Desert Storm, the war between 35 nations led by USA and Iraq ended.
(The Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), codenamed Operation Desert Shield (2 August 1990 – 17 January 1991) for operations leading to the buildup of troops and defense of Saudi Arabia and Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991) in its combat phase, was a war waged by coalition forces from 35 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.) （6:30 2018/7/25）
Some capable employees started jumping off the boat shortly after the termination was announced before the layoff formally started. The day the layoff started my section was assigned a new manager at the beginning of that wave. She met the staffs and started her new duty announcing that the company wanted to keep those who are more flexible than others because when the manpower was reduced people have to pick up more duties than before. I thought I was almost the most flexible in the department and did not think I would be laid off. The original section manager, being laid off himself, while delivering the pink slips to individuals being laid off in private interview, told me that I was lucky because my wife was kept in the same section. 7:08 7/25/2018 (I don't know why my pink slip was delivered by him rather than the new manager. Those laid-off in that batch were retained for one month going through some training of job-hunting sponsored by the company. We kept using the office and the desk while we did nothing but looking for jobs. This was a very special treatment.)
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Once looking, always looking was my motto after I was laid off and actively looking job for a month. It woke me up to re-think the philosophy of working, surviving, and advancing in the job market. During the week I was actively helping Dr. Thomas Lee in the searching for people who held teaching job at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana before, I started to conceive the ideas of studying the survival of Taiwanese in the USA, starting with the teaching jobs in the university.
Here is an article that indicates the many new challenges in the teaching field. http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/politics/breakingnews/2386613 (0:07 8/23/2018)
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in a file dated 2009-10-23
Anthony H. Su 蘇希三
(2019/2/23 16:48 The reason I call it semi-professional is that at that time there was no professional course series for developing people to serve as system analyst let alone any degree title showing the specialty. There was one book on the subject and a course on system analysis was available for future or existing programmers, in St Louis.)
Shortly after I completed the required four-year residency of PHD program, 1981, at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Washington University in St. Louis focusing on Social Work Research, my wife told me that I had spent too much time studying in colleges and I need to get out and get a real job. I agreed and felt sorry for not being productive for too many years since I left my previous job as a social caseworker of the Christian Children's Fund in Taiwan in 1972.
I moved out of the designated study room in the basement of Brown Hall where I spent my precious four years of full-time study with a great deal of freedom fumbling in the campus. I paid minimal tuition to register as a student without taking a course but working on my statement of concentration and preparing for qualification examination. At the same time, I whipped up a resume of mine for my wife to bring to her office at McAuto, a subsidy of MDC specializing in data processing, which is the fancy term for automating the business application, for passing around the related departments. The most related department of her job was the system department where the system designs and specs were produced for the programming work of her department. 5/29/2018 1:23:00 AM
I don't remember which one took place before the other, moving out of Brown Hall or getting a job with the MDC. Anyway, I got an interview at the Corporate Square where "Department 95" located. Then I was offered a job and reported to work. At that time, we lived about one block off Olive Blvd, north of Creve Coeur and was about one mile from the office. I actually walk to work several times. But that walking-to-and-from -work was too risky because I had to cross the Lindbergh Blvd, which was guarded and divided with automobiles rushing at high speed.
I was assigned in a section managed by Don Bucher, who was one of the two section managers under Paul Curry, who was one of the two branch managers under the department head, I forgot his name right now, (Ed Ryan, 2019/2/23 16:59). I sat right in front of Don.
He always chatted with me while we sat at our own desk and I only had to turn around to face him. The first week I was asked to substitute a co-worker who signed up to attend a training class on system analysis. That was a course I completed at Washington University shortly before I got the interview with MDC. Since I was the newest staff it was reasonable for me to receive training at the company expenses even though I had that training shortly before I was hired. It became one of the easiest training course for me because it was an enjoyable review of the subject that I really like very much.
The particular methods taught in that training course became one of the unique strength throughout my 15 years at MDC. I continue to use those methods everywhere I went. I acquired a 2010 version of a software (Visio) for using that method, through eBay.com, recently paying only $9.99. I plan to use that software and that method for illustrating some new system ideas to be developed as my volunteer service. (0:30 7/3/2018)
The first assignment at McAir was to maintain the data of maintenance record received monthly from the US Air force. The data came in one or two data tape. I document the reception and forwarded it to the tape library of McAuto to be cataloged and be ready for routine scheduled processing that converts the data into the database format defined in the homemade generic information system called TRIM. That application was developed in house technically led by my section manager, Don Bucker, as a DBMS, database management system, with its peculiar data structure definable by every application and operated through its peculiar language called "TRIM selection" for selecting and formatting the retrieved subsets of information.
The system analysts in the "department 95" spent a lot of time designing the database structure and the retrieval statements, schedule the routine processing to be included in the scheduled production run of the particular job streams.
