wilheldp_PE
PE, LEED AP, SPAM KING
Here's a more detailed explanation of my new job (talked about in the 10k thread).
My main duty involves "Failure Cause Analysis" on various types of machines, appliances, etc. Basically, say your dishwasher breaks and floods your kitchen. You file a claim with your insurance company, and they pay the claim. The insurance company then sends the dishwasher to my company and asks for a preliminary report. We take a look at it and determine whether it was operator error, manufacturing defect, incorrect installation, or something else that caused the failure. If it was the manufacturer or installer, then the insurance company will decide whether or not to pursue subrogation against them to recover some of the funds they paid in the claim. The insurance companies love this service because my company only charges them a $320 flat fee for the initial investigation. This also makes the work somewhat recession proof because during a recession, the insurance companies have more motivation to subrogate claims to boost their bottom line.
There are other, somewhat more interesting, aspects to the job as well. The company does on-site fire and flood investigations, so I may be called out to investigate equipment in the field before it is disturbed to see if/how it caused the damage. Some claims escalate to lawsuits, so more destructive testing may need to be carried out in the presence of experts and lawyers from both sides to determine the exact cause of failure. This may also lead to depositions and/or litigation. Finally, there are large-scale cases where lots of field work and litigations are imminent. The two that were brought up during my interview were the ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom that cut off a girl's feet and the train at the Louisville Zoo that derailed and injured a bunch of people.
Anyway, back to the main duties. There is a time limit between a claim being paid out and the insurance company filing for subrogation with a manufacturer and/or installer. The Component Testing Lab (CTL), where I will be working, is actually losing out on work because their backlog is currently longer than that time limit. They are hiring a bunch more engineers in order to be able to handle more claims, and generate more business. When the CTL started, they were doing about 5 cases a week. They are on pace to do more than 6000 this year, and trying for 10,000 next year (total elapsed time = 5 years).
Combine this explosive growth with the fact that natural disasters and recessions generate MORE work instead of less, and I'm feeling good about the long-term job security.
My main duty involves "Failure Cause Analysis" on various types of machines, appliances, etc. Basically, say your dishwasher breaks and floods your kitchen. You file a claim with your insurance company, and they pay the claim. The insurance company then sends the dishwasher to my company and asks for a preliminary report. We take a look at it and determine whether it was operator error, manufacturing defect, incorrect installation, or something else that caused the failure. If it was the manufacturer or installer, then the insurance company will decide whether or not to pursue subrogation against them to recover some of the funds they paid in the claim. The insurance companies love this service because my company only charges them a $320 flat fee for the initial investigation. This also makes the work somewhat recession proof because during a recession, the insurance companies have more motivation to subrogate claims to boost their bottom line.
There are other, somewhat more interesting, aspects to the job as well. The company does on-site fire and flood investigations, so I may be called out to investigate equipment in the field before it is disturbed to see if/how it caused the damage. Some claims escalate to lawsuits, so more destructive testing may need to be carried out in the presence of experts and lawyers from both sides to determine the exact cause of failure. This may also lead to depositions and/or litigation. Finally, there are large-scale cases where lots of field work and litigations are imminent. The two that were brought up during my interview were the ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom that cut off a girl's feet and the train at the Louisville Zoo that derailed and injured a bunch of people.
Anyway, back to the main duties. There is a time limit between a claim being paid out and the insurance company filing for subrogation with a manufacturer and/or installer. The Component Testing Lab (CTL), where I will be working, is actually losing out on work because their backlog is currently longer than that time limit. They are hiring a bunch more engineers in order to be able to handle more claims, and generate more business. When the CTL started, they were doing about 5 cases a week. They are on pace to do more than 6000 this year, and trying for 10,000 next year (total elapsed time = 5 years).
Combine this explosive growth with the fact that natural disasters and recessions generate MORE work instead of less, and I'm feeling good about the long-term job security.
hmy:
