G7 Expert funding through WIA

[dpolglaze]

I'll be attending the G7 Expert certification training in MN with Don Hutcheson June 23-25 courtesy of our wonderful federal government! That's right, the Workforce Investment Act--which was actually very easy to navigate with assistance from my local county workforce services office--is paying the whole fee. And, even more amazing, I was offered a job partially because of this pending certification!

So, if you're unemployed and you think your government can't help, check again and use all your resources! I never had to deal directly with anyone above my local county of Frederick, MD to get this. There was some prep work, and application and a proposal I had to write to get the grant funding, but it was definitely worth it! The people in my county workforce services office were great. They really want to help and even helped me write a counter offer that was accepted.

I'm going to place this post in "Looking For Work" as well.

Thanks and happy printing, and color management!
Dwight
http://www.linkedin.com/in/dwightpolglaze

 

[kansasquaker]

. . . . courtesy of our wonderful federal government!

You mean courtesy of the US taxpayer (or more accurately half on the US taxpayer and half on the US creditors).

The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

 

[dpolglaze]

My wife is a Jayhawk, kansaquaker, so I'm a little surprised at the ranting style of your reply, especially in a forum like PrintPlanet. I'm just trying to help some folks out here---geez. I will admit, though, that my overly dry sense of humor has elicited the occasional unexpected reply in the past. Maybe I should have put quotes around wonderful federal government so you could sense my small bit of facetiousness. Anyway, I will correct myself for the benefit of you and others who might have taken offense at this, and say thank you to all the US tax-payers (which includes me) who helped get me back to work and paying taxes once again.

 

[kansasquaker]

I apologize if I was quick to jump on the bully pulpit and for overlooking the humor. I'll admit that I have a bit of a sore spot for some posts on here tho. The printing company owner is generally reduced to 1. the idiot who sank the company or 2. the tightwad jerk who eschews raises, training and modern equipment to satisfy his own personal greed. I'm not looking for a thank you, but I'm weary of being the villain in the narrative of our 'wonderful federal government'.

I can't help but looking at the variety and size of tax bills I pay and thinking of how that money could be used to improve this company, its equipment and employees. Hell I could afford to hire the extra prepress person we should have if I could just keep the money I pay in unemployment taxes - despite not laying anybody off. So again, I'm sorry for flying off the handle. Best of luck to you!

 

[Correct Color]

What I find absolutely amazing is a belief that three days can qualify anyone to be an "Expert" in anything.


Mike Adams
Correct Color

 

[kansasquaker]

I have personally attended a G7 training. The word expert might be over the top, but grey balancing a press (for whatever it's worth) with modern measurement tools and software isn't exactly rocket surgery. 3 days is plenty.

 

[dpolglaze]

This is hilarious! Have either of you actually considered what you've written? What possible reason could there be in acting like grade-school bullies, and just out of the blue with absolutely no provocation!? I think you should stay out of PrintPlanet until you've had some counseling to figure out why you're so angry.

 

[Correct Color]

Um...

Well, only speaking for myself, but...

What I find absolutely amazing is a belief that three days can qualify anyone to be an "Expert" in anything.

I'm looking real hard and all I see is an opinion.

And it's an opinion I've voiced many times in many places. If it offends you, well, I'd say I'm sorry but honestly, I'm not.

However, there was no anger involved. And while I can't speak for the frame of mind of ks when he wrote, I can tell you I took no offense at his reply, and I don't see any anger in it either.

I voiced my opinion and he voiced his.

Kind of what message boards are all about.


Mike

 

[kansasquaker]

This is hilarious! Have either of you actually considered what you've written? What possible reason could there be in acting like grade-school bullies, and just out of the blue with absolutely no provocation!? I think you should stay out of PrintPlanet until you've had some counseling to figure out why you're so angry.

Until I read your most recent reply I wasn't angry. But I am a little peeved now. Yes, I considered what I wrote carefully and reread it. Did you read what I wrote? Let me put it for you more plainly and perhaps you can understand my frustration.

The government you, and people like you, voted for came and took my money forcibly. That government gave my money to you so you could go get training. You're celebrating that fact and thanking that government. You will now have a G7 certificate. I don't have a G7 expert on my staff (my certificate has since expired and I decided not to spend the money to renew). That's just one of a myriad of things we go without around here while paying 'our fair share' of federal, state and local taxes.

I've essentially been robbed and you're happy about it because you've received the stolen property. I was nice about the whole situation, while reminding you that the government isn't actually the one helping you. Can I come to your house and take $3000 worth of stuff out of it while you watch and can't do anything about it? How would that make you feel? Would you be angry? I'm not the one who needs counseling here.

And FWIW, Correct Color is right. Learning to use a canned tool to grey balance a machine does't make you an expert in anything. If you don't already understand color, that class won't help you much. If you do understand color, three days is plenty of time to learn how to use a simple software program like Curve.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

In a society where Apple retail staff are "geniuses" there is certainly room for 3 day experts :]

Edit: On a serious note, in some forms of adult vocational education, as long as one can demonstrate competency, there is no requirement for time based experience.

On another note, “experts” often don’t like to be referred to as “experts”, as they know enough to know that they are not an “expert”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg&sns=em


Stephen Marsh

 

[rich apollo]

The original post was pretty illuminating. dpolglaze found an opportunity and shared that information with the rest of us. He sought out additional training and found a way to fund it. That training has yielded a benefit for him. That same opportunity is available to any of the rest of us.

