Anyone got Manike's Email?

[FutureMagOwner]

I wanted to get in contact with him to ask a few questions, and I've scrounged around and haven't really found any contact information anywhere.

[fsrxc1]

look on the empire forum on PBN...he is there all the time

[MANN]

KCs-RTule, Can I ask what it's about? I'm not allowed to discuss certain things (due to my employment contract) and can't take unsolicited ideas (because of all the legal ramifications) hence why I make it relatively hard for people to contact me.

Thanks

Simon

from another thread. post your question on an open forum, and he will answer

...on a side note when did KC change his user name? I guess its not what you know, but who.

[zondo]

from another thread. post your question on an open forum, and he will answer

...on a side note when did KC change his user name? I guess its not what you know, but who.

I think it was right after Tunaball... he said it was annoying introducing himself as "KCs-RTule" vice KC.

[manike]

Sup. :)

[FutureMagOwner]

Thanks for the help guys, helped me catch his attention!

My question is if there is anything I can work on for empire to try to build some experience and get some exposure to the paintball industry? I graduated from college in May with an engineering degree. I've been unsuccessful for almost a year now in getting a job (yay for RI unemployment!) so I wanted to take a different approach. Like I said I just want to find a way in to working within the industry and to prove myself, I am not interested in getting paid at this point in time.

As a member of the industry, I wanted to get your advice on getting in to it, or if you could point me to somebody that may be interested in getting some help. I understand its hard to get a job in the business especially when you don't necessarily have experience, but I have a lot of ideas that I want to work on someday, and I don't have the resources to follow through with them.

So yeah, let me know what you think, and obviously other peoples advice is also appreciated, I just knew Manike is an active member from the industry and I love my two timmys so I figured I'd aim high!

[Rudz]

from another thread. post your question on an open forum, and he will answer

...on a side note when did KC change his user name? I guess its not what you know, but who.


Oh like you don't know, lol

If you don't know, you better ask somebody

[MANN]

Oh like you don't know, lol

If you don't know, you better ask somebody

:rofl: I know who changed it. Or at least I would think I can put 2 and 2 together. It was just a little hard to search for his name without realizing he changed it. If I were him I would have done the same thing, but a long time ago.

[manike]

My question is if there is anything I can work on for empire to try to build some experience and get some exposure to the paintball industry?

I'm afraid we very rarely, if ever outsource to people outside of the building unless we have long standing relationships with them or they have proven the value of us working with them. We tried it before with almost a complete record of horrendous results for many different reasons. :(

I wouldn't be able to give you a viable project from our work list.

You could try and think of something that is missing from the Industry and/or our product line, and then present it to us as a way of showing your abilities.

I got my job through things I invented before joining the company, and then from showing them what I was doing (mainly for fun) in the paintball industry. That includes things like the X-Mag body and Manik-e-mag I did in conjunction with AGDE.


I've been unsuccessful for almost a year now in getting a job (yay for RI unemployment!) so I wanted to take a different approach. Like I said I just want to find a way in to working within the industry and to prove myself, I am not interested in getting paid at this point in time.

I'm sorry to hear that. You know Eclipse is in RI?


As a member of the industry, I wanted to get your advice on getting in to it, or if you could point me to somebody that may be interested in getting some help. I understand its hard to get a job in the business especially when you don't necessarily have experience, but I have a lot of ideas that I want to work on someday, and I don't have the resources to follow through with them.

I know exactly what you mean, having been in almost an identical position many years ago and when I was first looking to get a job with AGD. :)

The best advice I can give you, and you probably aren't going to like it, is to get a job in a bigger industry where you can get trained and develop your skill set on someone elses time and money. I personally went into the automotive industry but that might not be so easy in the USA right now. :( Gaining skills and experience is very valuable.

Most opportunities in the industry are for people who already have skills and experience. You may get lucky, but you probably won't get the kind of salary you are looking for by coming into the paintball industry at this point in time.

We have been considering doing an internship program here, and in the future we may be looking for more people to join my department but i know for certain they would have to be located at this facility in NJ.

I wish you the best of luck.

[cockerpunk]

Thanks for the help guys, helped me catch his attention!

My question is if there is anything I can work on for empire to try to build some experience and get some exposure to the paintball industry? I graduated from college in May with an engineering degree. I've been unsuccessful for almost a year now in getting a job (yay for RI unemployment!) so I wanted to take a different approach. Like I said I just want to find a way in to working within the industry and to prove myself, I am not interested in getting paid at this point in time.

As a member of the industry, I wanted to get your advice on getting in to it, or if you could point me to somebody that may be interested in getting some help. I understand its hard to get a job in the business especially when you don't necessarily have experience, but I have a lot of ideas that I want to work on someday, and I don't have the resources to follow through with them.

