My Work
I worked in the Electronics industry in one form or another since 1982. Beginning at my father's company, Praegitzer Industries, Inc. - a recognized leader in the manufacturer of printed circuit boards, located in my home town of Dallas, Oregon. I worked in various positions, the last of which was in the CAM department performing data input.
Prior to that (in 1986-87) I went to Dallas, Texas to a vocational school where I attained an A.A.S. Degree in Video Technology. When I returned to PII, the company experienced what could have been a tragedy - a devastating fire. One year later the company had rebuilt and continued to maintain it's place as one of the leading suppliers of printed circuit boards in the US. Upon my full return to work, I assisted the company by utilizing the skills I developed at the vocational school in creating Interactive computer based training programs which helped new hires get up to speed in the manufacturing processes.
In 1996 I began working for Praegitzer Design, as a printed circuit board design trainee, which involved a transfer to the Seattle, WA area. One year later, I was given the opportunity to work in the QA department, where I helped document and implement the company quality system. We attained ISO 9001 certification a year later. In the following year I transferred to our Orlando, FL office - and within a year later I transferred to the Nashua office which was then the East Coast Corporate HQ.
Praegitzer Industries was sold in 1999 to Tyco International. Very soon after, the Design division effected an employee buyout and became e2E Corporation. On December 21st, 2000 - e2E closed a deal with Plexus to be acquired.
In March of 2001 only 2 weeks after I was married, the management of Plexus Technology Group informed me that my services were no longer required. I was pretty much devastated, I had no "real" indication that this was going to happen. I am still disappointed in how it was handled.
My wife (at the time) and I decided that under the circumstances, we had no better alternative than to relocate to Oregon -- back to my home town where I had a house waiting for us. The marriage (officially) ended in August of 2005, which is what lead me to relocate to Vancouver WA to start my life over and pursue my bachelors degree, and my ultimate goal of my own business.
That pursuit fell through however when I determined that the amount of money I would expend out of pocket for an education/career for which I was't completely sure about was not worth it.After relocating back to my home town in 2007 I started focusing on my photography skills and began working toward developing a home based business. Due to financial reasons, I was forced to put this pursuit on the back burner.
I find myself looking at job openings from time to time but get very discouraged when I begin to fill out applications and they require you to "fill in gaps of unemployment;" which is so hard to explain in the space they provide.
I have also toyed with the idea of obtaining certification in Technical Writing but again, uncertainty as to if I am even "hireable" makes me think twice. Have I been out of the employment pool too long to try and dive back in?
Please see my resume for more information.