RE: A Farewell to Structural Engineering

Bill,
 
As others have said, I appriciate your past active contributions to the list server and I will miss your participation.
 
Good luck,
 
Larry Hauer S.E.
 
> Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:46:09 -0600
> From: bill@polhemus.cc
> To: seaint@seaint.org
> Subject: A Farewell to Structural Engineering
>
> Hello, SEAINTers. Long time since I've checked in personally.
>
> I am now going on the sixth month of my current spate of unemployment.
> The phone does not ring. Such employment openings as I do see
> advertised, are for entry-level positions, or require expertise that I
> do not have (such as offshore platform design).
>
> I have also been struggling, not entirely coincidentally, with one of
> the worst bouts of depression with which I've ever had the misfortune to
> deal. No one's fault, really; it is what it is. But it has forced me
> into self-examination at an uncomfortable level.
>
> I haven't been happy or fulfilled as an engineer in years. I think the
> profession and I simply grew apart. If you are not a world-class expert
> - as I am not - in any particular subfield, you must perforce be content
> with "management" or some-such. And I am not that either.
>
> I have made up my mind to drop out altogether. In fact, I am changing
> course radically - something I probably should have done years ago but
> was too caught up in the practicalities of earning a living to realize it.
>
> I have decided to apply to graduate school with the aim of earning a
> Ph.D. in History, and remain in academia for the remainder of my life.
> It's not exactly entering the monastery, but it's almost as radical a
> departure. I have always been fascinated with all aspects of history -
> especially that of engineering and technological progress. I will
> probably focus on that, perhaps even civil and structural engineering
> history. Wouldn't that be something.
>
> At any rate, I just felt it incumbent upon me to write a brief swansong
> in this vein. Not that I expect any of you to really care, but it might
> be of interest to one or two, and so it would serve a purpose.
>
> Thank you all for services rendered in the fifteen-plus years that I've
> participated on this forum, and I wish all of you the very best of good
> luck in all you do.
>
> William L. Polhemus, P.E.
> Katy, Texas
>
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