So yeah, let me know what you think, and obviously other peoples advice is also appreciated, I just knew Manike is an active member from the industry and I love my two timmys so I figured I'd aim high!

in what capacity are you thinking of joining the industry?

several companies have contacted me about working in the field probably due to my recent exposure as more of a scientist then engineer. i have one semester left of my undergrad in engineering, so this summer it was "internship" kinda deals. but currently i am interning at a medical device company doing R&D, for many many reasons.

my advice is that if your looking to get into it in a technical capacity, then i would work in another field to build experience and skills. the paintball business is rather similar, and yet starkly different then most industry, so starting in paintball is probably not a good move. on the other hand, the argument these companies contacted me with was "your young, you dont have much to lose, you dont need to move a family yet ... come have some fun!" and so on. so you will have to weight those against each other. i have no idea what kind of position you are in.

on the side it is easy to paintball related things while working somewhere else.

but the flip side of that, is that you are only bringing yourself a WORLD of trouble putting yourself out there in paintball. paintball is HARSH, cold, and filled with 13 year old kids who think they are smarter then you. it is also filled with politics and corruption. be prepared to not be liked, be prepared to be flamed, to have to stoop to encretibaly low levels to prove yourself, and be prepared for the mainstream to reject you. your ideas might be misconstrued as anything and everything. and be prepared to either break someone elses rules, or bend your own. people dont like to examine themselves, there own thoughts, feelings and morals.

knowing what i know now, i respect men like tom kaye even more. it is endlessly frustrating and it is very easy to turn cynical about it all. it is also very easy to get an attitude, very easy to get elitist. my goal from the beginning of what i have done is avoid that. and it is sometimes very very hard to do it. and certainly the industry as a whole has not avoided it basically at all.



the saddest part of all, is that in most industries, you can put out the best product possible, and you will be wildly successful. in paintball, products live and die based on the 13 year old kids on PBN opinion of them, or mike phillips' salesmen approach to reviews. it is a lesson i think simon leaned in his time at AGD, and i think anyone who knows the likes of AKA, AGD, ICD, WDP and so many others.

[FutureMagOwner]

Alright thanks guys I appreciate the information! It's kind of along the lines of what I thought. I guess its time for me to start firing up the solidworks and making some body designs, and start trying to get some type of a prototype together for a gun. I didn't know eclipse is in RI, I'm gunna have to pay them a visit sometime.

And yeah, I'm not a big fan of NJ, but I'd be willing to move there for a job at Empire, so keep me in mind :D Hell, I'd commute from RI everyday if I had a chance to work there! Like I said, I'm willing to work for nothing to show my potential and if someone wants to pick me up from there, then its worth it to me.

I'm really not worried about salary at this point in my life, I'm used to working non-stop so I'd rather take on a part time job to help pay the rent, rather than working full-time in a salary job where I do tech support over the phone for those power strips people get at walmart... (the only job offer I've gotten so far)

I was around for the beginning of the patent disputes, so I know all about how dirty the business can be, and how you can make a great performing gun, and noone will buy it because someone else claims their gun wipes your ***. But, like you said Cockerpunk, I'm young and don't have a lot to lose! I am lucky enough to get through school with no loans to pay and a home to come back to, so I'm able to take risks at this point in my life.

Cockerpunk if you guys at punkworks need any help either let me know, I had a professor thats very in to data acquisition and analysis so I've learned a lot about developing experiments

[cockerpunk]

Alright thanks guys I appreciate the information! It's kind of along the lines of what I thought. I guess its time for me to start firing up the solidworks and making some body designs, and start trying to get some type of a prototype together for a gun. I didn't know eclipse is in RI, I'm gunna have to pay them a visit sometime.

And yeah, I'm not a big fan of NJ, but I'd be willing to move there for a job at Empire, so keep me in mind :D Hell, I'd commute from RI everyday if I had a chance to work there! Like I said, I'm willing to work for nothing to show my potential and if someone wants to pick me up from there, then its worth it to me.

I'm really not worried about salary at this point in my life, I'm used to working non-stop so I'd rather take on a part time job to help pay the rent, rather than working full-time in a salary job where I do tech support over the phone for those power strips people get at walmart... (the only job offer I've gotten so far)

I was around for the beginning of the patent disputes, so I know all about how dirty the business can be, and how you can make a great performing gun, and noone will buy it because someone else claims their gun wipes your ***. But, like you said Cockerpunk, I'm young and don't have a lot to lose! I am lucky enough to get through school with no loans to pay and a home to come back to, so I'm able to take risks at this point in my life.

Cockerpunk if you guys at punkworks need any help either let me know, I had a professor thats very in to data acquisition and analysis so I've learned a lot about developing experiments

cool, yeah, sounds good. most of the techy talk about our work is over on techpb in the forums, and we always welcome an educated and interested new member :hint hint:

lol


anyway, yeah, my internship i basically got becuase of punkworks. my resume has it on there, the web link, my youtube channels, the works. so your hobbies and work can certainly help you get into a different industry too, you just have to market it right. it also makes interviews interesting to talk about something you are an expert in and love.

and also it lets people know what your good at. i am developing a model for a stenotic heart valve which is a lot of DOE stuff. its basically the same thing i do with punkworks, observe something, figure out how to measure it, measure it, make conclusions and design changes.

a pound is a pound whether it its the force pushing a paintball or the force pushing open a malfunctioning heart valve.