The rest of this thread is NOT what this community is about.

 

[AP90]

The original post was pretty illuminating. dpolglaze found an opportunity and shared that information with the rest of us. He sought out additional training and found a way to fund it. That training has yielded a benefit for him. That same opportunity is available to any of the rest of us.

The rest of this thread is NOT what this community is about.

Im pretty sure you are not understand what Kansas had to say. When you say the same opportunity is available to any of the rest of us is just a false statement. I, being a business owner, employed, paying taxes, and not requiring government assistance, cannot go out and apply for the same funding as an unemployed person to go and get special training. If I applied for a government grant like this, I'm sure I would get laughed out of the place and told to go and pay for it myself.

Id have to say, I pretty much agree with Kansas on what he has to say about this. I pay my taxes, and people don't realize how frustrating it is to do so. Honestly, people who don't own a business don't understand, and part of it is because half of them don't actually pay any taxes. People love tax return time. Time to go out and buy a new car, tv, vacation or whatever. Business owners just hope and pray they don't have to pay more. People have become so numb to what taxes are these days. Its the government saying I'm entitled to so much of your businesses profits, and ill take it whether you like it or not. And then turn around and give that money to the people in line in front of me that are buying cigarettes and booze. But what do I know, I'm one of those nut cases who believes in individuality and making it yourself, not with a government handout.

 

[gordo]

For context:
Tax freedom day in the US is April 24.
Tax freedom day in Canada is June 9.

 

[Correct Color]

Well, I should add here, I guess...

Actually all I meant to do was make just a little wry observation/joke.

In the large format inkjet world -- the world I inhabit -- the fact is that G7 is of absolutely no value at all. It accomplishes nothing. However, lots of people spend lots of money on it, and lots of guys spend the three grand, go take the course, and walk out as newly-minted "experts" even though they know nothing at all about color, color management or the mechanics of printing.

That's just my own personal observation about the process, of which I am not a fan. It's not a slam of the OP or a comment on the politics of the thing.


Mike Adams
Correct Color

 

[kansasquaker]

Its the government saying I'm entitled to so much of your businesses profits, and ill take it whether you like it or not.

I don't care if this forum isn't about politics, the OP made it about politics when he thanked the government for playing Robin Hood. So now that we're on the topic I want to add on to what AP90 said here. It isn't just about how much of my profit they take. In years where there isn't much profit (or any at all) they still take huge sums of money from my business. Personal property tax, unemployment tax, payroll tax, corporation tax. Those must all be paid even if a business loses money.

I'm sick and tired of people like the OP thinking business owners are stingy jerks and the government is mister wonderful. The government pushes that narrative and the uninformed lap it up.

And Gordo, tax freedom day for the self employed in the US is sometime in July depending on how well you do.

 

[rich apollo]

Comments here aren't likely to get you any of your tax dollars back.

No one likes paying taxes, but everybody likes paved roads, clean water, air you can see through, public education, et cetera.

See what you might qualify for: Access Financing | BusinessUSA

 

[AP90]

Comments here aren't likely to get you any of your tax dollars back.

No one likes paying taxes, but everybody likes paved roads, clean water, air you can see through, public education, et cetera.

See what you might qualify for: Access Financing | BusinessUSA

Theres a lot of assumption in your statement you made. First, you said no one likes paying taxes. Well true, but 50% of Americans don't mind it because they don't end up paying any. So they could care less. Theres a reason all the democrats are yelling for tax hikes. Its because they know it won't affect any of them, because a lot of them already don't pay any. And your right, I do like all those things that are mentioned, and I enjoy them by paying taxes. I don't mind that, because i know the government does need money to keep those things going. But other people who don't pay taxes get to enjoy them because the government has said they don't need to pay for them, they'll just take more from me instead.

 

[kansasquaker]

Comments here aren't likely to get you any of your tax dollars back.

No one likes paying taxes, but everybody likes paved roads, clean water, air you can see through, public education, et cetera.

See what you might qualify for: Access Financing | BusinessUSA

First off, I don't mind paying taxes for those things. But they're a small fraction of what the government actually spends money on. Aside from defense and interest, most of the money the government spends is on transfer payments. Like giving the OP a free G7 certificate. If that G7 certificate is so valuable the OP should have spent his own money or gone to a bank and borrowed it.

I realize that nothing I post here is likely to get my tax money back. Neither is voting. We're past the point of responsible government. All I wanted to accomplish was to make sure the OP and everybody else knows that it isn't the government who is paying for all this free crap. It's real people. And it puts a strain on their businesses. So when you think the owner of your company is a tightwad jerk - consider what he is up against (he may also happen to be a tightwad jerk, I don't know).

I don't take free government money, regardless of what I "qualify" for. I don't want it. It's stolen.

 

[dpolglaze]

This is mainly for Mike. As a consultant and color expert, I hope he sees it and rethinks his "opinion" on G7 for wide format. It's growing very quickly across all of print and the wide-format world. http://www.bluemedia.com/about/g7/. And by the way, no one in my class of 40 people was a color novice. Just like me, they all had various degrees of intermediate-to-expert color management in their backgrounds. Again--as in the beginning--just trying to be helpful to my peers.

 

[Correct Color]

Yeah, I'm aware Blue Media spent a lot of money on G7.

They should have spent it on Color By Correct Color.

They'd have gotten a better result.

http://correctcolor.org/colorbycorrectcolorvsG7.html


Mike