Its OK for people to take time off for things like back surgury, and people should be able to expect they get their job back when they recuperate. The business processes' should be setup such that the business can accomidate this kind of thing, its the cost of doing business. Anything less is just lazy and cheap management and leadership.
Designing medical devices does not equivalate to having had a back issue and knowing what that entails. They run a lean team, they need their people now. Not in 6 months to a year after a back issue is resolved. Its not a union job. Thats what you sign up for.
for teh_klev below: You're taking a complete strangers begruntled story at face value. Again, I had back surgery, there is no way in hell he only missed a few days of work or was working anywhere close to capacity through this ordeal. Back injuries where you need surgery dont just disrupt your work, it disrupts your entire life and it takes time to put the pieces back together.
> I had back surgery, there is no way in hell he only missed a few days of work or was working anywhere close to capacity through this ordeal.
I'm sorry, are you a doctor? A friend of mine just had back surgery a month ago. Something with his spinal fluid. He was fine & pain free after three days. They sent him home from hospital after four at which point he went back to work.
There are so many reasons why someone may have back surgery.
You seem to deduce something from /your/ back surgery. A specific case and a sample size of one ...
Isn't this at odds with your previous comment about redundancy being a no-brainer?
He was a principle engineer in an optics lab. Having worked in both optics labs and aerospace, I can say there is very little reason to think that a "bad back" in those roles puts astronauts at additional risk.
You're all turned around here, let me try to help.
First, I want to thank you for sharing your medical challenges. Coincidentally I've also had quite a bit of back issues my whole life, and it seems to he getting worse. I'm at the age now that I'm expecting some sort of surgury is in my future if I want to stay active for another 20-30 years. Congratulations on your 100% pain reduction after recovery. Having designed quite a few products in that space (surgical navigation systems, bone drills, taps and screws, etc) I know from personal experience that that orthopedics is a pretty brutal thing, that's why they cannot Ortho surgeons "mechanics". So thanks for that. Here's to you and your continued health, and hopefully when the time comes for me I have a similar result. You've given me hope, that's one of the greatest things one can give another - thank you.
On to getting you turned around.
1 - I mentioned my career in medical devices because you menrioned in your comment the seriousness of OPs work and that if they mess something up people could die. I've designed high volume disposibles that are made in quantities of hundreds of thousands, also capital equipment that has a typical life span of 5-10 years. If a mistake I made gets all the way to the patient hundreds, likely thousands of people could be harmed or killed. (See the Phillips ventilator stuff currently in the news). That being said, in highly regulated spaces like medical, aerospace, cars, etc. if such a mistake made it all the way to the customer, it's not typically viewed as a failure of the engineer that made the mistake, but as a failure of the company process'. There are tons of checks and balances built into the system (by law) such they there has to be a real systemic problem with the company, it's culture and processes, for a mistake to result in harm. Again, see the ongoing phillips thing.
2 - I have also spent much of my career in small teams, often less than 10. Still, in these cases, people get to take care of themselves without fearing for their jobs.
3 - Precisely because of the importance of the work is why you want a veteran engineer like OP. In one hour of work they could identify and resolve an issue that may take less experienced engineers a month for find and solve. I know because I am that guy, and do it weekly.
4 - Space X is not a small team, they have thousands of engineers, they shouldn't operate this way, and your analogy to your small team doesn't hold in OPs case.
5- IMO you in your situation should run a slightly less lean team that allows for your employees their humanity. If you can't, you don't have a viable business plan and should get anothe r that affords your employees their humanity.
Thanks again for the hope, I wish you the best with your health moving forward.
This (OPs situation with space x) is simply bad management. Criminally so.
I design medical devices, same thing.
Its OK for people to take time off for things like back surgury, and people should be able to expect they get their job back when they recuperate. The business processes' should be setup such that the business can accomidate this kind of thing, its the cost of doing business. Anything less is just lazy and cheap management and leadership.