Quit my job!

"Snuze: Needs another Swede" (markg) 05/17/2017 at 10:00 • Filed to: None

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I decided work is for suckers and I’m not going to be part of the rat race anymore, so yesterday I walked into my boss’s office and said “F*&k you, I quit!”

Okay, that’s not entirely true. What actually happened is I got an offer from NAVSEA after 4 years of trying to get my foot in the door and will be going back to my roots doing submarine work. I’ll be doing acoustic analysis to make sure our subs stay quiet. I’m very excited about this!

CB > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/17/2017 at 10:04

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Congrats!

Tripper > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/17/2017 at 10:05

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Congrats man!!

Jcarr > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/17/2017 at 10:10

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You should try that new caterpillar drive. I hear it’s pretty quiet.

Nibby > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/17/2017 at 10:10

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Will you be working in a yellow submarine?

random001 > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/17/2017 at 10:14

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SHHHH!!!!!

Lokiparts > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/17/2017 at 10:15

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That’s very cool. Congrats onthe new job!

I’ve always found submarines fascinating... So naturally I work for the Navy doing a job that has absolutely nothing to do with any ships or subs at all. Lol

X37.9XXS > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/17/2017 at 10:18

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And this will be the very last time you will be able to talk about your job. Heartiest congratulations.

You will never have to work again

Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/17/2017 at 10:27

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Congrats on the job! I don’t like subs, I hit my head 3 times while going through U-9. These things are too small and way too hard!

Seat Safety Switch > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction 05/17/2017 at 10:35

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Apparently those guys aren’t great at parking, either.

WilliamsSW > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/17/2017 at 10:46

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Congratulations! And kudos to you for keeping at it for 4 years till they said ‘yes’!

Textured Soy Protein > Jcarr 05/17/2017 at 10:50

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Damn, you beat me to the Hunt for Red October picture punch.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/17/2017 at 11:05

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Awesome, congrats! I love submarines, I especially enjoy movies and books about them, I typically read fiction and have read all the obvious ones. Any one’s you particularly enjoy? If you even read submarine related fiction, haha. Also documentaries, those are always interesting.

wpudvah: GTI, Super Beetle, now with more 80-Series > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/17/2017 at 11:38

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congrats! subs always remind me of my favorite book - “Shadow Divers.” Check it out if you haven’t read it already!

Snuze: Needs another Swede > CB 05/17/2017 at 14:09

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Thank you!!!

Snuze: Needs another Swede > random001 05/17/2017 at 14:11

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Be vewy, vewy quiet. I’m hunting submawines.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Tripper 05/17/2017 at 14:12

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Thank you!!!

Snuze: Needs another Swede > WilliamsSW 05/17/2017 at 14:16

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Thank you! It’s been a difficult road. I applied an interviewed back in early 2013 before I graduated college. I got a verbal offer after my interview but then the government sequestered before they could get me an official offer and the job went away. Since then it’s been touch and go. They tried to bring me on as a contractor a while later and the government shutdown happened so that went away. Then they had an opening a week after I started my current job. And most recently I was contacted back in December, and then Trump’s hiring freeze put everything on hold until they contacted me last week. But I think it will be worth it.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > wpudvah: GTI, Super Beetle, now with more 80-Series 05/17/2017 at 14:17

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Thank you! Never heard of the book, but I’ll have to check it out. Two of my favorites are Thunder Below and Blindman’s Bluff.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > X37.9XXS 05/17/2017 at 14:23

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Thanks! Also, your last statement is somewhat cryptic. Are you familiar with the field?

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Nibby 05/17/2017 at 14:24

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Not on one, but I may be listening for one.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Lokiparts 05/17/2017 at 14:26

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Thanks!!!

I was enlisted for a while, I was a nuke EM on subs. I also had internships with the Navy doing environmental testing at NSWC Dahlgren and shooting lasers at shit at NRL. The position I’m leaving is with a ship designer that specializes in surface combatants designing auxiliary systems (piping, HVAC, etc). What do you do for the Navy?

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 05/17/2017 at 14:42

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I don’t know if I have any good fiction books, but two of my favorite submarine books are Thunder Below and Blindman’s Bluff.

I served on a Los Angeles class boat for a few years when I was in the Navy. It’s a really interesting experience.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction 05/17/2017 at 14:49

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Thanks!!!

U-9 is tiny!!! US Subs are much bigger and more spacious (though that is entirely relative). Of course then you have the Russians with the Akula class (NATO: Typhoon) that had a sauna, and a smoking lounge!!! http://russianambience.com/inside-giant-russian-typhoon-class-submarine-tk-17-arkhangelsk/

Jcarr > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/17/2017 at 14:52

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Silent Steel is another good non-fiction one.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/17/2017 at 15:05

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Thanks, I’ll look them up! I bet it’s a really interesting experience. They really are an amazing feet of engineering.

WilliamsSW > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/17/2017 at 17:58

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Sounds like they wanted you all along, but couldn’t come up with the funds to pay you— enjoy the new gig!

Snuze: Needs another Swede > WilliamsSW 05/18/2017 at 10:26

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Yeah, that’s exactly what happened. Since it’s a test position a lot of their funding comes from working capital so when the government is doing screwy things with the budget, that gets impacted.

Anyways, thanks, I’m really excited about it.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 05/18/2017 at 10:51

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It really is, it’s unlike anything else I’ve ever done. What’s really amazing to me, though, is how easy and surreal it becomes. I remember the very first time I went out, when they shut the hatches and sounded the dive alarm, I felt some fear, like “Oh my god, what if something happens? What if we sink? What if we implode?” But then you see the level of professionalism and competency of the crew, it’s unbelievable and you quickly feel at ease. After a few days I felt like I was just going to work at some normal office job and that at the end of the day I could just open the hatch, climb out, get in my car and go home.

Every once in a while, you have those oh shit moments, but you come to accept that as part of what you’re doing, operating in an environment man was never meant to be in. Sometimes I look back and wonder how many times I spit in the face of death, because I can think of at least a couple.  

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/18/2017 at 12:36

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“ Sometimes I look back and wonder how many times I spit in the face of death, because I can think of at least a couple.”

Cases where you personally might have kicked the bucket, or where the whole crew potentially was going to die? 

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 05/18/2017 at 13:40

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Well, both if I’m being honest. But my personal ones were doing stupid stuff I knew was dangerous. There were a couple times on the boat though...

Actually, I was involved in “Sub Miss” which, through a comedy of errors, the Navy thought my boat was lost and all hands dead. That was an interesting debrief.

X37.9XXS > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/19/2017 at 10:40

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“Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

-Mark Twain

I have an idea. I used to work in an analogue position in the Air Force and had to be ordered out of the lab by my OIC

Snuze: Needs another Swede > X37.9XXS 05/19/2017 at 14:20

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Ah, I wasn’t sure if that’s what you meant or you had some inside knowledge. Sounds like a bit of both. Also, based on how long it’s taken me to get this job, and talking with a few people (randomly found out a guy in my shooting club used to be the department head where I’ll be working), I get the impression that this a good field to be in and not many people readily leave.