That was the era when no other DBMS was available to ordinary users of computer. There was no ordinary computer user, period. We used IBM 80-column punch card to feed the programs into the main frame computer. I am oversimplifying in stating that no other DBMS was available to the ordinary users of the computers because there were some that I used at Washington University. I learned the two major statistical packages, SPSS and SAS. Most users of these two packages knew they were software for handling statistics but unaware of their functions of a database system. I guess that was simply because very few people knew the functions and the usage of the database which is quite different from a simple flat file of data.
In 1991 the A12 production, a joint project between McDonnell Douglas Corp. and General Dynamics was terminated by the Defense Department. MDC started a big wave of layoff that affected all divisions and all areas in the corporation rather than just the A12 production team. My understanding was that they did not want to release everyone working on the terminated project. They wanted to keep some of the selected employees and cleaned the houses everywhere instead.
I received a pink slip on the 23rd of January, shortly before the Desert Storm, the war between 35 nations led by USA and Iraq ended.
(The Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), codenamed Operation Desert Shield (2 August 1990 – 17 January 1991) for operations leading to the buildup of troops and defense of Saudi Arabia and Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991) in its combat phase, was a war waged by coalition forces from 35 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.) （6:30 2018/7/25）
Some capable employees started jumping off the boat shortly after the termination was announced before the layoff formally started. The day the layoff started my section was assigned a new manager at the beginning of that wave. She met the staffs and started her new duty announcing that the company wanted to keep those who are more flexible than others because when the manpower was reduced people have to pick up more duties than before. I thought I was almost the most flexible in the department and did not think I would be laid off. The original section manager, being laid off himself, while delivering the pink slips to individuals being laid off in private interview, told me that I was lucky because my wife was kept in the same section. 7:08 7/25/2018 (I don't know why my pink slip was delivered by him rather than the new manager. Those laid-off in that batch were retained for one month going through some training of job-hunting sponsored by the company. We kept using the office and the desk while we did nothing but looking for jobs. This was a very special treatment.)
-----
Once looking, always looking was my motto after I was laid off and actively looking job for a month. It woke me up to re-think the philosophy of working, surviving, and advancing in the job market. During the week I was actively helping Dr. Thomas Lee in the searching for people who held teaching job at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana before, I started to conceive the ideas of studying the survival of Taiwanese in the USA, starting with the teaching jobs in the university.
Here is an article that indicates the many new challenges in the teaching field. http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/politics/breakingnews/2386613 (0:07 8/23/2018)
-----
in a file dated 2009-10-23
Anthony H. Su 蘇希三
- BA, Sociology—Tunghai University. Taiwan (focusing on small group, a graduation thesis covering an experimental study on campus dish-washing teams in the men’s cafeteria) 社會學學士—私立東海大學（專注小群體的現象，畢業論文以實驗法探討校園內男生餐廳洗碗隊伍的現象）
- MSW (Master of Social Work) — George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. (combining both direct and indirect social work services) 社工實務碩士—聖路易華盛頓大學布朗社工學院（兼修直接與間接社工服務）
- Social Work Study — PhD program, College of Arts and Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. (focusing on social work recording, social work philosophy, social work research methodology) 社工研究—聖路易華盛頓大學文理學院博士班（專注社工記錄法、社工哲學、社工研究法）
- MA, Computer and Information Resource Management, College of Business Management, Webster University, St. Louis. (focusing on Database Applications) 電腦與資訊資源管理文藝碩士—聖路易緯部示德大學企業管理學院（專注資料庫應用）
- Social Caseworker—The family service center, The Christian Children’s Fund 個案工作員—基督教家庭兒童福利基金會家庭扶助中心
- Restaurant worker — dish washer, waiter, busboy, investor, chairman 餐廳工作人員—洗碗工、企檯、企檯助理、董事長
- Community organizer — serving a community-policy relation committee for an inner-city neighborhood served by the Grace Hill Settlement House. 社區組織員—在恩丘定居之家協助市區內一個鄰里警民關係委員會
- Social Casework, Edgewood Children’s Home — helping the emotionally unstable children receive residential treatment. 林邊少年及兒童之家個案工作員—協助情緒失穩的兒童接受安置治療服務
- System Analyst — McDonnell Douglas Corp, St. Louis (supporting and designing information systems for product support division) 系統分析師—聖路易麥道航太工程公司 （維護、設計售後服務的資訊系統）
- Conductor/Music Director, St. Louis Taiwanese You Chamber Orchestra 聖路易台灣青少年室內樂團指揮兼音樂總監
- Lecturer — Changjung College of Management, teaching Introduction to Computing, Windows Operating System, Software Suits, Commercial Programming Languages, Internet Applications, Graduation Projects. 專任講師—長榮管理學院（計算機概論、視窗作業系統、套裝軟體、商用程式語言、網際網路應用、畢業專案）
- Deputy Executive Officer, Deputy Chief Executive Officer/Chief Information Officer, The Garden of Hope foundation. 勵馨社會福利事業基金會副執行長、資訊副執行長
- Director, Voice Choir — Presbyterian Church of Washington, Mo. （PCUSA） 密蘇里州華盛頓長老教會（PCUSA）聖歌對指揮
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